Just by turning on the news we are inundated with headlines that tell us that American education is "failing" our kids as other developed countries (and some undeveloped nations) students are consistently outperforming American students. This is alarming in and of itself because the world is increasingly interconnected and that impacts Americans from out stock market to our job market.
According to the 2012 findings from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) out of the 34 countries studied, the United States ranked 27th in the mathematics, 17th in reading, and 20th in science. One of the key findings from the study was that American students found it ver difficult to take information learned in the classroom and apply it to real-world examples. In fact, almost every country assessed performed better in these tasks than the United States. The Academy of International Studies faculty and staff have developed a program that encourages and provides opportunities for students to take these skills learned in the classroom and apply it to "real-world" situations. The focus of the program is to help the students develop a sense of personal identity that is globally informed. We believe that we can support students to take ownership of their learning and to build a path of success that will help them in their future endeavors. Here we honor and expect students to become independent thinkers and think both critically and creatively about solutions to problems. These programs can be historical hypotheticals, mathematical equations or scientific hypothesis. The first step towards this is helping the individual student discover his or her own personal identity. The second step encourages students to recognize different perspectives and to understand the fluid meaning of community. We then believe that students should learn how to communicate their ideas and beliefs to a wide variety of sources and lastly students should learn how to take action and to help be part of the solution and not the problem. AIS works to meet our mission as outlined n our mission, core beliefs, and motto through the program details listed under the curriculum tab. We are excited for the journey we are taking together! |