GCIV hosted five Education Ministry Officials and teachers from Bahrain September 19-23. These visitors were invited to the United States under the auspices of the US Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. While in Atlanta the group met with key professional counterparts, visited schools, and experienced American culture.

The visitors represented a combination of combination of senior teachers (with classroom, program coordination, and teacher training responsibilities) andcurriculum development specialists who are at the forefront of the civic education movement within the Bahraini Ministry of Education. During their three-week program in the United States, our visitors hoped to observe the role that civic education plays in promoting

ethics, tolerance, and citizenship in a multicultural society; discuss the roles played by governmental and non-governmental partners in designing curricula and setting standards; investigate community-school initiatives that use service learning and volunteerism to promote a sense of civic responsibility; and look at tools for investing peers, parents, students, and community in the process of civic education and in student-led cooperative learning projects.

On their first day of professional appointments, the group visited the Neighborhood Charter School. First they attended an "all-school meeting" that included staff, students, and parents. Afterwards they met with Principal Rosswurm to talk about the curricula, toured the school, and visited a number of classrooms. Later that afternoon they visited Druid Hills High School, where they sat in on a Citizenship class and had the opportunity to speak with school administrators about the civics education curriculum. Finally, the group experienced

GCIV was honored to have these distinguished visitors come to Atlanta as part of the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program. Their experiences here in Atlanta as well as Washington, DC, and Boston gave them a first-hand view of the diversity of the United States and gave them some ideas on how to improve their civics education curricula. Commenting on their three-week program to GCIV members, the visitors said that they were excited to bring their new knowledge home with them to implement in Bahrain, and to share with their colleagues throughout the Middle East. We wish them the best of luck and hope their trip to Atlanta will help them in their professional endeavors.