"In any one of California’s thousands
of classrooms, we could have future workers with the ability to understand
a dozen different cultures and the wherewithal to connect and communicate
with people all over the globe on terms they can understand."
Jack O’Connell, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction
In the 2006 Annual State of Education Address
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell’s version of the well-prepared global student is deeply embedded in FIRST’s experience, commitments, interests and special strengths. To this end, FIRST facilitates K-16 partnerships and provides quality professional development programs to help you prepare today’s students to become tomorrow’s global leaders.
FIRST is an interdisciplinary project with an emphasis on history and social sciences placed in the larger world context. As one of a network of regional sites, FIRST offers comprehensive K-12 professional development programs that explicitly address the History/Social Science content standards while promoting the integration of the English Language Arts and ELD standards into the social studies curriculum.
Our summer institutes and school year programs focus on improving knowledge of the world by exploring international themes and issues inherent in geography, economics, government, world and U.S. history, regions, cultures, and religions. Our programs address content area reading, writing, and academic language skills and the development of teacher leaders and coaches.