US-China Center Hosted Exchange Scholars from Its Sister Center
In September, four exchange scholars from our Sister-Center at Beijing Normal University conducted research at and collaborated with the US-China Center. During their one-month stay, the exchange professors had wonderful experiences visiting schools in the greater Lansing area and Novi. Moreover, further discussions around the collaborations and exchange between the two centers were held. The exchange professors frequently met with the Center's staff f to deeply discuss and exchange great ideas about the US-China's research projects related to the five dimensions. In addition, they had conferences with several professors and researchers of the College of Education including Dr. Yong Zhao, Dr. Manette Benham, Dr. James J. Gallagher, Dr. Robbie J. Steward, and Dr. Wenzhong (Eric) Yang.

Chinese Delegates of Non-government Education Visited the US-China Center
Delegates from Beijing Municipal Commission of Education visited the MSU campus in early November. Delegation members who attended were the presidents and/or administrators of ten private universities in Beijing China. The purpose of their visit was to learn more about the operations of non-traditional higher education in the United States. The Chinese delegates met with Education Dean Carole Ames, Richard Prawat, Yong Zhao, and Wenzhong (Eric) Yang.

Official Field Study of Chinese Education
The US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence and the Office of K-12 Outreach in the College of Education, Michigan State University, in collaboration with Michigan Education Alliance is planning an official field study of Chinese education in November 2005. Dr. Yong Zhao, Director of the Center, leads the delegation. The delegation consists of 13 members from 9 educational organizations in Michigan State. Specific goals include:

1. Gain first-hand experiences with Chinese education
2. Develop connections with Chinese educators and educational organizations
3. Understand Chinese education in the context of Chinese culture and society.

This field study includes a wide range of learning activities and opportunities to interact with Chinese people, especially those involved in education. Specifically, this study tour includes the following elements:

1. Visits to Chinese K-12 schools
2. Formal discussions/meetings with government officials, educators, education researchers, students, and parents in China
3. A conference with Chinese educational professional organizations
4. Conversations about possibly establishing a formal sister State in Education program with Beijing, Shanghai, or Zhuhai.

X-Pacific
In order to expand the scope of the X-Pacific project, we are collaborating with Beijing Normal University in Beijing to recruit new effective middle and high schools in Beijing. There are two secondary school from Beijing that are interested in participating in our project. The schools are key schools in Beijing or in their district. One is No.1 Secondary School affiliated with Beijing Normal University, the other is Beijing Changping Secondary School. We already have a couple of effective schools in Beijing that are willing to participate in the project. Further communication is expected.

The 3E International School Model
The past several months have brought about many exciting developments for the 3E School program. The 3E International school in Beijing has been open for several months and it’s been thrilling to see our dual language dual cultural school model “come to life” and impacting the lives of young students. Through this dual pedagogy model that incorporates best educational practices from the East and West, children learn the skills to cross borders and truly become global citizens. We are excited to announce that we have been in negotiations with two Michigan school districts to open the US versions of the 3E International Preschool. The preschools are slated to open for the 2006/2007 school year. These schools will each start with two preschool classrooms and have the potential to grow into full elementary programs. The kindergarten standards and 3E activity reports are being translated in both English and Chinese and ready for application.

Comparison of US-China Academic Journals
The US-China Center is currently comparing research articles published in the past two years in the American Educational Research Journal and the Chinese journal Education Research. We have constructed the coding schema that is applicable for both Chinese educational journals and American educational journals. The data of research methodologies was recoded to a more concrete level and a second round data analysis was conducted. We are currently writing the draft of our initial findings.

Comparison of Chinese and U.S. Educational System
A book about China-US comparative education study is to be edited. It will examine why Chinese students outperform their American counterparts in some international comparative
assessments. It will analyze from five perspectives: teacher and teaching, learner and learning, curriculum, administration, and community and family. At the same time, the complexities of the American educational system from the American perspective for the international community are examined. The chapter deals with the concept of creativity and how the American school system fosters creativity in its students and allows teachers the freedom to creatively plan and teach. And it identifies aspects of the system that contradicts that notion and how these contradictories play in the big picture of the system.

Research on Teacher Professional Development in China
The center has been working on a paper tentatively titled “What Chinese Teacher Professional Development Dan Speak to the US” . It depicts the Chinese teachers' professional development system and tries to identify features that can speak to the US professional education teachers. The paper suggests that a sustainable and coherent professional development system should be established by shifting the focus of the current teacher professional development on individual teacher's improvement to building teacher learning communities.