August 2010 Archives

Through the continued partnership between Miske Witt and Associates Inc. (MWAI), the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), and CARE International, impressive gains are being made to improve the lives of the most marginalized girls in eight countries around the world.  These partners are working in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Malawi, Mali, and Tanzania to identify specific barriers to girls' education, and have been working tirelessly to design research questions and measure their interventions.  After uniting in Minnesota in November, 2009 for a six-day workshop, staff from each CARE office identified both short- and long-term outcomes for their country-specific interventions.  In addition, three common themes emerged across the eight countries as areas to focus on to improve girls' education:

1. Child-centered pedagogy
2. Girls' workload/completion
3. Girls' self-esteem or self-confidence

Currently, CARE staff from each of the PCTFI countries are being trained to measure these three themes using standardized, high quality research tools.  Mark Lynd Ed.D., of MWAI, Project Co-PI Chris Johnstone, and Research Fellow Nancy Pellowski Wiger traveled to Bamako, Mali in May to lead a 5-day workshop on the CARE common quantitative and qualitative items.  Twenty country office staff from both CARE Mali and CARE Tanzania attended the workshop.  The CARE team in Mali has been working for the past five years to improve access and quality of non-formal education programs that provide youth with both academic and vocational skills.  The CED schools include a four-year economic opportunity program that focuses on teaching skills such as fabric dying, paper making, and tailoring.  The SSA is a one-year "second chance" program to help students improve their academic skills, thus enabling them to return to formal schooling.

MWAI consultants have been very busy in the Central Eastern Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States region over the last few months, continuing the Quality Basic Education/Child-Friendly Schools (QBE/CFS) Standards Development project in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.  In March of 2010, a "Field Guide Manual", highlighting the country-level protocols for interviews, meetings, school visits, and materials collection, was shared with staff from each country office.  In addition, MWAI consultants Nils Kauffman, Anne Katz, Nancy Clair, and Shirley Miske conducted country-level field visits from March 15 - May 1, 2010.  During these visits, MWAI consultants worked with country office staff to develop an understanding of QBE/CFS standards, ways to monitor progress towards these standards, and opportunities to integrate the QBE/CFS principles into national standards.  Subsequently, Deepa Patel (MPP Berkeley, CA) and Senior Consultant Nancy Clair drafted a conceptual framework for standards development for the region.  Currently, the MWAI team is developing a roadmap of possible pathways and national strategies for furthering the development of QBE/CFS standards in each country.

In an effort to strengthen the educational system capacity for child-friendly schools in Macedonia, MWAI is continuing its partnership with UNICEF to enhance the teaching of literacy and mathematics.  In 2009, MWAI experts (using mathematics and literacy training materials) conducted workshops with Grade 1-3 teachers and advisors from the Bureau for the Development of Education (see entries on March 5, 2009 and June 15, 2009).  Upon completion of two MWAI trainings, these participants began training teachers in their own schools in the use of child-friendly strategies.   MWAI consultants Judy Rohde, Marium Toure, and Mary Ellen Knappmiller returned to Macedonia for a three-day mathematics workshop (May 25 - May 28, 2010) to provide additional support and strengthen the skills of the original participants.  During this workshop, participant trainers learned to use the Fidelity Tool instrument and are now equipped to support their own instruction and lesson development and to conduct peer observations with other teachers.  In addition, participants had the opportunity to share their successes and challenges in using the new strategies, to receive feedback and learn from other professionals in the field.  The MWAI literacy training in Macedonia is scheduled for August of 2010.