The US Department of Education recently announced it will co-host an international summit on teaching in conjunction with two U.S. teachers’ unions, a global teachers’ union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Asia Society, and the Council of State School Officers. The International Summit on Teaching will take place in New York City in March, 2011.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says that the focus will be on discovering best practices for teaching and learning, with input from education ministers, teacher training organizations, and teachers’ unions from around the world.
The summit was announced on December 7, 2010, the same day as PISA/OECD released results from testing 15 year-olds from around the world in math, reading, and science. Western industrialized nations such as the United States were shocked to discover their students ranking in the middle of the pack while East Asian nations such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and three major cities in China (Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Macau) scored at the top.
Secretary Duncan and OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría have committed to release the findings in the aftermath of the summit to all participating countries.
