Quoted from the June 12, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *3   WORLD CLASS:  FINDING OUT WHAT IT MEANS
->    Education leaders from around the world are meeting in Italy
-> this week to discuss each country's education reform efforts, the
-> feasibility of international comparisons and criteria for world class
-> standards (COUNCIL FOR BASIC EDUCATION press release, 6/7). The
-> Washington, D.C.-based Council for Basic Education convened the
-> symposium, which is being held at The Rockefeller
-> Foundation's Bellagio, Italy, Study & Conference Center.
->    "We all talk about 'World Class Standards,'" said CBE
-> President Christopher Cross.  "But no one has really tried to
-> convene leaders from several nations to discuss the concept of
-> 'World Class' and to try to define the criteria for such
-> standards."  He added:  "This meeting will lead to ways in which we
-> can define world class and cooperate among nations in
-> determining whether or not our own educational system is meeting
-> those standards."
->    Participants also will discuss the formation of a model
-> school consortium that will include schools in at least six
-> nations and "focus on learning standards in primary and secondary
-> education in each of the participating countries," writes the
-> release.
->    Questions prepared for the discussion include:  How is it
-> decided (and by whom) what students should know and be able to do
-> throughout primary and secondary school in your country?;  How is the
-> curriculum determined in your country?; How are assessments linked to
-> curriculum and instruction in your country?; Who
-> decides what level of student performance is good enough?; How
-> much influence does the community have on what is taught in the
-> schools of your country?.
->    U.S. delegates include William Randall, commissioner of
-> education for Colo.; Ruth Wattenberg, deputy director of the
-> American Federation of Teachers' educational issues department;;
-> Katherine Nolan, coordinator of International Benchmarking, New
-> Standards Project, U of Pittsburgh.  The keynote speaker is Dr.
-> Harold Stevenson, professor of psychology and fellow, Center for
-> Human Growth and Development at the U of Michigan.
->    Delegates also are expected from Australia, Chile, Czech
-> Republic, France, Germany, the International Baccalaureate
-> ORganization, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
->    CBE will publish the symposium's proceedings.  Progress of
-> the model school consortium will be made available through the
-> Internet and other media.
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