Tianjin 41 visit update

The contingent of students and adults from Tianjin High School No. 41 that will visit Tech Valley High School and other Tech Valley Region schools in January will arrive on Monday evening, Jan. 16.

The 35 students and four adults will largely stay with TVHS families while visiting the school, other area schools and attractions.

The group will department early in the morning of Jan. 20

Check back here for more details later.

He's back

Principal Dan Liebert has returned from a whirl-wind six day trip to China where he lectured at a Chinese university and visited several schools in Shanghai and Tianjin.

He defined the experience as "awesome."

We hope to get much more in depth later today or tomorrow.

Please check back.

Liebert is in China

Tech Valley High School Principal Dan Liebert is currently in China where he will present to education experts a speach on project-based learning.

Liebert is speaking at East China Normal University in Shanghai during the institution's Forum on Nurturing Creative Talent in Regular High School. The two-day forum starts tomorrow.

As soon as we hear from Liebert, we will pass along his experiences.

Tianjin 41 will visit

A contingent of students and adults from Tianjin High School No. 41 will visit Tech Valley High School and other Tech Valley Region schools in January.
The 35 students and four adults are scheduled to arrive at TVHS on January 17 and stay through January 19. Details of what they will do and what schools they will visit during this time are still being determined. Check back here for more details later.
 

Local principal to lecture in China

Tech Valley High School Principal and Chief Academic Officer Dan Liebert will take part in a lecture on American education at a prestigious university in China in December.

Liebert will speak at East China Normal University during the institution's Forum on Nurturing Creative Talent in Regular High School. The forum takes place on December 10 and 11.

Liebert will be a guest of Huo Yiping, professor and director of the Institute on High School at the university.

"I am very excited to be invited and to be part of a forum on education in another country and culture," said Liebert.

The Chinese education system has been looking for ways to nurture creativity in the culture of the Asian country. One of the reasons behind the partnership between TVHS and Tianjin High School No. 41 was to assist the school on fostering creative students.

While in China, Liebert will also visit public schools in the area and explore the country's' educational system.

Changing tide in Chinese education?

Education is compulsory through the ninth grade in China and public education can begin as young as age two, but that all might be changing.

In the Guangzhou area in southern China, education leaders proudly informed our delegation that in 2010 they began providing a free education to all students through the 12th grade. (Elsewhere in the country, high school education is paid for by the parents). This move reflects the continued value the government places on education and may be modeled elsewhere in the country.

No changes appear on the horizon for other aspects of the education standards in China. Placement tests continue to be given after sixth and ninth grades to see where the kids will be placed. If they don’t score high enough, they are placed in technical or other forms of education.
How this impacts them became clear when our delegation met with a group of kids really happy to see us in a park in Zengcheng City. They had no idea who we were but wanted our picture because we were blond haired and white. In talking to the girls, we asked (through an interpreter) where they went to school.  One said “I am stupid, I go to technical school.”

Special ed, sports, and funding in China.

Below are more observations from the delegation visit to China.

Funding – Funding for education in China does not appear to be an issue. Marble floors and staircases, cathedral ceiling entranceways, new facilities, lab desks with individualized gas ventilation systems, smart boards and the like permeate the building. In the high school science labs, students can research animals by looking at mounted displays of the animals that would require a museum visit in the United States. On the other side, parents must pay tuition for their child to attend a public high school.

Special education students are initially immersed in classes, but if they cannot keep up with the education pace of their peers, they are placed in another class.  Mainstreaming special education with special education teachers working in regular education classrooms does not appear to take place.

Sports – While the Chinese require students to be athletic with morning exercise routines from prekindergarten right through graduation – school athletic teams are nowhere as frequent as they are in the states.  At Tianjin High School No 41, administrators said only a volleyball team competes against other schools in the city. That is despite the presence in the school museum of trophies and pictures several commemorating victorious baseball seasons – including one as recent as 2003. 

Interestingly enough, there appears to be more athletic teams from schools in the middle school grades - 6 through 9 - than in high school. Educators we spoke to in China said this is due to the academic rigors of high school.

