1. Global Learning and Expanded Learning
Opportunities: A Call to Action
In an ever-changing world, young people need to prepare for a far different future than
the world we know now. That preparation should include global learning opportunities
so young people can develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies they will need to be
engaged participants in a global world, and effective workers in a global economy. Global
learning, or the process of developing global competence, needs to be infused throughout
a student’s day, become an essential and integrated part of every aspect of their learning
and development, and occur anytime and anywhere through a range of opportunities and
in a variety of settings.
High-quality expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) are especially conducive to building
global competence because they typically involve inquiry-based, applied learning that
emphasizes collaboration, investigation, and problem-solving. ELOs include afterschool,
before-school, and summer programs that take place in schools, community-based and
faith-based organizations, and cultural institutions and museums. They are perfect
settings in which to try new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. In fact,
research shows that ELOs play a critical role in the healthy development and educational
achievement of young people.i
Taken together, global learning and ELOs are natural complements to each other
because they develop critical skills and competencies that can inspire and prepare youth
for success academically, in the workplace, and in their communities. Globally focused
programs and ELOs tend to use assets-based approaches to youth development, involve
families and communities, integrate interdisciplinary themes, and explicitly make realworld connections to learning. ELOs can and should play an important role in helping
young people become globally competent. In turn, globally focused organizations can
support the academic, social, emotional, and youth development goals to which ELOs
aspire.
In order to meet the demands of a changing world, we must build a system of learning
supports and policies that values and promotes the importance of global competence
in ELOs. As the world becomes more interconnected, its citizens face similar challenges.
Yet research shows that most American students, and low-income and minority
groups in particular, lag behind their peers in other countries on dimensions of global
learning. These dimensions include skills and knowledge like world geography and
foreign languages, and deeper competencies and dispositions such as critical thinking,
communication, and the ability to understand diverse perspectives.ii
This brief outlines policy recommendations that will build a system that supports global
learning in expanded learning opportunities. They focus on funding, programmatic
alignment, infrastructure and supports, and capacity building. Creating a system based
on these recommendations will provide more young people with engaging global learning
opportunities outside the traditional classroom in support of their academic success and
preparation for college, work, and life.
“Global literacy is
not an extra. It’s not
a frill. It needs to be
an essential part of
public education now
— during the day
and in afterschool
programs.”
— Joan Lombardi, Deputy
Assistant Secretary, Administration
for Children and Families, U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services

2. What Is Global
Competence?
The Asia Society is the leading
educational organization dedicated to
promoting mutual understanding and
strengthening partnerships among
peoples, leaders, and institutions
in a global context. Asia Society’s
Partnership for Global Learning has
found that afterschool, summer, and
other expanded learning programs
with a global learning framework can
help build program quality, youth
engagement, and the skills that all
young people need to succeed now
and in the future.iii The Partnership’s
framework for global competence,
developed in collaboration with the
Council of Chief State School Officers
(CCSSO) and others, guides NYSAN’s
work. The framework asserts that
globally competent students:
1. INVESTIGATE THE WORLD: young
people ask, explore, and research
critical questions and problems that
are globally significant and relevant in
their own community.
2. WEIGH PERSPECTIVES: young
people are able to communicate their
own perspectives; the perspectives of
other people, groups, or philosophies;
and identify how diverse influences
can affect people’s viewpoints.
3. COMMUNICATE IDEAS: young
people understand that audiences
differ on the basis of culture,
geography, faith, ideology, wealth,
and other factors. They are able to
effectively communicate, verbally and
non-verbally, with diverse audiences.
4. TAKE ACTION: young people view
themselves as change agents and can
envision action based on evidence.
They assess their potential impact,
account for varied perspectives and
consequences to others, and act and
reflect on their actions.
The Value and Impact of Global Learning
Outside the Traditional Classroom
American society is becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse. In
2006, minority student enrollment in public schools rose to 43 percent
of the total student population – up from 35 percent a decade earlier. iv
Currently, one in five jobs in this country is tied to international trade and
requires a cultural understanding and tolerance.v Global learning is not just
about identifying countries correctly on a map, but about the underlying
dynamics of the world and the importance of drawing connections between
issues, people, and places to become successful citizens at home.
Globally focused learning opportunities in afterschool and
expanded learning programs hold great promise because they:
»»Enhance academic achievement.
Globally-focused programming encourages student learning through
inquiry and investigation that leads to deeper understanding of the issues
of importance while constructing new knowledge. It reflects both skills
and content young people need to be successful in school, stay on track
to high school graduation, and be fully prepared for college or career.vi
Global learning opportunities also ask students to put their learning into
action. Applying newfound knowledge and skills in this way helps young
people connect to – and improve – their communities while simultaneously
supporting cognitive development as learners build, apply, and retain
knowledge.vii
»»Complement and deepen school-day learning.
There are many links between global learning and the school curricula.
For example, despite research that suggests second language learning is
associated with enhanced cognitive development, higher-order thinking,
and creativity, American students are relatively ill-prepared in this area.viii As
fewer schools offer foreign language options, ELOs are appropriate settings
to incorporate second language learning that align with and enhance
academic goals. In addition, science, technology, engineering, and math
(STEM) are natural disciplines through which to explore global issues and
build global competence as they offer many opportunities to investigate
local issues that have global implications – from the economy to the
environment – and vice versa.
»»Build the 21st century skills young people need for a 21st century
world.
Up to 85 percent of jobs in the American economy are classified as
“skilled,” and require a range of competencies that include professionalism,
communication, teamwork, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem
solving.ix Yet research shows that the majority of workers often need
significant support to develop the competencies their workplaces and
employers need.x Building these skills are strengths of ELOs and dovetail
with high-quality globally focused programs. ELOs promote teamwork
and collaboration, and encourage students with diverse backgrounds to
learn how to effectively communicate with one another in order to solve a
problem, which have been identified by employers as critical to workplace
success. Furthermore, ELOs are a great opportunity to partner with local
businesses to connect students with professionals in a range of fields in
order to build skills, career readiness, and connections for future work.

3. »»Spark interest and engagement.
Engagement in learning is critical to supporting student
success and is highly correlated to high school graduation
rates. Global learning should start in early care and
learning programs and continue throughout the educational
experience. ELOs can play important roles in engaging
students who might otherwise drop out of school. Infusing
global learning into ELOs provide youth with real world
learning opportunities that can spark curiosity about the
world, confidence in relating their knowledge and skills to realworld situations, and a passion for learning about the local and
global issues important to them.
and civic engagement. Teenagers work with advisors to
convene the larger community around global issues. YMCA
Global Teens is a leadership development and service learning
program that engages teenagers in a year-long exploration
of global issues through inquiry-based learning and a YMCAdeveloped Global Teens Training curriculum. Young people
conduct research and service learning projects, and collaborate
with partner YMCAs around the world to work on social issues
of global and local significance. The program culminates in
an international travel experience hosted by YMCAs in other
countries. For more information, visit www.ymcanyc.org.
»»Develop actionable understanding of the global context
to foster positive identity.
Global learning provides the opportunity to develop
active citizenship; inform youth about human, legal, and
environmental rights; and cultivate a sense of collective
responsibility toward one another in local communities
and around the world. ELOs can support appreciation for
multiple perspectives and cross-cultural differences. A focus
on culture, issues of global significance, and/or language can
help all students not only feel valued and validated, but also
see themselves as actors rather than bystanders on the global
stage.
»» The Glen Cove Youth Bureau After 3 Program offers students
the opportunity to be engaged in global learning and cultural
experience and diversity. The program, located in Glen Cove,
Long Island, provides students with the opportunity to learn
and become accustomed to cultures, traditions, and habitats
throughout the world by incorporating the class Geography
and Culture into its curriculum. The program taps school
day teachers (in addition to Youth Bureau staff and other
community partners such as the local Senior Center) in order
to create strong links between school day instruction and the
afterschool program which facilitates deeper learning through
project-based activities. Content includes a focus on art,
dance, music, cooking, yoga, and an International Quilt Project.
For more information, visit www.glencove-li.com.
Promising Practices in Global
Learning
»» New Global Citizens is an organization that works to inspire
youth across the country to become engaged global citizens
through their afterschool programs in middle and high schools.
Since 2007, New Global Citizens (NGC) has sponsored 306 high
school afterschool programs in 14 states. Students form a
team, learn about NGC’s 10 Global Issues, select a NGC-vetted
Global Project organization they want to support throughout
the year, and conduct a global policy project focused on
educating their school and community. The approach relies on
student leadership as teams build knowledge and awareness,
advocate to local, national and international leaders, and raise
funds to contribute to their Global Projects. NGC supports
teams through a curriculum, online lessons and activities,
and staff support. The organization reports positive impacts
on measures of knowledge of global issues, leadership, selfefficacy, and civic engagement. For more information, visit
www.newglobalcitizens.org.
»» The International YMCA, a branch of the YMCA of Greater
New York, runs several programs committed to global learning.
The International YMCA Leaders Club empowers young people
in New York City toward service to others on a local, national
and global scale, while promoting international awareness
»» The Global Language Project (GLP) is a nonprofit organization
that strives to equip young people with the skills they
need for a globalized world and workforce. GLP’s free and
comprehensive language training program, Speak to Succeed,
helps elementary school students achieve proficiency in a
language other than English. Offering language instruction
in Spanish, Mandarin, and Arabic during and after school as
well as on weekends, GLP developed a unique curriculum
that leverages classroom activities so that the students’
use of a language is a vehicle to accomplish a goal, typically
with a global focus, rather than only an end in itself. Each
student must commit to learning one foreign language with
GLP through their eighth-grade year, as well as to attend
GLP’s 60 minutes of instruction two to three days per week
during the school year. For more information, visit www.
globallanguageproject.org.
Preparing the next generation of students for the challenges
of a diverse and globally inter-connected world is a local, state,
and national challenge. Increasingly, policymakers, businesses,
educators, parents, and the general public are recognizing
the importance of preparing students to become globally
competent. Expanding opportunities in these ways will
inspire, engage, and prepare young people in pursuit of the
competencies, skills, and knowledge all of them need to learn
from and contribute to a global society.

4. Policy Recommendations
In order to create a system that promotes and improves global learning opportunities and global competence for youth outside
the classroom, NYSAN recommends the following:
Funding for ELOs should encourage globally focused programming.
»» Requests for Proposals (RFPs) – for example, the 21st
Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) – should
encourage program design to infuse global learning
approaches.
»» Programs should be encouraged to tap community
organizations with a global learning focus as partners.
»» Funders should encourage programs they work with to
assess, and consider partnering with, organizations that can
provide global learning experiences within programs.
Help schools and ELOs understand how global learning
aligns with and supports their practice.
»» Create explicit links between social/emotional
development, global competence, and the content
and academic skills required for improving academic
achievement.
»» Create partnerships between schools and ELOs, particularly
around filling gaps in the school day curriculum with globallyfocused programming (such as language learning, globallyfocused STEM learning, or youth-centered inquiry-based
learning) that are particularly conducive to afterschool and
expanded learning settings.
Create infrastructure and systems to link individuals and
organizations with expertise in global learning with ELOs.
»» Identify globally-focused talent pools – from STEM
professionals to higher education faculty to Returned Peace
Corps Volunteers – to bring global expertise to expanded
learning programs.
»» Invest in digital media and technology to connect young
people to each other, to programs, and to organizations that
focus on global learning or issues of global importance.
»» Integrate global learning resources into new or existing
databases and information systems so that ELOs can access
resources, tools, people, organizations, or affinity groups that
have a specific focus on global learning and international
education.
Invest in capacity building strategies for ELOs to infuse
and/or build globally-focused programs.
»» Document and share best practice exemplars that are
creating, infusing, and sustaining school-linked,
globally-focused expanded learning programs in a
variety of settings.
»» Provide expanded learning programs with technical
assistance and other supports to build their ability to make
the global local and to make the local global.
»» Identify and support professional development
opportunities with a global learning focus.
»» Encourage programs to use global learning self-assessment
tools, resources, and frameworks.
Endnotes
National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs. (2006). 2006 Geographic Literacy Study. Retrieved
from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/pdf/FINALReport2006GeogLitsurvey.
pdf.
i
Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General. Presentation of the PISA
2010 Results. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,3746,
en_21571361_44315115_46635719_1_1_1_1,00.html
Bouffard, S., Deschenes, S., Little, P., Malone, H., & Weiss, H., (2009). The Federal Role in
Out-of-School Learning: After-School, Summer Learning, and Family Involvement as Critical
Learning Supports. Washington, DC: Harvard Family Research Project.
ii
Veronica Boix Mansilla and Anthony Jackson. Asia Society: Partnership for Global Learning
and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). (2011). Educating for Global Competence:
Preparing Youth to Engage the World. Retrieved from http://dpi.wi.gov/cal/pdf/book-globalcompetence.pdf
iii
National Education Association. (2010). Global Competence Is a 21st Century Imperative.
Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/PB28A_Global_Competence11.pdf
iv
U.S. Census Bureau. (2005). Exports from manufacturing establishments. U.S. Department
of commerce, Washington, DC. Retrieved from www.census.gov/mcd/exports/arp05.pdf
v
Thirteen Ed Online. (2004). Workshop: Inquiry Based Learning. Retrieved from http://www.
thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html
vii
Wentzel, K., (1991). Social Competence at School: Relation between Social Responsibility
and Academic Achievement. University of Illinois: Review of Educational Research
vii
National Education Association. (2010). Global Competence Is a 21st Century Imperative.
Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/PB28A_Global_Competence11.pdf
viii
Harth, C. (2012). Global Studies Foundation Fact Sheet 1: The State of Global Studies in
the United States. Retrieved from http://www.globalstudiesfoundation.org/publications.
cfm?id=2
ix
Harth, C. (2012). Global Studies Foundation Fact Sheet 1: The State of Global Studies in
the United States. Retrieved from http://www.globalstudiesfoundation.org/publications.
cfm?id=2
x
The New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) is a public-private partnership dedicated to promoting young people’s
safety, learning, and healthy development by increasing the quality and availability of programs available outside the
traditional classroom. The positions taken and statements set forth in this document do not necessarily represent the
views of all NYSAN members. For a copy of this and other NYSAN publications, visit www.nysan.org.
NYSAN would like to thank the C.S. Mott Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, and the Longview Foundation for their generous support that
made this policy brief possible. Thanks also to NYSAN partner organizations for their input and review of this document, and to the other
statewide afterschool networks focused on global learning in Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio, and Washington for their expertise in developing the
content of this brief.
NYSAN ■ 1440 Broadway, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10018 ■ www.nysan.org

5. Meeting the Common Core through Global Learning
What Afterschool Programs Can Do
Afterschool and expanded learning programs can meet their mission of youth development as
well as the objectives outlined in the Common Core by taking a global learning approach. As
outlined in Asia Society’s framework, globally competent students:
• Investigate the world beyond their immediate environment
• Recognize perspectives, both their own and others’
• Communicate ideas effectively with diverse audiences
• Take action to improve conditions both locally and globally
The mission statement of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) calls for global
competence. The standards are designed “to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting
the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With
American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to
compete successfully in the global economy.”
When we drill deeper to look at the Common Core “habits of mind” that describe the profile of a
successful graduate prepared for college, career, and citizenship, we see clear alignment
across several of the domains of global competence. Where the Common Core calls for
students to “build strong content knowledge,” it is the same set of skills globally competent
youth use to "investigate the world.” Likewise, when students "understand other perspectives
and cultures," a Common Core outcome, it is no different from a globally competent student
"weighing perspectives."
