CCHS offered partnership with China, IEMC

CCHS offered partnership with China, IEMC

District considers joining program with 7 other schools

What does it mean to live in a global society? For some Chinese students, it may mean travelling across the world to finish their high school degrees in Charles City for the 2016-17 school year. That’s an option the Charles City School Board must decide if it is willing to pursue, Superintendent Dan Cox told the board on Monday.

“What drives this project –– their education system lacks student development aspects,” Dr. Cox said. “There are Chinese students opting out of that traditional track that all students have taken, and new Chinese international section schools are forming.”

The project is led by Tom Pinkham, executive director of the International Education Development Corporation, Ltd. (IEMC), and offers eight Iowa schools a partnership with the Chinese education system.

The Mason City Community School District has already agreed to be the host school abroad, Dr. Cox said, meaning it will monitor a “section school” teaching American curriculum in China. Students will complete the first two years of high school at the Mason City institution before being offered a chance to complete their education in Iowa, where advanced placement and college credit courses could be offered through NIACC.

“Credit from China would transfer to Charles City. The first two years of doing the American program, the Mason City curriculum would transfer in if a student came to us,” Dr. Cox said. “If they successfully completed graduation requirements over the next two years, they would get a Charles City diploma, which is something the students would be very interested in receiving in China.”

IEMC would pay $8,000 in tuition per student to enroll in Charles City High School for their junior and senior years, in exchange for the same opportunities open to all CCHS students including extracurriculars, Dr. Cox said.

The district will also look for homestay family volunteers, who’d receive a stipend of $500 a month from IEMC; students who aren’t placed with a volunteer family will live with other IEMC students in housing at Clear Lake, where the corporation will be in charge of transportation and supervision.

“We have only talked about bringing four or five students to Charles City,” Dr. Cox said. “It would start intentionally small.”

Some program details are still in the works, Dr. Cox added, including how Mandarin language courses would be offered to American students at the schools involved, and where the IEMC teacher would be instructing.

“Would the teacher be housed in Mason City? Or would the teacher rotate (schools)? None of that has been worked out yet,” Dr. Cox said. “We also don’t know if it’s going to be one, or more than one. I suppose it depends on how many Chinese students are interested in coming abroad.”

If CCHS chose to participate, the school would also have to help Chinese students adjust through the language process through the first year; the program will have to build in China before students arrive with stronger English skills, Dr. Cox told the school board. The district would also be responsible for issuing an F1 student visa to Chinese students. By fall of 2017, Charles City students could be able to study at participating schools in China.

The district could officially enter into the program during the Jan. 11, 2016 board meeting, or push the decision to Jan. 25, Dr. Cox said. Feedback from the district attorney should be available by Jan. 11.

By Kate Hayden khayden@charlescitypress.com