Subject Matter Focus

More and more Californians live in multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual communities, communities that increasingly mirror international society. Throughout their lives, our students will work, play and perform their citizenship roles alongside people whose heritages and life experiences are likely to be quite different from their own. But despite our nation¹s own historical diversity, Americans frequently respond to people from other cultural traditions with a parochialism that undermines the building of healthy human relationships. A principal challenge facing the Calilfornia International Studies Project (CISP) is to prepare California teachers and students to relate to representatives of such diverse traditions ‹ both at home and abroad ‹ with dignity, respect and understanding.

CISP is also challenged to engage students deeply in the study of contemporary world issues and the relationship of the United States to these issues. The project seeks to broaden the perspectives of students relating to global issues and problems being debated in the international system by policy makers, leaders, interest groups, and concerned citizens. Whether students leave school as graduates or drop outs, they need to understand how these contemporary global issues impact their own lives, to appreciate their complexity, and to participate with others in formulating workable solutions.

Professional Growth Opportunities

To expand the cultural and international knowledge and skills of K-12 students, the California International Studies Project provides a variety of professional growth opportunities for teachers and teacher leaders. The project starts from the premise that strong institutional support structures are needed to achieve enduring educational reform. Professional growth in international studies is a patient, deliberate process that requires systematic and continuous experiences in subject matter and instructional strategies that are relevant to international knowledge and skills. For these reasons, participating teachers are drawn largely from schools and districts that make commitments to collaborate with regional project sites to support and nurture the professional development of their teachers for periods of four or five years. From these ³affiliated² schools and districts, teachers and teacher leaders are recruited in colleagial leadership teams to participate in project- sponsored programs and activities. Programs model interactive, participatory learning processes, with teachers engaged in the kind of active, dynamic exploration of subject matter content and instructional processes that is equally relevant for their students. The team approach brings together the diverse and complementary knowledge, skills, talents and strengths of a collaborating group of teacher leaders. Operating within its school or district ³home² environment, the team sustains, and extends to a wider group of fellow teachers, a rich professional dialogue about reforms in teaching and learning.

Regional Resource Centers

There are 10 regional CISP resource centers, which operate on a full-time, year-round basis in order to make their sites¹ services and support systems continuously available to program participants and affiliated schools and districts. Each regional resource center is a consortium of world affairs organizations ‹ colleges, universities, county education offices, world affairs centers ‹ that facilitates access by K-12 educators to some of the primary international studies resources and programs within the community and service region.

Regional CISP resource centers offer programs for teachers who want to benefit their own students primarily, as well as teachers who will perform a variety of professionally responsible leadership roles working with colleagues in their schools, districts, and the region. Each center gives priority to enhancing the leadership competence of already talented teachers, including developing opportunities that will enable these leaders to contribute to the professional growth of fellow teachers. Teachers in both categories have access to afternoon and evening introductory programs, skill building workshop series, and extended seminars and institutes to develop in-depth competence in subject matter and instructional practice. Introductory programs and skills series are typically offered throughout the academic year, while most extended programs are offered during the summer months.

Who May Participate

Programs offered by regional resource centers are accessible to all K-12 teachers with some priority given to participants from affiliated districts that are willing to provide strong support for the participation. Although the largest proportion of participants teach history/social science subjects and courses, teachers with primary interests in other content areas are especially welcome. Since few international topics can be taught effectively or learned successfully without drawing on the contributions of many disciplines, international studies programs are, by design, interdisciplinary.

Practice varies among the regional centers regarding participation fees and stipends. Stipends are sometimes available for extended institute and seminar participants, but sponsoring schools and districts are usually expected to provide modest program fee support and released time to enable participating teachers to engage in additional leadership development or program activities in the school or district.