Maryland

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), in partnership with the University of Maryland (UMD), organized an international education summit on November 4, 2010, followed by a steering group summit on February 25, 2011. The resulting white paper will be completed in June 2011, and will include an action plan for international education in Maryland’s schools and teacher education programs.

Maryland’s winning Race to the Top grant program includes a project to implement Arabic, Chinese, and Hindi world language and dual immersion Spanish programs in elementary schools. Three new world language specialists have been hired at MSDE to provide technical assistance to local school systems, guide curriculum development, technical assistance to local school systems, and professional development.

The University of Maryland (UMD) has now hosted three very successful Statewide Invitational Colloquia on Internationalization of Teacher Education. A fourth is planned for November 2011 with increased emphasis on partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and active collaboration with many of the state’s teacher education institutions.

A strong effort to extend internationalization work into the school-university collaboration arena has been aided by a grant from the Longview Foundation to the University of Maryland for a Principals’ Academy for International Education. Principals of 10 Professional Development Schools have worked with the University, with support from MSDE, Peace Corps, and other agencies, to initiate projects in their schools to internationalize their environments, curricula, pedagogy, and community involvement as well as support the international dimension of collaborative teacher education programs.

The University of Maryland was the host university for the new Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching Program of the U.S. Dept. of State. 17 experienced teacher leaders spent an entire semester in College Park taking graduate courses, spending significant time in regular school visits to Professional Development Schools, completing capstone research and development projects with University faculty mentors and experiencing cultural activities of all sorts. They came from 6 different countries and made a great contribution to the university, community, and participating schools. A second cohort will arrive in August, 2011 and will be comprised of 20 teachers from 8 countries.

Contact information: Susan Spinnato at sspinnato@msde.state.md.us

Updated September 2011