Frequently Asked Questions about the World Affairs Councils of America/World in Transition Flagship Program

WHAT IS THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCILS OF AMERICA/WORLD IN TRANSITION FLAGSHIP PROGRAM?
The flagship program is a partnership with the Coca-Cola Company, the UPS Foundation, Delta Airlines, the World Affairs Councils of America, and the Southern Center for International Studies to train teachers across the country using World in Transition (WIT) materials. The goal of the flagship program is to help councils that join the project become leading centers for international social studies education and the professional development of teachers.

WHY FOCUS ON TEACHERS?
Many good programs teach students, but providing professional development for teachers maximizes impact. When you teach one student, one student is educated. When you train one teacher, hundreds of students are educated.

The WIT program also minimizes cost. WIT materials are for the teacher/one set per classroom.

HOW DOES THE FLAGSHIP PROGRAM WORK?

Please note: the steps outlined below are subject to change.

Once a council has been accepted, there is a three-step process.

Step 1: SCIS conducts a train-the-trainer workshop in the partnering council’s community to help it develop a cadre of teacher trainers. SCIS provides each new teacher trainer with a full set of WIT materials at a two-thirds discount. The partner council recruits no less than 15 and no more than 30 experienced teacher trainers through its local school district(s), invites potential funders interested in expanding international affairs education in their community, and provides the following: one-third of the materials costs for the workshop; honorariums for teacher trainers; reasonable travel and lodging for teacher trainers and workshop coordinators; venue and AV equipment; food and other related workshop needs.

Step 2: Once the partner council has hosted the initial workshop, it begins to conduct follow-up workshops using its new teacher trainers. During the first year that the initial workshop is held (Year 1), SCIS provides additional sets of the World in Transition at a 50 percent discount for all follow-up workshops.

Step 3: Beginning in Year 2, SCIS is able to offer a discount of 25 percent on World in Transition materials for all subsequent workshops held by the partnering council.

Each council that completes the above steps is invited to appoint one person to sit on SCIS’s Academic Advisory Board, which advises SCIS on the WIT project.