Above are not pictures of malls, but rather schools in Guangzhou City in China.

We're back, but the posts will continue

The education contingent landed safely in Newark, NJ last night after a 14 hour flight from China.
But the return to the states of the educators does not mean this blog will cease.

Over the coming week, photos and reflections from the 10-day trip will be added to the blog. Following that, the blog will be updated frequently with data and information on the partnerships between the educators who are separated by more than 7,300 miles.

Please bookmark this site and check back frequently. I promise it will be worth your time.

Pictures from the visit to Zengchung on Friday

The education delegation was warmly greeter during stops at several schools - elementary, middle and high - in the Zengchung area of Guangzhou City on Friday.

Below are photos from some of the stops.

Pictures galore

Three Albany-area educational institutions sign partnership agreements with Chinese schools

ZENGCHENG, CHINA - Area educators from three institutions signed agreements to pursue educational partnerships with Chinese schools while meeting with educators in China November 11.

The agreements allow the Capital Region BOCES, Questar III BOCES and Catskill Central School Districts to pursue formalized partnership pacts that would involve the potential exchange of teachers and even students, as well as professional development opportunities. The agreements are modeled after the ground-breaking pact reached in February between Tech Valley High School and Tianjin High School No. 41 that has so far resulted in an exchange of a teacher that is now at Tech Valley High and the hosting of students from Tianjin at the regional public high school in East Greenbush.

Catskill’s agreement is with Huagiao High School in Zengcheng. Capital Region BOCES and Questar III BOCES jointly signed a pact with the Bureau of Education of Zengcheng. Zengcheng is in Guangzhou in southern China, about an hour from Hong Kong. By signing with the Bureau of Education, the two BOCES can work with teachers and administrators in any of the city’s 140 public elementary, middle and high schools.

The agreements were signed by Capital Region BOCES board member Sandy Beloncik, Questar III Board President Robert Gibson, Karen Haas, vice president of the Catskill Board of Education, He Yanken, principal of Huagiao High School and Sunshine Pan, vice director of the Zengcheng Bureau of Education. They were also negotiated by Capital Region BOCES Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Kathryn Gerbino and her counterpart at Questar III BOCES, Diana Conroy.

The pacts followed a day of touring schools in the city by the 18-member Tech Valley Region education delegation that has been in China for eight days now and a hearing at the Bureau’s offices attended by more than a dozen officials, teachers and principals from schools in the city, as well as the bureau.

Earlier in the week, Schoharie School Superintendent Brian Sherman started discussions with Tianjin High School No. 31 on a similar education agreement.

“We share so much in common and we look forward to our partnerships growing,” said Capital Region BOCES Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. Kathryn Gerbino. “We look forward to welcoming you to Albany, New York to visit our schools.”

Sandy Beloncik, CR BOCES Board member, Sunshine Pan of the Bureau of Education of Zengcheng, and Robert Gibson, president of the Questar III Board of Education shake hands following the agreement.

Karen Haas, Vice President of the Catskill school board, shakes hands with He Yanken, principal of Huagiao High School, while Mary Hatton, a foreign language teacher from Catskill and Board of Education Clerk Matt McCoy look on.

Southern education

The delegation arrived in Guangzhou in southern China today and was greeted by two regional education leaders and a retired principal from one of Hong Kong’s premiere schools. The educators discussed the Chinese education system in the province and the potential for partnerships.

The Tech Valley area educators learned that the typical school day for students in this area of China is 7 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. for junior and senior high school students and 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. for primary school students.

Stringent testing for placement in junior high schools and admissions  to the non-compulsory section of high school – which begins in 10^th grade – means students typically have two- to three-hours of studying and homework each night following the grueling daytime schedule.

Some educators from the contingent spoke with expressed concern over the impact the long hours have on the students. However, some of those educators who have studied in the US and China have also noted that the youth of America don’t necessarily always understand that learning is not just fun, but also hard work.    

