Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow was part of a delegation of U.S. state schools chiefs who visited China this month to discuss education issues.
The trip was paid for by the Council of State School Officers and was the third dialogue of its kind.
“Any time you have exposure that’s very different from your own, it makes you think very carefully about your own system,” Balow says. “It makes you think, ‘what do I really appreciate about our system that maybe I didn’t before?’ and ‘what are some things that we really need to focus on to make ours stronger?’”
U.S. education officials and the Chinese Ministry of Education presented papers on four subjects during the two-day summit. They discussed assessment, career and technical education, rural education and teacher professional development. Superintendent Balow says the teacher career ladder in China was of particular interest.
“The system is really set up to reward teachers of varying degrees of experience and expertise,” Balow says. “I think that that’s definitely a takeaway that we look at in the United States, but it really is a career ladder that creates opportunities for teachers within a school to be leaders.”
According to international student performance data, China ranks first in science and third in reading worldwide, while U.S. students rank 26th in science and 15th in reading.
When comparing test scores, Balow says some important ideological differences between the nations need to be taken into account.
“They readily acknowledge that educating individual students is not as much of a priority as fulfilling the needs within society and making sure that students are placed according to their assessment scores,” Balow says. “So, I think just based on those differences—those fundamental differences in philosophy, it’s a good thing for these conversations to continue. “
The two-day summit was attended by officials from the Chinese Ministry of Education, 8 U.S. schools chiefs, education researchers and representatives from the U.S. Department of Education.
