Ready, Set, Global!

An Assessment of Globalization in High School

Curricula

Allison Meeks
December 1, 2009
Research Question

Are high schools

providing a global
education to their
students and is it affected
by outside factors?
Thesis

Global education is
necessary in high school
education; however the
number of elements can
be affected by
geographic and
socioeconomic factors.
Literature Review
• What is Global education?
• Hard to define
• Bales (2004) and Tye (1993), (2003)
• Common understanding that all are connected
• Waltzer and Heilman (2005)

• Why the need for Global Education?

• Economic Security
• Bell-Rose and Desai (2006)
• Parker (2008)
• The Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy
(2005)
• National Security
• Parker (2008)
• Burak (2003)
• Tye (2003)
Literature Review

• Examples of Global Education

• Tye and Tye (1993)
• Ady (1999)
• Fujikane (2003)

• U.S. Policy and Global Education

• Not required but encouraged
• International Education Week (2008)
Theory
• Consensus Theories (Daun 2002)
• Society is held together by shared values
• Allocation of the most talented people to highest positions
• Neglects outside social factors
• Not everyone starts on equal footing

• Conflict Theory
• Education is directly affected by socioeconomic factors (Daun
2002)
• Bordieu (1986)
• Economic capital, social capital, cultural capital
• Resistance Theory (Giroux 2001)

• Globalization and Education

• Interdisciplinary
• Use of technology has made education more accessible
 Methodology
•Chicago area high schools
•Course description books were collected from website
•Coded for:
•Technology
• Word, Microsoft, Excel, Desktop Publishing, etc.
•Multi and Cross Cultural Concepts
• Literature, Forms of Government, Economics, etc.
•Non-western Languages

TYPE URBAN SUBURBAN FRINGE

PUBLIC Public urban Public Public Fringe

Suburban
PRIVATE Religious Religious Religious
Urban Suburban Fringe
Private Urban Private Private
Suburban Fringe
 Methodology
Strengths
Weaknesses
• Need to know what is • Only in Chicago
available in order to • Limited availability
change anything.
• Current and relevant topic

• Does not measure

how effective global
education is.
 Findings
Breakdown of Schools by Location
and Type
TYPE URBAN SUBURBAN FRINGE TOTAL

PRIVATE 3 3 4 10

RELIGIOUS 2 3 2 4

INDEPENDENT 2 1 1 7

TOTAL 7 7 7 21
SAMPLE
Findings
Figure 1: Elements of Global Education on a Per School
Basis: Public v. Private
90.0
79.5
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
Private
40.0 36.6
32.5 Public
30.0 25.2
20.0
10.0
0.0
Multiculturalism Technology
Findings
Figure 2: Elements of Global Education on a Per School
Basis and Percent Low Income of Public Schools
100 92.8
90
80
70 66.2
60
50 >25% low income
39.4 <25% low income
40 33.8
30
20
10
0
Multicultural Technology
 Findings
SIZE
Private
SIZE MULTICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY
< 1000 STUDENTS 20.0 28.0
> 1000 STUDENTS 29.5 36.3

Public
SIZE MULTICULTRUAL TECHNOLOGY
< 1000 STUDENTS 27 47
1000< BUT > 2000 37 79.5
> 2000 STUDENTS 41 95.75
Discussion
Public Schools in this assessment did the best job of
providing global education opportunities.

• Differences in Funding
• Location
• Languages

• Differences in Size

• Difference in writing style

• Changes take time

Questions?

Thank you