To arrive in Guangzhou, the delegation took a three-hour flight over the heart of eastern China on Thursday.. This followed a 90-minute flight over the country's largest mountain range (with a 10,000-feet peak) on Wednesday, which took the delegation from Tianjin to Xi'an.  

While many Americans know that China has a large population, they may not comprehend the massive size of its cities. Guangzhou is the fourth city on the delegation’s visits, following stops in Beijing, Tianjin and Xi’an. EVERY city the 18 Capital Region visitors have stopped in has exceeded New York City’s population of about 8 million people. China’s population is leaving rural areas and moving to urban centers. Tianjin alone has experienced a 20 percent population growth in the last decade.

 NOTES:

Teens will be teens – Despite the differences in their school day, Chinese teens and American teens do have similarities. Several Chinese teens – primarily girls – have been spotted “glued” to their smart phones texting away while on city buses after school.

Sneaker wars – Chinese students all wear uniforms to school — typically an Adidas or similar brand matching sweat suit. To set themselves apart from others in their classes, they turn to sneakers. Like their American counterparts, they have to have the latest and greatest sneakers to be “cool”.

 

Odds and ends: Interesting observations from Chinese education -- and a little history

Here are some interesting observations and insights the delegation has learned about the Chinese education system:

Education ends – Compulsory education in China ends following ninth grade, typically when a child reaches the age of 14. After that, students must take entrance exams and families must pay to send students to a high school. Despite this, educators the delegation spoke with say the vast majority of Chinese youth complete high school.

Education begins – When children are just weeks old, families are encouraged by Chinese schools to support and educate their children. At Hexi No. 18 Kindergarten, Principal Ms. Li Xiaonhong said the school hosts a Sunday gathering open to parents and children in the community under the age of two. During these gatherings, parents meet with each other, talk with teachers and discuss the “overall growth and education” of the child, said Ms. Li.

“It allows the parents to see where there child should be developmentally and where others are,” said Li. About 100 parents attend each of these weekly session, she added.

School day – The average school day averages 10 to 12 hours in the middle and high schools, starting at 7:30 a.m. In standardized testing years, students sometimes stay in classes until late at night and come into school on Saturdays.

Terra Cotta Warriors – To better understand the culture and to assist in some lesson planning - among those in the delegation are world history teachers - the delegation toured the Terra Cotta Warriors: 8,000 life-sized, fully detailed terra cotta soldiers and horses. This tour especially pleased the history teachers in the delegation. Seeing these several-thousand-year-old statues, still being excavated by archeologists from around the world, was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Words can't properly describe it!

Delegation splits up to cover more ground, gather insights from Chinese education system

While some of the education delegation was at Tianjin High School No. 41 on Tuesday, other members – those from Catskill, South Colonie and Schodack – visited Tianjin High School and Junior High School No. 57 where they were treated to a tour of the campus, lunch, student shows and meetings with education leaders. Members of the delegation from Schoharie were dispatched to Tianjin High School 13 for a similar itinerary.

What is clear in all of the schools is an extreme focus on the math, sciences and arts with top-of-the-line equipment in science labs and classrooms available to students.

Another observation: Class size is not an issue in China. Classes in all three high schools routinely exceeded 40 students and in at least one instance, a teacher stood in front of 56 students teaching Chinese language.

Chinese educators said discipline matters rise infrequently in class because students and their families are committed to education – another result, they said, of China’s policy restricting families to one child. As a result of the policy, the entire family – from grandparents to parents – strive to make sure that sole prodigy succeeds, the educators said.

Educators will meet with several more school leaders on Friday in southern China.

More pictures from China



Capital Region BOCES Assistant Superintendent Kathryn Gerbino addresses a gathering of Tianjin High School No. 41 students.

Capital Region BOCES Assistant Superintendent Kathryn Gerbino and Questar III Assistant Superintendent Diana Conroy present a gift to Mr. Xu Changqun, principal of Tianjin High School No. 41.

