The Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ambitions of restructuring the country’s educational landscape and has sought educational reform ideas from foreign countries. Building Leadership for Change through School Immersion — a professional development and leadership project — is one example of those efforts. Already in its second year, the program aims to transform the country’s educational system, starting with its teachers.
Does Isolation from Immigrant Students Benefit or Harm Third-Plus Generation Students?
By: Margarita Pivovarova, MLFTC assistant professor, and Jeanne Powers, MLFTC associate professor
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College embraces its role in changing systems, structures and cultures of education organizations. While the nature of those systems and structures varies from state to state and nation to nation, the importance of education knows no borders. For decades our college has advanced research into next practices in education that benefit learners in all cultures.
Here is a sampling of recent and current research projects and international educator development programs to create knowledge to improve education.
A new degree program offered by ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College combines the college’s prowess in global education research with ASU’s innovative online platform. The program is designed for individuals interested in advancing in the growing field of international education.
May’s commencement ceremony, like most, marked a beginning and an end. The final cohort of undergraduate Mastercard Foundation Scholars, and the first cohort of graduate scholars, both graduated from Arizona State University.
Most of us have a generalized understanding that something called globalization has been happening for several decades (or centuries, depending on your historical yardstick), and that it involves the acceleration of the movement of people, capital, goods and ideas around the world.
So what does it mean for a college of education to think and act globally? For Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, it means operating on three broad fronts.
Third-plus generation students — those born in the U.S. to U.S.-born parents — attend better-resourced schools compared to first- and second-generation students from immigrant families. But analysis reveals that these students who attend schools that do not serve immigrants are more likely to demonstrate lower academic achievement than their peers who do. In other words, attending school with immigrant student peers may actually improve the academic performance of third-plus generation learners.
Over 70 years ago, James A. Banks was on an Arkansas farm, picking cotton. In a segregated community, he walked five miles to school while a bus took the “white kids.” Early on, Banks was aware of the inequality and inequitable opportunities available to him and developed a strong commitment to social justice issues.
Nothing gives Arizona State University freshman Larissa Lopez greater satisfaction than giving back to society.
That’s why the 18-year-old wants to teach elementary school students when she graduates from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College in four years.
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is partnering with AmeriCorps to recruit sophomores and juniors as mentors for first-year students.