By: Deitrich Curry, Staff Writer

Dr. Gwendolyn Trotter gives an overview of the College of Education Program during the Japan Day Fulbright Program held in the banquet room on March 20, 2006.

Akira Miyazaki(on left), Technology Consultant from Sakaide Elementary School in Japan and Yuji Hayashi, a teacher from Sakaide Elementary listen to the program.  Photo by David Campbell, Staff Photographer

John Covington, Superintendant of Lowndes County Public Schools speaks during the Japan Day program.  Photo by David Campbell, Staff Photographer

MONTGOMERY, Ala.  (March 20) - Alabama State Universitys College of Education hosted a forum on March 20 to discuss a program that will connect Japanese schools to a Lowndes County elementary school.

The program, called the Fulbright Master Teacher Program, will allow Central Elementary School in Lowndes County to partner with Sakaide Elementary and Kagawa University in Japan.

John Covington, superintendent of Lowndes County Public Schools and an adjunct professor at ASU, learned about the program after he was named a Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar in March 2004 and spent some time learning about Japanese schools.

My purpose for wanting to study Japan is that I wanted to look at best practices to see what I might replicate to improve measurable student academic achievement here, Covington said.

He said that, through the Fulbright Master Teacher Program, the schools will develop a curriculum in Environmental Science, which will be implemented during the 2006 and 2007 school year. Cynthia Mann, the principal of Central Elementary School, added that students will learn Japanese and will be connected to Japanese students via video conferencing and e-mail.

We will be participating in the same activities, Mann said.

Two teachers, Yuji Hayashi and Akira Miyazaki, from Sakaide Elementary were at the forum at ASU to learn more about the schools in this country.

Through an interpreter, Hayashi said that he knows about schools in the United States from the news, television and reading the newspaper, but this visit gives him an opportunity to see the schools for himself.

Miyazaki  said that he only knows Japanese culture; coming to Alabama  will give him a chance to experience other cultures.

Covington  said he learned a lot about the Japanese school system during his time there.

There were things being done in Japan that we could not possibly get away with in the United States, Covington said.

He was amazed that the schools have no custodians or cafeteria workers, and the teachers and students have to take turns cleaning.

He also said that the Japanese Diet, which is similar to the U.S. Congress, is concerned about students social development and is working on a comprehensive school reform to develop all aspects of the Japanese student.

There is a lot of pressure for the Japanese to do well, Covington said.  The students go to school six days a week. Even after school, some students go to another school for additional learning until 8 p.m.

Daniel Boyd, associate superintendent for Lowndes County and an adjunct professor at ASU, said that the forum provided a venue to exchange ideas.

He said that working with the Japanese will be beneficial because they usually rank in the top five in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study while the United States usually ranks around 14.

They are obviously doing something right, Boyd said.

Gwendolyn Trotter, dean of the College of Education, said that the forum was a great way to reach out to kindergarteners through 12^th graders and that it coincides with an academic affairs initiative to internationalize campus programs.

It is important to the campus that we have activities that interact with other cultures, Trotter said.