A student at Hexi No. 18 Kindergarten School shows off a gift of a candy bar that he was given by the Tech Valley education delegation.

Tianjin schools warmly greet local educators

TIANJIN, CHINA
Schools across Tianjin rolled out the red carpet for a delegation of educators from the Tech Valley Region of New York State on Tuesday. The group – representing Capital Region BOCES, Questar III BOCES, Tech Valley High School(TVHS), Schalmont, Schoharie, Schodack, Catskill and Cobleskill-Richmondville schools -- met with educators in three high schools and an elementary school.





Schodack School Superintendent Bob Horan presents a book to Hexi No. 18 Kindergarten Principal Ms. Li Xiaonhong.



At Tianjin High School, the delegation discussed expanding the current agreement, while officials with the other New York Schools were dispatched to schools across the fourth largest city in China (with a population of 11 million), to create their own partnerships.

At Tianjin, school officials announced plans to send another delegation of students to TVHS in January, following up on a delegation they sent last February and delegations TVHS sent in 2010 and 2011. 

Members of the delegation pose with Tianjin HS No. 41 school officials in the lobby of the school.



To be an international school is very important to us,” said Mr. Xu Changqun, principal of Tianjin High School No. 41. “We want to learn foreign language to learn foreign culture.”

Earlier in the day, the entire 18-person contingent was greeted by hundreds of smiling three-,four-, five- and six-year-old students at Hexi No, 18 Kindergarten, another of Tianjin’s elementary schools.

Students perform morning exercises for delegation.



There, Schodack School Superintendent Bob Horan discussed with Principal Ms. Li Xiaonhong the process of creating a telecommunication agreement – a modern day pen-pal pact between the elementary school students in his district and students in Hexi.

“This has been a tremendous opportunity for our schools,” said Questar III Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Diana Conroy.

As part of the fact-finding mission of the trip, the New York educators learned about China’s dedication to giving its youngest children a jump-start on their education.



Xanu _ Hexi kindergarten student presents a gift to delegation members.



“It is our philosophy that kindergarten education does not mean only educate the kids, but educate the parents,” said Li. "You start pre-school programs at the age of two, but the Hexi school starts exposing youth and their parents even before they turn one through Sunday gatherings at the school."

“All future success  depends of the foundation established in the early years. It’s very clear that you value creating a strong and lasting foundation,” said Capital Region BOCES Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Kathryn Gerbino.

Blog posting delays

Just an FYI to our eager readers: 

Members of the delegation are unable to post to the blog directly from China. All posts and pictures are being emailed to colleagues in Albany who will be updating the blog. Please be aware that this process — as well as the time difference — may result in a short information lag.

Every effort is being made to ensure that the delegation's blog posts are as timely as possible.

Day two

Did you know that Chinese youth go to school six days a week and even at the youngest grade levels, spend copious amounts of time completing homework? This info was among the lessons learned Sunday (Chinese time) by the delegation of Tech Valley region educators who are in China to partner with educators in the country.

Chinese youth in the primary schools spend at least three hours a day completing homework assignments and that amount of time grows as the students go through the grades. This combined with the government requirements that family only have one child has left some youth isolated, Simona, a Chinese representative guiding the delegation said.

At the same time, the delegation learned that families with means in China will spend up to $25,000 Yuan – between $6,000 and $7,000 American – to simply enter their child into a preschool. Tuition is added to that.

News and notes

The delegation visited the Great Wall of China with some members climbing to the highest section of the wall of the Badaling area of the 6,000-kilometer-long world wonder.

The wall is amazing when taken into context that some sections were constructed 220BC and the most recent sections were created in the 15^th and 16^thcenturies. The wall is quite steep and ADA compliance is not even an afterthought – some steps in the wall are only a quarter-inch high and other steps are three-feet high. Some sections lack steps altogether and instead are traversed by walking at a 45-degree grade. It is all quite amazing and different.

 

We've arrived!

