Another hallmark component of CIE is the bridge between theory and practice. Much of education is professional education, which often translates to explicitly practical application in schools and classrooms. This is a vital component of Lehigh’s College of Education, and it is important for CIE to support this professional training component that is so successful in the College of Education. Yet, the field of comparative and international education is also by nature a global program in that it provides educators and policymakers with a way to understand broader, cross-system, and global trends in educational policy and practice. One of the best tools that we have for understanding these trends is through the development and testing of ideas in the real world. As such, CIE’s programs and courses are theoretically grounded, but also practically-oriented. We help our students think about phenomena using theory, but also teach them how to apply these ideas to real-world, globally-contextualized educational situations and systems.