Today's world language programmes must set measurable goals to ensure students achieve literacy and proficiency in the languages studied, write Shuhan Wang and Joy Kreeft Peyton of Asia Society's Chinese Early Language and Immersion Network. In this blog post, they outline five steps programmes can take to create these objectives.

South Korea's students work for 12 years in school toward scoring well on the Suneung, or the College Scholastic Ability Test, which determines college placements. Some, however, question whether the focus on the high-stakes exam places too much of an emphasis on testing, squeezing other aspects of education out of the classroom.

Science, technology, engineering and maths programmes may not be reaching low-decile schools in New Zealand at the same rates as other schools, says Energy and Technology Education Centre Manager Melvin Din. Din plans to dispatch in-class mentors to help educators incorporate more STEM lessons.

Results from the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment will be released 6 Dec., according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The OECD reports that the results will include data for more than a half-million students from 72 countries.

Educators aiming to adopt blended learning should first consider their goals, asserts Bill Tolley, a teacher at the International School of Beijing. In this blog post, he shares several blended-learning goals and how to achieve them.

High-school students in Washington state have been working with former child soldiers in Uganda who are now students to build a robot for the First Tech Challenge competition. The students have been collaborating through weekly Skype sessions and now in person as they get ready for the competition.

Middle leaders can have a profound impact on moving an educational institution forward. Through this collaboration with ECIS and the American School in London, middle leaders develop their skills and deepen their knowledge to become effective catalysts of schoolwide change. All courses share a common pedagogical model in which participants engage in active learning experiences, protocols and structures that foster thinking and equitable participation. Find out more here.

ECIS Webinars provide timely advice and insights into topics of interest and relevance to schools and individual practitioners. Upcoming webinars are featured in our monthly bulletin, and are featured on our events calendar. ECIS members attend webinars free of charge. For non-members, a modest fee may be required.

Voting for the annual Educators' Choice Content Award has kicked off. Each month, we recognise two innovative education bloggers with the Editor's Choice Content Award. These winners then are in the running for our annual Educators' Choice Award. Now, we need your input. Vote by 30 Nov.