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Singapore high achievers like Guilford schools innovations
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By Bruce Buchanan
Staff Writer
"We share the same philosophy that if there is no discipline, you
cannot establish a teaching and learning environment."
Lucas Sing,
St. Patrick's School (Singapore) principal
Singapores schools are arguably the best in the world, so when a
group of principals from that Asian nation say they are impressed
with Guilford County Schools, thats no small compliment.
The Center for Creative Leadership brought 25 Singaporean educators
to Guilford County for a week of leadership training, which
included tours of local schools and meetings with their
counterparts.
Singapore has earned international attention for academic
excellence in recent years.
In 2003, researchers gave identical math and science tests to
fourth- and eighth-grade students in 49 nations, including the
United States.
Singapore ranked first in the world on all tests, and schools all
over are now using Singapore-designed lesson plans.
But the Singapore principals said they saw things here they plan to
take back and use at their schools.
What I like about Ragsdale High School is they take care of
students different needs, said Zoe Boon, principal of Anglican
High School in Singapore.
She said lesson plans at Ragsdale are tailored to individual
students and she would like to see her own teachers try that.
Guilford teachers make time to meet, said Ginny Lee, principal of
Singapores Haig Girls School.
She was impressed by the cooperation between teachers at
Greensboros Peeler Open Elementary and believes her teachers could
benefit from more joint planning.
St. Patricks School principal Lucas Singh met a kindred spirit in
Eastern Middles Joe Ferrell.
We share the same philosophy that if there is no discipline, you
cannot establish a teaching and learning environment, Singh
said.
He said he was impressed when he toured Eastern Middles lunchroom
and saw students moving orderly through the line and eating
politely at their tables.
Although Singapore has a reputation for strict laws for example,
importing and selling chewing gum is illegal Singh and his
colleagues say they deal with many of the same discipline problems
as Guilford principals.
Singapore, like Guilford, has diverse schools with large numbers of
ethnic Chinese, Malaysian and Indian students. The nation is
religiously diverse as well, with Buddhists, Muslims and
Christians.
Paul Masem, principal of Millis Road Elementary in Jamestown, said
his visiting principal wanted to learn about his schools character
education program and was surprised to learn Millis Road uses a
Singapore-designed math curriculum in its Advanced Learner
class.
We exchanged cards and e-mail addresses so we can continue to have
dialogue, he said.
Tony Burks, principal of the Early College at Guilford, said the
Singapore principals found far more in common with their Guilford
counterparts than they found differences.
The beauty of it is that some of the concerns they have are the
concerns we have, Burks said.
The exchange program came about because the Center for Creative
Leadership opened a Singapore office in 2003. Eventually, the
center hopes to train Singapores principals in their home country,
said Karen Dyer, the centers group leader for the education and
nonprofit secto