Watch a video of the students performing at the Jungle Jamboree

Lions, zebras, and giraffes, oh my!

The Jungle Jamboree at the Akansha School within the Sitaram Mill Compound Mumbai Public School was a filled with excitement as the KG and 1^st standard students performed for parents, teachers, and community members at their end of year showcase. The event highlighted the culmination of a year of learning with students performing skits, songs, dances and poems – all in English – showing off all they had learned over the course of the year. A group of parents performed a special dance to show their appreciation for the teachers and staff.

The day also celebrated the hard work of school leader Mandira Purohit and her teachers to bring this new school to life and provide the children of the community access to a high-quality education. Through a public-private partnership with the government, Akanksha took over full management of the English medium strand of the existing public primary school one year ago. The school started with two grades and will continue to grow adding additional grades each year.

After the performance, guests were invited to visit the classrooms where students waited at learning stations to answer math and reading questions from the guests. The interactive learning demonstrations showed students ability to converse confidently with guests in English and apply their learning to different situations, not just recite memorized material. The event highlighted the rigor, high expectations, joy and community involvement that makes this Akanksha school an outstanding educational opportunity for underserved students in the neighborhood.

EdVillage applauds Mandira and her team for their hard work and will share their best practices and learnings with other like-minded school networks around the world.

]]> http://edvillageblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/akanksha-jungle-jamboree/feed/ 0 edvillageblog Jungle_Jamboree1 Girl writing on chalkboard http://edvillageblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/fighting-apartheid-through-education/ http://edvillageblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/fighting-apartheid-through-education/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 14:49:38 +0000 edvillageblog http://edvillageblog.wordpress.com/?p=144 ]]> Throughout the year, the EdVillage blog will include guest posts by participants, volunteers, supporters and friends. This is our first from Hollis Wood who worked with the 2011 Global Fellows last summer and traveled to South Africa this year to support the Global Fellows on the first day of the new school year. 

When EdVillage co-founder Allison Rouse first started talking to me about his dream to create an organization that would profoundly affect education around the globe, I could feel his enthusiasm and sense of purpose. But I also knew that those attributes alone weren’t enough to make the difference he hoped. Don’t get me wrong, I was on board from the beginning, but I had some concerns about how everything would come together. Those concerns were put aside after a long conversation this past October with Ross Hill, one of EdVillage’s first Global Fellows from South Africa.

Ross grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of an Anglican pastor and a high school biology teacher. As a young, white adult, he recognized the privileges he had growing up in apartheid South Africa. Ross became intent on fighting injustice and making a difference in the lives of historically disadvantaged children. He attended the University of Cape Town and earned a BS in Applied Mathematics. Seeking to do more, he went on to complete a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education and began his career in teaching in South Africa’s townships soon thereafter. After several different experiences, Ross became a Math teacher at LEAP Science and Maths School in Cape Town where he also taught Physics and Chemistry. However, when the opportunity to start a new LEAP school in Diepsloot, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg, arose, Ross seized it and left Cape Town for Johannesburg. Compelled by a desire to narrow the socio-economic and educational divides between white and black, and rich and poor, in his country, Ross looked to EdVillage for training and support to strengthen his leadership skills in order to bring educational equity to his students. Ross is a trailblazer and one of the three inaugural EdVillage Global Fellows.

EdVillage volunteer Holly Wood with Global Fellow Ross Hill

When I first spoke with Ross last summer, he had finished the leadership institute and was deep into his experiential residencies at high-performing schools around the United States. I asked him what the opportunity to participate in the EdVillage Global Fellows program had meant to him. He responded, “the [leadership institute] opportunity was enormous.” He expressed appreciation for the knowledge of process and leadership he had gained. He added that it provided him with a “few months to plan and strategize without being in the middle of opening the school” in Diepsloot. He shared that the fellowship provided an environment in which he had time to absorb relevant information, meet other school leaders, and learn about education and management strategies.

