Foreign exchange: school leaders find tangible benefits in their overseas educational study missions - Cover Story

School Administrator, Jan, 2004 by Carol Brzozowski

Adds Turner: "When you talk with them, it's as if you're talking with an American administrator. They are struggling with unions, finances, parents, high expectations and student discipline."

Marx, of the Center for Public Outreach, points out that one of the universal concerns among school administrators is the lack of time to handle mounting responsibilities.

"I will never forget in Beijing where some of our national Superintendents of the Year were sitting down with superintendents from the greater Beijing area and one of the first questions that one of the Beijing area superintendents asked was, 'How do you find time in the day to do all of the work that needs to be done ?' That could have easily been a question from someone in any part of North America," Marx says.

School leaders who feel as if they spend their lives on their jobs might consider Egan's counterpart in Argentina, who literally sleeps at the school that he oversees.

While given the title of building principal, Felix Correa, the Argentine administrator, functions as both a principal and teacher in a remote country school, where he lives in a room throughout the school week, returning home on weekends.

The Argentine principal does not have a significant role in budgeting, curriculum or teacher hiring as all are dictated by the state, Egan says.

"They were having a bingo party to raise money to buy paper," Egan, a Wisconsin superintendent, says. "It blew my mind. We go through more paper daily than they probably go through in a year."

Reciprocal Visits

Educators from other countries can visit the United States as part of most Fulbright exchange programs.

According to Roberta Croll, outreach specialist for the Fulbright Teacher and Administrator Exchange, some 200 international educators travel to the United States every year, though less than two dozen typically are school administrators.

What the foreign educators find most remarkable are the available resources.

During a visit to Whitehall, Ark., Florin Serbu, a school leader from Romania, told his host, Superintendent Danny Young, that he was highly impressed by the guidance local schools receive from their state education agencies for program development, something he does not get back home.

Correa, of Argentina, visited Egan's school district in November 2002. Egan traveled there the following summer.

"I think it was somewhat of a culture shock," Egan says of his counterpart's visit to rural southwestern Wisconsin. "The area he comes from is relatively poor. He was really in awe of the many material things we have."

Correa's visit fit nicely in with the rural Wisconsin district's goal to move toward more global awareness among its students. "We've led a pretty sheltered life in our area and we really are in a global economy," says Egan, adding he did not realize until he visited Argentina that some farmers in Wisconsin ship cattle there.

"Felix brought a whole other culture with him," Egan says. "He gave presentations to different classrooms. He was like a local celebrity in our town." During his departure ceremony, some students cried to see him go.