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SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell and Roberto Falaschi, the Consul General of Italy, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a partnership designed to improve and expand the teaching of Italian in California schools.

"To succeed in the increasingly competitive global economy, students in our schools today need to learn to interact with people from cultures different from their own," O'Connell said. "Learning another language is a mind-opening experience. It opens a window into another culture. Cooperative agreements for international education and teacher exchanges are excellent ways to meet some of the challenges of our interdependent world. Teachers and students of Italian in grades kindergarten through twelve will reap the benefits of this new partnership with Italy."

The MOU establishes a collaborative relationship between Italy and California to support the teaching of Italian language and culture in public schools that teach Italian. Thirty-two California schools in 25 different districts currently offer courses in Italian as a foreign language. The list is attached.

The MOU will be in effect for four years. It includes:

• A visiting teachers program, providing one to five native Italian teachers to work in interested school districts in California;
• Summer institutes in Italy for California teachers. Two scholarships will be given to California teachers to study Italian and culture at a university in Italy.
• A literary contest to encourage students to write in Italian; and
• Promotion of resources for students and teachers from the Italian Resource Center within the Center for World Languages at University of California, Los Angeles. The California Department of Education will disseminate information about professional workshops and activities for teachers of Italian.

Please see the attached text of the Memorandum of Understanding between the California Department of Education, the Italian Ministry of Education, the Istituto Nazionale Di Documentazione Per I'Innovazione E La Ricerca Educativa, and the Consulates General of Italy and California.

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Attachments

Italian as a Foreign Language

California Public Schools Teaching Italian and Italian Culture

Memorandum of Understanding Between the California Department of Education, the Italian Ministry of Education, the Istituto Nazionale di Documentazione per I'innofazione e la Ricerca Educativa, and the Consulates General of Italy in California

Background and Resolution

The California Department of Education (hereafter referred to as the Department), the "Istituto Nazionale di Documentazione per l'Innovazione e la Ricerca Educativa" (hereafter referred to as INDIRE) in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Education — "Direzione Generale per gli Affari Internazionali dell'Istruzione Scolastica" (hereafter referred to as MIUR), and the Consulates General of Italy in Los Angeles and San Francisco (hereafter referred to as the Consulates) express their wish to deepen and strengthen a collaborative relationship to enhance the opportunities for educational and cultural exchanges and at the same time increase the availability of qualified teachers of Italian for California schools. 

The Department is a designated sponsor by the United States Department of State of the Exchange Visitor Program (hereafter referred to as the EVP). The EVP regulations implement the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended, Public Law 87-256, 22 U.S.C. 2451, et seq. (1988). The purpose of the Act is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by means of educational and cultural exchanges.

The educational and training system in Italy is undergoing major changes as a result of the passage of Law 53 of March 2003. INDIRE and the Consulates recognize the international benefits of those changes, and expressed the desire to collaborate with the Department to enhance their efforts to improve the teaching of Italian in California public schools.

In the past decade, important changes in education and teacher training have taken place both in California and in Italy. The academic training of the students and the professional development of the teachers can be enhanced so that they participate with greater understanding in a global economy and multicultural society.

The Department and the Consulates, in collaboration with MIUR and INDIRE:

In recognition of the importance that the English and Italian languages have as instruments of communication between individuals and countries, and of the value languages play in the exchange of information and culture; and

Driven by the desire to advance the goals of mutual understanding and respect between the citizens of their respective territories;

In an attempt to improve the study of the Italian language and culture by increasing the number of qualified teachers;

THEREFORE, resolve to establish this Memorandum of Understanding (hereafter referred to as the MOU).

This MOU is hereby signed pursuant to the following Agreements:

I. General Principles

1. The Consulates, with the collaboration of the Department, INDIRE and MIUR, establish the following five objectives for the cooperative programs that will be developed under this MOU to enhance the teaching of the Italian language and culture in the California public schools:

1. To provide professional growth opportunities to teachers and administrators in the State of California;
2. To provide students with Italian cultural education that trains them to be aware of the similarities and differences of people of another country;
3. To promote relationships between the citizens of the State of California and Italy;
4. To increase the availability of native teachers of Italian; and
5. To encourage the exchange of educational and cultural materials.

2. The MOU will cover the schools that teach the Italian language and culture.
3. All activities subject to this MOU will promote high academic standards.

