Read this article as it originally appeared on nj.com | localtalknews.com.
Exchange students from Duksung Women’s University in South Korea toured Robert Treat Academy in Newark on January 7 to gain an understanding of education practices in one of the state’s top urban charter schools.
Through a partnership with Caldwell College, 26 college students from Duksung University are staying in the U.S. for 24 days.
Caldwell College Associate Dean Lisa DiBisceglie said students in South Korea are required to have an international experience.
“They’re having a global education experience,” she said. “The program consists of English language along with comparative education component. So we’re at Robert Treat to do the comparative education piece.”
Robert Treat Academy Principal Theresa Adubato said she welcomed the opportunity to have the students visit and to establish a relationship with Caldwell College..
“It’s an honor to have students travel from halfway around the world to observe what we’re doing here,” Adubato said. “I hope they were able to walk away with an understanding and appreciation of what makes a school successful in an American city.”
Founded in 1997 by Stephen N. Adubato, Robert Treat Academy is among the highest performing K-8 charter schools in New Jersey. In 2010, its eighth grade students scored 91.8 percent proficient on language arts and 95.9 percent proficient on math.
During their visit, the students are observing some of the premiere schools in North Jersey to get a broad understanding of American education. In addition to Robert Treat, they will visit Warren Special Education School and Montclair Magnet School.
“When we asked the students what’s important to them and what they thought a school should be, they said students should be well-behaved and not talking to one another,” said DiBisceglie. “Those are characteristics very important to them.”
She added that in South Korea students do not engage in group work.
“Some of these students have never ever traveled, quite a few of them have never been on a plane so it’s a totally different kind of experience,” DiBisceglie said.
Caldwell College Assistant Professor Joan Moriarty said she’s learned about some of the differences between American and Korean education by talking to the girls throughout their stay.
“From what they’ve told us it’s very different,” Moriarty said. “They said in South Korea the students are very quiet. They would never have an expectation of talking out. A behavior problem would never be considered as part of classroom management.”
The women sat in on several classes at Robert Treat and got to witness the school’s smartboard and responder technology in use, observing an interactive learning experience.
“Today I’m quite surprised, this is a wonderful facility,” said Duksung University Dean Nak-don Sung, the chaperone for the trip. “It’s even better than a university facility in Korea. The children in this school are extremely lucky”
Nahyun Oh, a senior at Duksung Women’s University, pointed out that one of the differences between elementary schools in the U.S. and South Korea is that in South Korea, children do not transition to different classrooms. Instead, one teacher teaches all of the subjects and children remain in the same classroom the whole school day. One elementary school classroom in South Korea contains about 30 to 60 students.
“I’m really impressed,” Nahyun said. “Of course, we have the technology, but not so much of it in use in one class.”
Nahyun, who is majoring in Japanese, said in South Korea there is only one computer in the classroom and is for the teacher’s use only. She was also surprised to see so much of students’ artwork and projects displayed in the hallways.
“I want to meet a lot of kinds of people while I’m in America because Korea has just one culture,” said Nahyun, who hopes to become a middle school or high school teacher once she finishes college later this year. “We don’t have a chance to meet many different kinds of people.”
Adrianne Davis, the vice president of the Robert Treat Academy board of trustees, said the school is always willing to open its doors to students who want to learn more about its teaching methods.
“Robert Treat has found a successful model for teaching urban children,” Davis said. “We don’t mind sharing that with the world.”
