HCPSSHCPSS Presents Educational Best Practices to Chinese Delegation
August 28th, 2015
The Howard County Public School System continues to share educational best practices globally, most recently through this month’s delegation visit of approximately 20 educators from China.
School systems from around the world learn about Howard County schools through our students’ impressive academic performance and the high percentage that go on to college.
“Because the Howard County Public School System is internationally recognized as a leading school system, we get delegation visit requests from all over the world–mostly from top performing districts,” said Min Kim, HCPSS International Student and Family Services specialist. “The visits are beneficial for everyone involved because we can learn from each other, especially considering how different our schools and system structures are.”
The HCPSS has enjoyed 10 years of international delegation visits. This delegation, representing elementary through high school levels and a variety of subject areas, came from Shanghai–the top system in the world according to PISA scores. The teachers came to the United States to develop their individualized learning programs.
During the exchange with HCPSS, Sharon Kramer, coordinator of Career and Technology Education, and Julie Alonso-Hughes, coordinator of Instructional Technology and Library Media, presented on the school system’s philosophy of educating the whole student through strengths-based individualized learning with specifics on digital literacy, technology education and technology in the classroom.
Shixiao Yan was one of the Chinese teachers to compliment the HCPSS, sharing she believed Howard County came across as the best school system she had visited based on the presentation and the school system’s vision.
Kim hopes the delegation visit can lead to potential partnership opportunities in the future. HCPSS’s current partnerships include 10 in China and one in Korea. And just this summer, the school system welcomed 18 Mexican students, through Youth in Action, to Spanish level 1 and 2 classes, enabling the Howard County students and visitors to dialogue in both Spanish and English.
Also this summer, the HCPSS hosted a delegation visit with 51 GT teachers from Korea who were interested in learning how we spot talent, teach and assess GT students and programs.
The HCPSS welcomes international partnerships that enable reciprocal learning for both our teachers and students to grow as global citizens, as encouraged in Vision 2018. “Everyone wins when our partnerships include an exchange of dialogue and ideas,” Kim said. “And sharing our work with international partners provides our staff the professional development opportunity of presenting best practices on a global level. Our international partnerships also show our students that we are actively part of a dynamic world, empowering them to think bigger.”