Cross Case Features: Context

Evans High School: District Context

A financial crisis in the city has been an emotional issue that has put a damper on life and morale in the school and the broader community. Money in the district and, therefore, the school is tight. The district social studies coordinator, who has an educational background that includes courses in Asian studies, supports professional development on Asia-related content for social studies teachers. However, he has very little money to provide professional development.

The district curriculum director doesn’t think the average teacher would be willing to attend a 30-hour NCTA seminar. He would prefer to train master teachers who would then conduct short workshops for their colleagues. He says, “You do it short and sweet and put stuff in their hands. I want them to walk away with stuff in their hands. I want them loaded down. Social studies teachers love materials that they can pull out and do work...At least give them the starting base and then if they find an interest, obviously they will move deeper into it.”

The acting superintendent of the Evans district, the principal of Evans High School, and the state social studies coordinator accompanied the seminar leader on the Key Actors’ Tour of China last fall. After her trip to China, the acting superintendent formed a school/community group to consider how to encourage Asian Studies in the district. The members of the committee are diverse and include Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. The committee gives parents access to the superintendent and a vehicle for communicating their concerns, their ideas and advice about programs and parent participation, curriculum, and recruitment of teachers of Asian languages and Asian studies. The acting superintendent says, “They are very excited about their participation. For the last half hour [of the meeting] I couldn’t get them to stop talking. It was lovely.” In the past, there has been “hit and miss dialogue” with parents and community groups, according to the acting superintendent. She established the advisory committee as a way to get “systemic input, which is new to this system.” It was her trip to China that “influenced me in realizing that to make change, the system needs to reach out to all communities.”