Ross found the residencies furnished him with the opportunity to observe the characteristics of well-run schools. The time he spent seeing systems of education with proven results for low income students informed his plan for the LEAP Science and Maths School he leads in Diepsloot. He put in several weeks at KIPP Schools in Houston, Newark, and New York City, Uncommon School’s North Star Academy in New Jersey, Noble Street Charter Schools in Chicago, High Tech High in San Diego and Phillips Academy Andover. Ross expressed the belief that he had developed “a broad picture of successful schools in the United States” and an understanding of “the culture of high performance” that made the schools successful.

I asked Ross what lesson he would take back to South Africa. He shared that on the personal level he would be returning with enhanced management and school leadership skills. On the educational level he would be bringing an understanding of how to use data to inform instructional practices and how to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching in the classrooms. He feels two critical ways to improve schools are creating a common language that identifies good teaching and developing systems of data that help monitor student attainment. Ross said he “has learned to recognize good teaching and now has the language to describe it.” This gives him the tools to assess and improve the teaching occurring in his school.

Heading into the new school year at LEAP Diepsloot, Ross offered the insight that he is “disciplining himself to spend time with the [central office’s] operations team to keep [his] school healthy as well as balancing micromanagement and the freedom of the faculty and staff.” He is excited to take on the challenges ahead.

There is no question Ross holds a deep commitment to the students of Diepsloot and South Africa. I know he is looking forward to incorporating the new ideas and using the skills he developed during the Global Fellows program. I am headed to Johannesburg to help Ross with the opening of the new school year. I can hardly wait to see his school, meet his students and share the excitement of making his vision reality. I’ll promise to tell you more when I get back!

Stay tuned for Holly’s next blog about her experience visiting the opening days of Ross’ new school in South Africa.

Hollis (Holly) Rust Wood is an EdVillage volunteer. She is a retired writer, educator and fundraiser. When she is not volunteering for EdVillage, Holly spends as much time as possible with her 7 children and 4 grandchildren, watching Stanford Women’s teams compete and helping Stanford University thrive.

The end of each school year always brings a time of reflection, celebration, and recognition. The Akanksha teachers and staff did just that on Sunday at the Akanksha Annual Day in Mumbai. While students enlivened the celebration with skits and dancing, this event focused on the dedication and hard work the adults put in over the past year to bring excellence to all Akanksha schools and learning centers.

The highlight of the day was the recognition of teachers and staff who had given five and ten years of service. Colleagues stepped up to speak about each awardee praising the commitment, friendship and unique talents each brought to the team. Included in this group was CEO Vandana Goyal who has been with Akanksha for five years. Founder Shaheen Mistri praised Vandana for growing the parts of the organization that were successful while also having the courage to change the organization for the better. Vandana challenged everyone to keep setting “big hairy audacious goals” for children and striving for excellence everyday.

A former student turned Akanksha teacher who has now started his own NGO closed the ceremony by reflecting on the role Akanksha played in shaping his life path. “If it was not for Akanksha, I would be a gangster. But now I’m not a gangster. I’m a good human being. I’m living a good life, a happy life, thanks to Akanksha.”

Akanksha currently runs 46 after-school centers and 9 schools serving 4,055 children in Mumbai and Pune. The organization will open 4 new schools for the 2012-2013 school year.

Watch Akanksha Student Dance at the celebration

Thank you for helping making the launch of EdVillage a success. Here’s to many impactful years ahead!

Allison Rouse and Mark Medema
Co-Founders, EdVillage

India Pushes Public-Private Ed. Partnerships

Government unveils plans to open 2,500 new schools

April 17, 2012  By Jason Tomassini

  Young Indian children study at an open air school in Jammu, India. A law making primary education compulsory in India came into effect, opening the door for millions of impoverished children who have never made it to school because their parents could not afford the fees or because they were forced to work instead. —Channi Anand/AP

In an effort to boost enrollment and improve its public education system, India is turning to the private sector.

