A plan to create long-term relationships between secondary schools in the United States and 10 or more other nations has been developed by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
The program, to be administered by a new project group under nassp’s aegis--School Partnerships, International--will establish ties between individual schools here and in countries abroad. The sponsors hope to intensify the educational nature of student exchanges by encouraging schools to promote studies in the culture, language, history, and politics of their “partner” school’s nation before students actually are exchanged.
The new effort stems from nassp’s School Exchange Service, a 15-year-old program that last year oversaw more than 5,000 for6eign and U.S. student exchanges.
For details about the partnership program, write nassp, 1904 Association Drive, Reston, Va. 22091; or call (703) 860-0200.
In an effort to provide teachers with opportunities for further study in the humanities, officials of the National Endowment for the Humanities are expected to announce this week a new $1.5-million program to fund year-long sabbaticals for teachers at both the elementary and secondary levels.
“One commodity that teachers clearly need is time--time to study and time to think,” said Lynne V. Cheney, chairman of the neh and author of a recent study that was sharply critical of humanities instruction in schools.
“This new neh program will give outstanding teachers a break from their classroom duties and administrative chores and provide them a chance to become more knowledgeable about the subjects they teach,” Ms. Cheney said.
Under the program, the endowment will provide stipends for up to 53 teachers a year--one from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The teachers would receive the equivalent of their salaries--up to $27,500--and funds for books. In addition, the endowment would pay $500 honoraria to scholars who work with teachers.
To apply for the program, teachers must submit proposed courses of study focusing on primary and secondary texts in the humanities. The proposals will be judged on their intellectual quality, on the significance of the topic being studied, and on the relevance of the plan to the applicant’s teaching responsibilities.
The endowment will begin accepting applications next year, and the deadline for applying is May, 1988. Grant-funded study could begin as early as September 1989.
