Idaho and Washington have been selected to represent the United States in a global initiative that seeks to transform K-12 education.

The Global Partnership Program will unite 10 countries and 1,000 schools. The United States will be represented by 37 schools from the Federal Way School District in Washington state, and 63 schools from the Idaho Leads project, a professional development team housed in the Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies at Boise State University and funded by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation. Idaho Leads works with 66 school districts and charters across the state to build relationships, network and implement the new Idaho Core Standards.

School officials from Idaho, Washington and around the world will meet in Hong Kong next month to begin work on the partnership.

“This project is a perfect fit with the Idaho Leads vision to build leadership capacity to successfully prepare all students in Idaho for success in the 21^st century when they leave our education system,” said Idaho Leads Co-Director Lisa Kinnaman. “The goal is to ensure our students can succeed in a country that is more diverse and a world that is more connected and more competitive than at any time in history.”

The Global Partnership will be funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Intel, Microsoft, Promethean and others.

The American leadership group includes the three Idaho Leads co-directors — Kinnaman, Kathleen Budge and William Parrett — and State Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Roger Quarles. Quarles was a director of the Idaho Leads project before taking a position with the State Department last summer. Quarles will serve as the U.S. government representative within the Global Partnership project.

“We now have common standards in place through the Idaho Core and we are making progress in our ability to effectively assess student learning as part of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.” Quarles said.  “Now we need to focus on the impact on instruction and what happens in the learning environment between teachers and students to really prepare them for success in the 21^st Century.  The Global Partnership project will be an excellent opportunity to engage with others around the world also working on improving teaching and learning.”

Global Partnership’s goals are to promote collaboration, uncover and scale innovation, and change the learning relationship between teachers and students to make learning more engaging and productive, said Kinnaman.

The other countries invited to participate are Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Australia and Senegal. The Middle East and Europe will be represented by a consortium of schools.

Disclaimer: Idaho Education News and the Idaho Leads project are both housed by Boise State University and funded by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation.