Executive Director Kathleen Ennis: K-12 Global Education Leader

On December 6, Kathleen Ennis, Executive Director of Primary Source, spoke about the importance of international education as part of the 2007 NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) Conference at the Plaza Hotel in Boston. NEASC is an accrediting organization that leads schools through a self-evaluation process on a regular basis, to establish and maintain high standards throughout the region. This year's conference highlighted "Education for a Global Economy" and included Ms. Ennis in a panel presentation focusing on global studies in K-12 schools.

In her remarks, she noted that global education will "make sure our students understand world cultures so that they can work collaboratively with people from cultures very different from our own. They will need to be able to engage in the challenging work of solving the world's problems, and these problems increasingly cross national boundaries."

Ms. Ennis emphasized that by infusing international perspectives into math, history, English, science, and art classrooms, schools can prepare students to be "global citizens" who will not only thrive in a global economy but see people from other countries as neighbors. According to Ms. Ennis, language education is also a key component of the global education puzzle. Schools need to place renewed emphasis on language learning, especially at the elementary level, and to rethink the lack of attention paid to critical languages such as Chinese.

For the past 19 years, Primary Source has helped schools to develop global citizens. By providing teachers and school districts with programming about Africa, East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States, the organization addresses gaps in teachers' background knowledge of world cultures and history. Primary Source provides opportunities for teacher travel in order to give educators a deeper understanding of people from around the world. The organization is also a support network for schools interested in beginning a Chinese language program.

Primary Source currently partners with 41 schools and districts committed to introducing global perspectives into K-12 classrooms. To learn more about our partners and programming, please visit the Programs section of our website.