Gates Fdn Hires Portland Superintendent as New Head of Education Division
By melissa on 25 Apr |
1 comment
This was not by design but I found myself writing two blog posts on the Gates Foundation today. First it was the announcement this morning that Bill Gates is planning to invest $60 million (with Eli Broad) in an advocacy effort to push presidential candidates to focus more on education issues. And now this. I just received an email from the foundation announcing that they had hired Dr. Vicki Phillips as the new head of their education division. Most recently, Phillips served as the superintendent of the Portland School District in Oregon. To read the foundation's "official" news release click here. And remember, you saw it here first!
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They don't mention the Chinese K-16 pipeline in Portland
Although it didn't make it into the press release, what is most interesting to me is the fact the Portland has become a national leader in world language programs, articulated K-16. I was in Portland last April as a consultant with CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics in DC) helping with an early language assessment training in Portland for the Chinese K-16 pipeline project. It was quite amazing to see what the students could do after 5 years experience in the Chinese immersion program in the elementary school. And, of course, Portland has a nationally recognized program for Japanese at Richmond Elementary, and Spanish immersion programs, as well.
The Gates Foundation could do tremendous good work by supporting these burgeoning efforts. I hope this will become a priority for the director of education.