MWAI continues to support the Child Friendly Schools initiative to improve educational quality in the Republic of Macedonia. MWAI consultants are conducting Trainer of Trainers workshops in literacy and mathematics in June 2009 in Ohrid, Macedonia for teachers and advisors from Macedonia's Bureau for the Development of Education (BDE). Team leader Jan Westrick, Ed.D. (Valparaiso University, IN, USA), senior consultant Diane Prouty Harris, Ph.D. (Port Charlotte, FL, USA), and literacy specialist Richard Holdgreve-Resendez, M.A. (Michigan State University, USA), are training 55 teachers and advisors. Curriculum methodologist and senior consultant Nancy Clair, Ed.D. (San Francisco, CA, USA) developed the materials and guide in collaboration with Michele Monson, Ed.D. (Valparaiso University, IN, USA) and Jan Westrick.
Also in June, team leader and mathematics coach Judy Rohde, M.A., (Shoreview, MN, USA), together with senior mathematics coaches Mary Ellen Knappmiller, M.A., and Marium Toure, M.A. (Minneapolis School District, MN USA) will conduct the third of three one-week trainings for 70 teachers and advisors in Thinking Mathematics. This is a staff development curriculum for teachers developed by and used with permission from the American Federation of Teachers. Beginning September 2009, Macedonian teachers, with support from MWAI and the BDE advisors, will conduct trainings for other primary school teachers in research-based strategies for teaching literacy (Macedonian, Albanian, and Turkish) and mathematics in the early grades.
MWAI has accompanied UNICEF Macedonia and the BDE in the Child-Friendly Schools development process since August 2006.
