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Published by the Council on Foreign Relations, March 2012 Independent Task Force report asserts that fixing the nation's underperforming K-12 public schools is critical for strengthening the country's security and increasing its economic competitiveness. 
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Published by the British Council, 2011 It is a widely held – if not undisputed – view that the UK is lacking in the necessary language skills for the future, partly because of the status of English as the language of international communications. This report seeks to provide a strategic analysis of the UK’s long-term language needs, looking at a variety of economic, geopolitical, cultural and educational indicators and scoring different languages against these. It identifies a list of ten languages which will be of crucial importance for the UK’s prosperity, security and influence in the world in the years ahead. The indicators used are: 1. current UK export trade 2. the language needs of UK business 3. UK government trade priorities 4. emerging high growth markets 5. diplomatic and security priorities 6. the public’s language interests 7. outward visitor destinations 8. UK government’s International Education Strategy priorities 9. levels of English proficiency in other countries 10. the prevalence of different languages on the internet. From the analysis of languages against these indicators – and it is worth remembering that they include cultural and educational priorities as well as economic ones – comes a list of the ten most important languages for the UK’s future; in order:
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Published in 2008 by the Department of Early Childhood Development, State Government of Victoria, Australia UNESCO has proclaimed 2008 as the InternationalYear of Languages. This edition of Research eLert makes a contribution to that focus by exploring the local and international research on learning Languages Other Than English (LOTE) by school-age children. The report is also timely in that it engages with the current debate in the media regarding the relative merits of language learning in schools. While Victoria is leading the country in the number of students learning LOTE in schools, there are many issues to deal with around teacher availability, continuity in learning and the choice of languages to be taught. Australia is in a fortuitous position as an English-speaking country with a culturally and linguistically diverse population in the Asian region. We should be considering our future for LOTE in this context. The report draws on contemporary research to illustrate the profound impact that learning a second language has on students’ capacity to conceptualise their native language and culture and improve literacy and learning skills across the curriculum. Significantly, the report discusses the importance of LOTE in the changed global context, drawing attention to the long term economic and employment benefits likely to accrue to those who learn languages other than English and the broader cultural competency this entails.
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Published in December, 2007 by the State Foreign Language Council
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UNESCO Position Paper Published in 2003 by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO has an essential role to play in providing international frameworks for education policy and practice on key and complex issues. Language and, in particular, the choice of language of instruction in education is one such concern and often invokes contrasting and deeply felt positions. Questions of identity, nationhood and power are closely linked to the use of specific languages in the classroom. Language itself, moreover, possesses its own dynamics and is constantly undergoing processes of both continuity and change, impacting upon the communication modes of different societies as it evolves. Educational policy makers have difficult decisions to make with regard to languages, schooling and the curriculum in which the technical and the political often overlap. While there are strong educational arguments in favour of mother tongue (or first language) instruction, a careful balance also needs to be made between enabling people to use local languages in learning, and providing access to global languages of communication through education. The purpose of this position paper, therefore, is to consider some of the central issues concerning languages and education and to provide related guidelines and principles. In doing so we are conscious of the need for a clear statement on language policy in relation to education, particularly within the context of Education for All and in terms of the Dakar goals of ensuring that by 2015 all children have access to quality primary education and that there is a 50 per cent increase in adult literacy by the year 2015.
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Published by the U.S. Defense Department, 2011
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Published by the American Institutes for Research, May, 2010
Dual Language Education of New Mexico's insight:
Full of important research evidence!
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Published in 2006 by the British Council A provocative and compelling report written by David Graddol, a British applied linguist, who is well known as a writer, broadcaster, researcher and consultant on issues relating to global English. The report was underwritten by the British Council, “The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.”
The forward to English Next explains the report’s findings and importance.
The growth of the use of English as the world’s primary language for international communication has obviously been continuing for several decades. But even as the number of English speakers expands further there are signs that the global predominance of the language may fade within the foreseeable future.
Complex international, economic, technological and cultural changes could start to diminish the leading position of English as the language of the world market, and UK interests which enjoy advantage from the breadth of English usage would consequently face new pressures.
Those realistic possibilities are highlighted in the study presented by David Graddol. His analysis should therefore end any complacency among those who may believe that the global position of English is so unassailable that the young generations of the United Kingdom do not need additional language capabilities.
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Published in 2008 by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster and Governor Jim Doyle appointed a Statewide International Education Council to recommend and advocate policies to make global studies more accessible to PK-16 students and educators. The Council developed specific recommendations for strengthening international education in Wisconsin’s schools
Dual Language Education of New Mexico's insight:
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Report Excerpts p. 15-16
"Not only do American children know little about their own country, they also cannot understand or communicate with their global peers. Largely as a result of immigration, nearly four hundred languages are spoken within the United States. However, roughly eight in ten Americans speak only English, and a decreasing number of schools are teaching foreign languages.
This failure to teach foreign languages (and a parallel failure to take advantage of the native language skills of immigrants) disadvantages Americans with respect to citizens of other countries, many of whom speak more than one language. For example,
more than 35 percent of Canadians and 56 percent of Europeans speak more than one language.
The Task Force does not necessarily believe that every U.S. student should be reading Chinese; indeed, too many are not reading English well enough. However, the group is troubled by the language deficit, and fears that it will prevent U.S. citizens from participating and competing meaningfully, whether in business or diplomatic situations. It will also have a negative impact on government agencies and corporations attempting to hire people knowledgeable about other countries or fluent in foreign languages."