State Initiatives

Since 2003, the Longview Foundation has made grants to support state coalitions of leaders in education, government, business, and non-profit organizations working to promote teaching about world regions and global issues in their states.

The goals of this initiative are to increase teaching of international knowledge and skills in P-12 classrooms by stimulating state policy actions and program initiatives to enable expanded investments in international education and develop professional capacity to teach about the world.

In addition to funding, Longview has partnered with the Asia Society to create the States Network on International Education in the Schools that brings together state leaders to share strategies and promising policy and program innovations to build the global knowledge, skills, and dispositions of young people. The network has contributed to significant recent growth in the field.

• Attention to international education is increasing at the policy level. At least 10 states have passed legislation in support of global knowledge and skills and many others have introduced such legislation.

• Promising curriculum and program developments are supporting the growing interest in building young people’s global competence. Global knowledge and skills are now included in state standards or graduation requirements in 11 states. Most states in the network are offering professional development for teachers. There has been an explosion in Mandarin language instruction, a growing interest in offering Arabic and other less commonly taught languages, and an expanded attention to and investment in world language instruction in the early grades.

• Resources for international education are increasing. Organizations and individuals have made significant investments of time and internal resources to these initiatives. A number of states are funding full- and part-time staff positions in international education. Government, foundation, and private sector resources are also providing support for international education activities.

International Education Planning Rubric: State Strategies to Prepare Globally Competent Students

The work of the states in the network has informed the creation of the rubric below to guide planning and assessment of state level strategies. Building global competence into all P-12 schools throughout a state is a complex process that requires the engagement of leaders from education, government, business, and non-profit, community and parent organizations. The specific shape of any international education initiative will depend on the state’s education structure and resources. We hope states will find this tool useful in efforts to build the global knowledge, skills, and dispositions of P-12 students.

What’s going on in your state? Click here for more information.

Arizona    Colorado    Connecticut    Delaware    District of Columbia    Georgia

Indiana   Kansas    Kentucky    Maryland    Massachusetts    Michigan    Minnesota   

Nebraska    New Jersey    North Carolina    Ohio    Oklahoma    Pennsylvania

Utah    Vermont    Washington    West Virginia    Wisconsin

Your state not on the list?

Email globaled@longviewfdn.org to let us know about international education activities in your state or find out how to get started.

For additional information please see Resources for Policymakers.