Shakespeare famously wrote, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances." Imagine if Shakespeare had known that individuals would eventually be able to access the world stage with just a few clicks on a screen. City dwellers can be transported to rural villages in Tanzania or Mongolia through video conferencing and virtual reality. Many organizations now consist of members who come from diverse cultures, speak a variety of languages, and have different perspectives. Our students need to be ready to embrace the diversity; technology; and, perhaps most importantly, the changes that increasingly define our contemporary society.
The school district that I lead in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, a first-tier suburb of Milwaukee, is one of the most racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse districts in the state. In many ways, the district is a microcosm of both our heterogeneous Milwaukee community and our broader global society. This diversity is something we celebrate and view as a powerful educational opportunity. We feel we must spearhead solutions to address systemic issues that prevent access to a global education. To this end, we made an early commitment in 2011 to provide our 1,600 students with an educational experience that would help them become global-ready graduates by the time they leave our high school. As a result of this ongoing commitment, every member of the Brown Deer High School class of 2016 graduated ready for post-secondary experiences based on their attendance, GPA, local and state assessment scores, and commitment to learning.
Woven Throughout
One of the defining features of our approach to developing global-ready graduates is its holistic nature. We do not treat global education as a separate subject or as a single unit or module that has a strictly defined place within the broader curriculum. Rather, our philosophy is to view global education as an integral dimension of the overall educational experience. This means that even core subjects are infused with learning opportunities that emphasize a wide range of perspectives and skills.
All students in English language arts classes read literature deliberately selected to expose them to a variety of cultures and new ways of seeing the world. 10th grade students, for example, are currently reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. In our STEM classes, we intentionally emphasize problem-solving, collaboration, and technological skills. Students are exposed to technology in the elementary grades, and 9th graders complete a digital competency course designed not only to explore current and emerging technology tools but also to learn how to use technology to improve communication skills.
An International Mirror
- Importantly, our holistic approach to global education extends to our efforts to understand student performance. For the past two years, we have administered a new assessment based on the international PISA assessment from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): the OECD Test for Schools. This test measures student performance in three areas—math, reading, and science—and includes a survey dimension that assesses how our students perceive their school climate and educational experience.From the two times we've administered the OECD assessment, we've gained incredible insights. In fact, we've used the results to drive significant shifts in our instructional approach across the subject areas tested. For example:
- The data from the first year of results revealed that our students in grades 7–9 felt disconnected from their mathematics classes and the way we were teaching the subject. In response, we overhauled the math curriculum and retooled the instructional style to incorporate a collaborative, group-based approach in which the teacher functions more as a facilitator and less as a "sage on a stage." As a result of these efforts, we've seen an overall increase in students enrolled in upper level math courses. Four years ago, we had only one section of pre-calculus; we now have three. We've also added AP Statistics and AP Caclulus AB and BC. If this growth continues, we will be adding another section of Honors Geometry next year.
- After learning that our students were strong readers but that their range was limited to what they were assigned—that is, relatively few were reading for interest or pleasure—we instituted a daily 30-minute independent-reading period for all students and invested in acquiring more interesting, engaging reading materials. Teachers also model interest in books by reading out loud to students and encouraging them to take turns reading to their classmates. We've adopted a workshop model in English classes that hinges on read alouds, mentor texts, and student choice of a diverse array of texts aligned to ELA standards. Text sets are created intentionally to reflect diversity in characters and authors, and include concepts like immigration, culture and belonging, the individual and society, and nature and humanity.
Our students are part of a dynamic school culture that is defined by its diversity and its willingness to embrace varied ways of looking at the world. Helping our students see what is possible enables them to leave school with open minds, unafraid of what they might find. This is one of the true goals of global education. All students, not just the wealthy or most privileged, deserve to have worldly experiences that will influence and expand their perspectives as global citizens—and maximize their potential.
All the world's a stage, and in Brown Deer, we work to ensure that our students are ready to play a dynamic role in a global arena.