Common Core Habits of Mind
Students…
Domains of Global Competence
Students…
Demonstrate independence
Build strong content knowledge
Respond to the varying demands of audience, task,
purpose, and discipline
Comprehend as well as critique
Value evidence
Use technology and digital media strategically and
capably
Come to understand other perspectives and cultures
Investigate the world
Investigate the world
Communicate ideas and recognize
perspectives
Investigate the world and communicate ideas
Investigate the world
Communicate ideas
Recognize perspectives
Global competence goes a step further than the Common Core to help students “take action.”
Through global learning, students acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and dispositions in
the CCSS through hands-on and real-world projects. These types of projects lead to deeper
engagement in learning for youth, as well as a lifetime of active citizenship to address the
complex challenges and unprecedented opportunities of the 21st century.
By simultaneously meeting and exceeding the Common Core State Standards through global
learning, afterschool and expanded learning programs can continue to address their goals of
engaging youth, providing real-world relevance, and preparing students for life and work beyond
school in the global 21st century.
© 2012 Asia Society
1.

6. Afterschool and Expanded Learning Tools and Resources
Resource
Description
Link
Expanding Horizons: Afterschool
and Global Learning
This short video shows examples of using afterschool and summer
programs to develop global citizens.
http://asiasociety.org/video/education/expandinghorizons-afterschool-and-global-learning-short
Expanding Horizons Toolkit
This toolkit provides activities and tools that help trainers and
professional development providers build the capacity of staff to
integrate global learning into their work with youth.
http://asiasociety.org/files/afterschoolehdirectors.zip
Expanding Horizons Website
This website breaks down steps from the Expanded Horizons Toolkit
for Program Directors
http://sites.asiasociety.org/expandedlearning/userg
uide/?page_id=10
How Global Afterschool Programs
Can Support Common Core State
Standards
This website shows how afterschool programs can support the
CCSS. This is a useful resource for planning and for advocating for a
program.
http://asiasociety.org/education/afterschool/howglobal-afterschool-programs-can-support-commoncore-state-standards
Asia Society on Afterschool
Resources available on this website range from funding sources for
afterschool to a Steps to Success guide for global learning.
http://asiasociety.org/education/afterschool/term
New York State’s Global Learning
Guide: Exploring the World
Afterschool
This is an activity-based curriculum that was developed to help
afterschool educators address the growing opportunities and
challenges that face our world, our communities, and our young
people in today’s global context.
http://www.nyscenterforschoolsafety.org/files/files
ystem/nysgloballearningguide.pdf
Global Learning in Afterschool SelfAssessment Tool
This tool integrates with the Afterschool Program Quality SelfAssessment (QSA) Tool and allows programs to assess themselves
on their integration of global learning.
http://sites.asiasociety.org/pgl2010/wpcontent/uploads/2010/08/afterschoolassessment.pdf
Afterschool Program Quality SelfAssessment (QSA) Tool
This 10-point framework of quality indicators guides program
stakeholders in reflecting on all aspects of program activities and
operation and planning for continuous program improvement.
http://www.nysan.org/section/quality/qsa
Global Concerns Classroom – How
to Start A Club Guide
Practical guide on how to start a Global Concerns club, co-written
by a former high school club leader.
http://gcc.concernusa.org/media/pdf/How_to_Start
_a_Club_Guide.pdf
Global Concerns Classroom 2013-14
Club Activity Guide
Suggested activity guide for 2013-14 school year with monthly
themed activities and suggestions for students taking action.
Available upon request, email
global.concerns@concern.net
Global Concerns Classroom Blog
Features articles written by Global Concerns club members on
school activities, campaigns, and fundraisers. Also features the GCC
Student Leadership Core and annual field visit.
http://gccblogs.concernusa.org/category/globalconcerns-clubs/