Faculty and staff of the Institute for Educational Research and Service (IERS) partnered with The
University of Montana’s (UM)
International Programs and School of Education’s Department of
Educational Leadership to provide an enriching educational program for 24 educators from Kyrgyzstan.
The Kyrgyz Study Tour specialists participated in 20 days of instruction. The Curriculum and Learning Materials groups participated in sixteen separate field observations across the state of Montana involving five separate school districts as well as st
ate government. The participants met with school principals, teachers, students, school superintendents as well as the Montana’s State Superintendent, Linda McCullough. These experiences provided the participants a view of pre-school/early childhood education as well as elementary, middle and high schools educational systems. The visit with the State Superintendent tied the global view together with the political process of Montana and the U.S. educational systems. The participants
took part in one hundred fourteen hours of classroom instruction/activities.
Participants learned about a number of educational concepts during their study tour in Montana. The common theme throughout the training was collaboration. Faculty with UM’s School of Education reiterated throughout the training the importance of working collaboratively across the development of curriculum and educational materials. Faculty stressed that this collaboration is essential in aligning curriculum, materials, instruction and assessment.
