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Washington, D.C. — Thank you, Governor Hunt, for that introduction and for your leadership, along with Governor Engler, on the National Coalition on Asia and International Studies in the Schools.

I thank the National Coalition, the Asia Society, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Education Commission of the States, and the National Governors Association for your leadership in organizing this institute.

We owe special gratitude to Vivien Stewart of the Asia Society and her staff for all their hard work, as well. And I thank each of you for coming. Your presence here speaks well of your dedication and commitment to the cause of education.

I know it's been a long day and you're all ready for dinner, so I promise to be brief.

I am grateful for this gracious opportunity, because it allows me to share some thoughts during this International Education Week about the role of the Department of Education in the world arena.

We are a domestic agency whose main focus is to ensure that America's public schools provide the best education possible for their students, our country's future leaders.

Our system has drawn many to these shores to learn and to exchange ideas about education. Since becoming Secretary of Education, I have had the pleasure of meeting many of my counterparts from around the world, along with foreign teachers, journalists, and policy makers. We have formal agreements with about a dozen countries, and we cooperate informally with many more.

This is the way it has gone for the Department of Education since its inception. But on September 11, 2001, the world changed. And our role in it changed.

No longer can we afford to focus only on the domestic. Our view must turn more outward toward the world, nurturing relationships with other countries and improving international studies in our schools.

I appreciate this opportunity to announce as part of our acknowledgements of International Education Week, an important policy directive.

ONE: I am directing that the Department of Education broaden its focus and become more engaged in building international relationships through the language of education. For many seeking closer ties with the United States, the Department of Education is a point of entry. We are often approached to develop new relationships, participate in international projects and comparative studies, and brief foreign counterparts on the Administration's policies and programs. And we must strengthen and expand these ties.

TWO: I am directing that we expand our efforts to learn from other countries about techniques and practices that will help us improve our own system of education.

THREE: I am directing that we provide leadership on education issues in appropriate international forums and settings, and work with appropriate partners in other countries on initiatives of common benefit.

And FOUR: I am directing that we do a better job of exposing our students in this country to other languages, cultures, and challenges outside our borders.

We already play an important role in developing foreign language and area-studies expertise at the higher education level, through our Fulbright-Hays and Title VI programs. And we will continue. But we need to start that instruction much earlier in our young people's education careers.

As Secretary of Education, I spend my days working to ensure that every child in America's schools is educated and no child is left behind. That is our mission, and it's a tall order.

Our sweeping new education reforms raised the bar for academic achievement in our public schools, particularly in reading, math and science. We are working hand in glove with the states to implement these reforms.

But we are ever mindful of the lessons of September 11th that taught us that all future measures of a rigorous K-12 education must include a solid grounding in other cultures, other languages, and other histories.

In other words, we need to put the "world" back into "world-class" education.

Ours is a world of 24-hour-news cycles, global markets, and high-speed Internet. We need look no further than our morning paper to see that our future, and the future of our children, is inextricably linked to the complex challenges of the global community.

And for our children to be prepared to take their place in that world and rise to those challenges, they must first understand it.

Recent studies indicate we have a lot of work to do.

As you know, a study by the Asia Society last year identified a troubling international education gap in America. That study revealed that, although most of us believe our nation's economic future is locked with Asia's, we know very little about this continent where 60 percent of the world's population lives.

Those findings prompted this very conference. And they were more recently reinforced by a disappointing recent snapshot of student geography skills by NAEP - the National Assessment of Educational Progress. NAEP found that 16 percent of 8th graders could not locate the Mississippi River on a map of the United States. And one-third of 4th graders could not identify the state where they live. The state where they live.

More of the same came out in a report released just this morning by the National Geographic Society. That report showed that young American adults lag far behind their global counterparts in current events and geographic literacy. Among the findings were these:

Despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the terrorist attack on America, 83 percent of young Americans surveyed could not find Afghanistan on a map. More Americans knew the correct location of the TV show "Survivor", which was in the South Pacific, than knew how to find Israel. When young adults from nine countries, including those in Europe, Japan and Mexico, were asked which country served as the base for the Taliban and al Qaeda, young Americans came in last with the correct answer: Afghanistan.

Clearly, to meet our goal to leave no child behind, we must shift our focus from current practice and encourage programs that introduce our students to international studies earlier in their education, starting in Kindergarten.

I will seek legislative authority, or build on existing authority, to support international education in our K-12 schools through partnerships with local colleges and universities.

I will also work to partner with states to provide new resources in support of high-quality K-12 programs that provide international knowledge and skills in our nation's classrooms.

International education shouldn't be an add-on. International content can be integrated into the teaching of many subjects. When children read stories, some should be by and about people in other countries. Students in dual language immersion programs often study some of their math, science, and other lessons in that language. They are building skills in both English and another language at the same time that they are learning subject-matter content. Some children in our country are learning these skills, but many more could and should do it.

And starting this year, the Department will each year recognize a teacher whose outstanding work has helped our young people understand world issues and other countries, cultures and languages.

Next year during International Education Week, I hope to meet that outstanding teacher.

These proposals will build upon international outreach already underway at the Department, in program areas including special education, postsecondary education, education statistics, federal student aid, school safety, and many others.

Our Migrant Education program works throughout the year with migrant education officials in U.S. states, Mexican states, and the federal government of Mexico to help ensure that no child is left behind because his or her parents are agricultural workers who migrate across borders to earn a living.

We are working with other countries, such as in the US-China eLanguage project which aims to provide opportunities to learn English and Chinese to people in both countries using the Internet.

This is the start of providing opportunities for students to learn languages on line through authentic situations so that they are not prevented from learning a second or third language by the shortage of foreign language teachers.

A year ago, President Bush and I unveiled the Friendship through Education initiative to help children and schools in Afghanistan. In response, American students reached out to share their thoughts, their dreams and their culture with students in Afghanistan Refugee Camps and other countries in the Middle, Far and Near East.

And in the exchange, many found they are more alike than different.

Not only do programs such as this promote a greater understanding of people halfway around the world, they also reinforce that while we may differ in our language, our worship, and our traditions, we all share a common desire: to learn.

Education lifts all people and all societies. It is as fundamental a human right as the right to breathe.

In that spirit, the President's decision to rejoin UNESCO is a major step forward. And I assure you that the Department of Education will be a strong and constructive partner with UNESCO in its efforts to advance the cause of education to all reaches of the earth.

I have conveyed our Department's enthusiastic support of the re-entry to UNESCO to Director-General Matsuura and to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan. And we are already working with the Department of State to move forward.

In that spirit of our new policy, tomorrow morning, the Department of Education and the government of the United Kingdom will open a dialogue on 'A New Vision of Citizenship.'

Over the next two days here in Washington, policymakers and practitioners from both countries will talk about ways to encourage young people to become engaged and make a difference in their communities.

This weekend, I will travel to Mexico, along with Secretary Powell and other Cabinet secretaries, for the annual meeting of our two governments, the US-Mexico Binational Commission.

I will be meeting with my counterpart, Education Secretary Reyes Tamez, and his team to talk about how we can strengthen our work together in areas like migrant education, English and Spanish language acquisition, teacher exchanges, distance education, special education, and higher education.

We will report on our progress to President Fox. As with many countries, education is an important part of our relationship with Mexico.

The Department of Education is taking the international lead that the world of the 21st century demands of us. And I want to hear from you. You are on the front lines so we welcome your input and advice.

We believe that what you are setting out to do is among the most important tasks for educators, and for all of us, in the coming years.

Thank you.

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