Annual Report 2010 | 2011 - Columbia Global Centers

Speakers included 24 academics, scholars and researchers from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany,
France, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, including Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at
Columbia University, and Ilan Pappe, Fellow and Director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at Exeter
University.
Introductory remarks at Falastin Newspaper Conference by Dr. Noha
Tadros, Visiting Fellow at the Center
Professor Rashid Khalidi joins session titled “A Hundred Years of
Journalism – the Forging of a Nation?” at Falastin Conference
A Regional Conference on Strengthening Teacher Policies for
Education Results
In conjunction with Teachers College and CUMERC, the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) held its second
annual conference on teacher education, entitled, “Strengthening Teacher Policies for Education Results” on July 6-7.
The conference, which was co-sponsored by the World Bank, built on the success of QRTA’s inaugural summit in
June 2009 on “Teacher Preparation: What Does the Evidence Suggest?,” which marked the first time that such focus
had been placed on the issue of teacher education in Jordan.
In recent years, education policymakers throughout the world have become increasingly concerned with how to
improve teacher quality. This interest has been sparked in part by research showing that teacher effectiveness is the
most important school-based predictor of student learning and that several consecutive years of outstanding teaching
can offset the learning deficits of disadvantaged students. To this end, the 2011 conference focused on holistically
exploring teacher policies in view of improving the overall quality of teaching and learning.
The conference assembled approximately 100 policymakers, academics, Ministry of Education representatives and
other education stakeholders from 12 countries in the Arab World. The Ministers of Education of both Jordan and
Palestine were also present. The conference aimed to facilitate an informed discussion between the various stakeholders
on how to apply the lessons from high-performing education systems to strengthen various areas of local education
systems. Another objective was to reflect on the current regional situation, and devise ways for different countries
to adapt to new changes and challenges, and transform them into opportunities.