Welcome!

CALIS is an outreach project of the School of International Relations dedicated to advancing teaching excellence in international studies.

    Our mission is to promote curriculum reform in social science education: to develop classroom materials and outreach programs that directly engage students in high level analysis that prepares them to think critically about personal and policy choices in an increasingly globalized world.
    Our focus is on the systematic use of case teaching and analytical tools, addressing complexity and controversy with depth and accountability.
    Our process is to bring USC students and faculty together with teachers and their students, working directly in classrooms and involving local students on campus as much as possible.
    Our commitment is to make our resources and services accessible - locally and globally - to those who share the vision of a new paradigm in teaching and learning about the human condition.

    In this effort, CALIS has established a set of fully integrated programs:

1) undergraduate outreach to local high schools - up to 250 USC students team-teach a series of 4 class sessions in over 80 classrooms each year

2) high school student programs - the annual High School Leadership Conference hosts up to 240 local students who are mentored by over 50 USC student volunteers.

3) teacher training and collaboration - workshops and seminars to build partnerships in curriculum reform

4) curriculum development - lessons, activities and course maps that apply analytical tools and case teaching, and are available free on our Activities Database to support our local programs and to promote change in teaching the social sciences

5) teacher leadership - collaborative support for partner teachers to present strategies and materials at state and national conferences