II. Cooperative Programs

The cooperation between the Ministry, the Consulates, and the Department will be demonstrated through the following programs:

1. California/Italy Teaching Partnership for Native Teachers Trained in Italy

The Department, INDIRE, MIUR, and the Consulates will design an exchange and cultural program that will benefit both communities.

1.1 The Department, in collaboration with the Consulates and INDIRE-MIUR:

• Will invite school districts to participate in the program.
• Will negotiate Agreements of Collaboration with the participating school districts.
• Will meet with the participating school districts in the screening and placement of qualified native teachers from Italy who may be contracted in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
• Will develop and maintain an abbreviated version of the California Basic Education Skills Test to administer to the teacher candidates during the selection process in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, or in Italy.
• Will collaborate with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to assure appropriate credentials for the native Italian teachers.
• Will support INDIRE and the Consulates in conducting a seminar for the teachers of the Italian language.
• Will assist the school districts in providing the orientation and professional development to the selected teachers pursuant to 22 Code of Federal Regulations Section 62.10.

1.2 The Consulates, in collaboration with INDIRE-MIUR and the Department:

• May announce the application process in Italy and in the Italian Communities in California; and
• Will participate in the selection committee, composed of representatives of the school districts, the representative of the Department, and INDIRE, in the final selection process of the teachers.

2. In-service Training Programs: Summer Institutes in Italy for Teachers of Italian

In order to improve the Italian literacy levels of teachers of Italian in California, the Consulates, in collaboration with INDIRE-MIUR, and the Department will promote teacher participation in specially designated courses at fully-accredited universities in Italy. These courses will include Italian language and culture.

2.1  Each year INDIRE will offer online courses of Italian to two teachers, who will then be offered scholarships to study in Italy;

2.2 The cost of the travel to the institutes in Italy will be the responsibility of the participants;

2.3 Each year the Consulates will announce the summer institutes in Italy;

2.4 The Department will encourage the school districts to recognize the courses taken at accredited Italian universities for professional development credit.

3. Scrivo in italiano

The Consulates in collaboration with the Department willorganizean annualliterary contest entitled "Scrivo in italiano" for students of Italian in California public schools. The purpose of the contest is to encourage students to further their Italian writing skills and to acknowledge their capacity to communicate in Italian.

4. The Resource Center for the Teaching of Italian

The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Consulate of Los Angeles have established an Italian Resource Center at the "Center for World Languages" at UCLA. This Center contains books, written and audiovisual materials, and educational resources related to the teaching of the Italian language, culture, and the training of teachers. To promote the use of the Resource Center by public school teachers, the Department agrees to:

• Support the teaching of Italian in kindergarten through twelfth grades.
• Disseminate information about professional workshops and activities for teachers of Italian.
• Serve as the liaison with the public schools.
• Disseminate information about the Resource Center activities to the school districts.

III. Evaluation

Annually, representatives of INDIRE-MUIR, the Consulates and the Department will prepare a report assessing the program activities of this MOU that will include recommendations for improvement and/or changes.

IV. MOU Duration

1. This MOU is established for four years and can be canceled by any party on demand, provided that at least six months notice is given.
2. During the term of the MOU, any party may add provisions for its improvement when agreed upon by all parties.
3. Unless canceled by any party, this MOU will automatically be renewed for one-year periods until a new agreement that substitutes or modifies it is signed.
4. This MOU is executed by the Department, INDIRE-MIUR, and the Consulates subject to the availability of funds appropriated by legislative act for the purposes stated. All amendments and/or extensions or subsequent contracts entered into for the same or continued purposes are executed contingent upon the availability of appropriate funds. Notwithstanding any provision in this MOU or any other document, this MOU is void upon appropriated funds becoming unavailable.

This MOU is signed in English and in Italian and both are equally valid in the State of California and in Italy.

Representing the California Department of Education

JACK O'CONNELL
State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Representing the Consulates General of Italy in Los Angeles and San Francisco

ROBERTO FALASCHI
Consul General of Italy in San Francisco

DIEGO BRASIOLI
Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles
Representing the Ministry of Education

ANTONIO GIUNTA LA SPADA
Director General, Direzione Generale per gli Affari Internazionali dell'Istruzione
Scolastica

Representing the Istituto Nazionale di Documentazione per l'Innovazione e la
Ricerca Educativa

GIOVANNI BIONDI
Direttore, INDIRE