Educators from Catskill to Schoharie, South Colonie to Schalmont landed in Beijing, China early Saturday morning (EST), departing from a jet into a bustling city filled with youth and energy. While the clocks in Albany read 1 a.m. Saturday, it was already 1 p.m. Saturday in Beijing – a 12 hour difference in time that might as well be a lifetime difference in terms of the city, culture and yes, educational systems.

The delegation of teachers, school board members, superintendents and administrators are here on a mission to close that gap – to maximize the abilities that technology has given us to break down cultural barriers and take it to the next level.

With the exchange agreement between Tech Valley High School and Tianjin High School No. 41 in China serving as a model, the Tech Valley Region delegation plans to ink agreements with other schools in China that will bring Chinese educators to local classrooms, and send American educators to China. The agreements may also serve as a basis for student exchanges.

Educators from both countries are looking to capitalize on each others’ strengths to benefit the respective students. For example, Chinese teachers are looking to the Tech Valley Region teachers to learn how to better craft creativity in their students.

Notes:

While to most in the Tech Valley Region, the name Beijing brings about instantaneous thoughts of Chinese culture and dancers, the reality is that Beijing is quite westernized. Street signs appear in both Chinese and English, “Buckle up for Safety” signs greet drivers, and there are countless American restaurants in the city – from McDonald’s to Pizza Hut to Starbucks.

Delegation arrives: Erika Loucks, from Schoharie, Diana Conroy from Questar III BOCES 

and Katherine Gerbino from Capital Region BOCES

Schodack Superintendent Robert Horan greets our Chinese education liaison at the Beijing airport minutes after arriving

 

Tell your friends to follow us!

Please share with your friends and family the availability of this blog. The idea behind this site is to share with everyone in the region how our schools are partnering with schools in China, how excited the Chinese are about these partnerships, and the potential it has for the Tech Valley Region.

So,  please spread the word!

Last minute preparation

As the departure date gets closer, members of the contingent heading to China on Friday are fast at work preparing for their visit.  Ensuring meeting dates and times, ironing out last minute diplomatic gift purchases and other duties are filling the hourly agendas for those who will leave early Friday morning.

Eight days and we leave

A contingent of educators from the Tech Valley region will travel to China on November 4 to meet with education leaders there.

The 19 educators are looking to build upon a memorandum of understanding between Tech Valley High School and Tianjin High School No. 41 in Tianjin, China - which was signed last February.

“We expect to extend the relationship that Tech Valley High has with Tianjin High School No. 41 -and is already reaping the fruit from - to benefit other schools in the region,” said Capital Region BOCES Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Dr. Kathryn Gerbino.

Gerbino, along with Diana Conroy, her counterpart at Questar III BOCES, will lead the delegation that includes representatives from Catskill, Schoharie, Schodack, South Colonie, Cobleskill-Richmondville, and Schalmont schools.

School boards across the region understand the value of developing these partnerships and support the effort, educators said.

While in China, the delegation will meet with educators in Tianjin and Guangzhou, as well as from other schools. School visits and classroom observations are also on the agenda prior to the delegation’s return to the United States on Nov. 13.

A key goal of the delegation’s visit to China is to create partnerships through which Tech Valley Region schools and Chinese schools can exchange faculty members and perhaps even students. The exchanges would likely model one currently taking place at Tech Valley High School, through which Zhiheng Yin, an English teacher at Tianjin High School No. 41 in China, is now teaching Mandarin Chinese at TVHS and learning about the American education system.

Yin, who arrived in the United States in early September and is living with a TVHS faculty member and her family, will be teaching and learning at TVHS through December.

"While these partnerships would come at a minimal cost to area schools - whose faculty hosts the educators during their stay - the benefits are tremendous," Gerbino said.

Diana Conroy, assistant superintendent at Questar III BOCES, said exchange programs between area schools and those in China serve to promote a greater understanding between the two countries.

"Not only is there this keen interest in exchange of curriculum and pedagogy but also the desire to nurture positive relationships between students, teachers and administrators. The world is becoming more volatile and as educators it is our responsibility to lead by example and foster healthy, positive connections between our nations," Conroy said.