The government is planning to open 2,500 new schools under public-private partnerships over the next five years, the first such initiative in the country, according to Livemint.com, a business-news website in India.

India’s human-resource-development ministry is seeking applications from companies and foundations to open schools under such partnerships, part of a larger plan to open 6,000 new schools over the next five years, beginning next school year.

The ultimate goal is to provide enough schools to educate all of India’s children, many of whom, especially in impoverished areas, don’t attend school.

And in a large country of more than 1 billion people, with dozens of languages and local cultures, national standards for new schools could bring some level of consistency to education, not unlike the intention of the Common Core State Standards in the United States.

Scaling Up Quality

The public-private models are similar to American charter schools, though in the case of India, it’s the federal government seeking private operators for planned schools, rather than private operators applying to open new schools through a state or local entity.

Young Indian children study at an open air school in Jammu, India. —Channi Anand/AP

India offers traditional government-run schools as well, some of which are operated by the federal government and others by local governments. The government has set aside the equivalent of about $190 million for the 2012-13 school year for the initiative, according to Livemint.com.

Public-private school partnerships are important because the government must support organizations currently operating high-quality schools so they are able to scale up, much as the Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, and Achievement First charter schools have done in the United States, said Allison Rouse, the chief executive officer of EdVillage, a Washington-based group that develops school leaders around the world, including in India.

For instance, Mr. Rouse said, EdVillage works with the Akanksha Foundation, a nonprofit group in Mumbai, India, that operates nine public schools in some of India’s poorest neighborhoods using a model inspired by KIPP, which emphasizes assessment, parent involvement, and extended school time. Those schools are in partnerships with their municipalities, but a national partnership could help the effort expand, he said.

Challenges Ahead

For American educators, it’s that relationship between local support, federal support, and private school managers that could provide lessons for how privately run public schools operate in the United States.

“How does a [central] government go about serving its schools by still giving autonomy to its states?” Mr. Rouse said in an interview.

According to Livemint.com, the private entities will be responsible for all managerial aspects of the schools, including development, design, and management. A grant for 25 percent of infrastructure costs and the cost of education will be provided by the government, the report said.

India already has an extensive array of private schools, which make up a majority of the secondary schools in the country, Mr. Rouse said. Some charge only nominal fees. But in 2010, India passed the Right to Education Act, aimed at making high-quality education available to students who can’t afford more traditional private school tuition.

Whether the partnership initiative succeeds depends on exactly how the money is allocated and how much emphasis is put on improving education, rather than simply providing it, Mr. Rouse said.

“We think the challenge for India is to create millions of seats for kids, and at the same time keep an eye on the quality bar,” he said. “We want quality schools, not just spaces that house kids.”

Any operator, including for-profit companies or those without education experience, can apply to open a school, though there are checks in place to help make sure applicants are qualified, including requiring deposits and giving permission to companies with education track records and graduation results to open multiple schools, according to the Livemint.com report. Those measures could help ensure quality in typically underserved communities.

“The overall quality of teaching and the learning process remains very low in most places” in India, said Stephen Anzalone, a vice president and director of the Asia Regional Center for the Education Development Center, a nonprofit with headquarters in Waltham, Mass., that develops global education initiatives.

Business Opportunities?

What remains unclear is if and how Western education companies will become more involved in India because of the new public-private initiative.

K-12 education in India will be worth $29 billion by the end of the school year, Livemint.com notes.

Companies with large operations in the United States such as K12 Inc. and Pearson have looked globally to provide content, technology, and virtual education to students, and the Indian initiative could open doors for companies seeking new markets. For instance, K12 recently purchased a stake in an English-language education provider in China, and Pearson acquired a majority stake of TutorVista, an education services company in India that manages 24 schools there, according to Pearson’s 2011 annual report.

But so far, experts say, the demand coming from India for services provided by Western education companies has been limited.

Coverage of the education industry and K-12 innovation is supported in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Vol. 31, Issue 28, Page 11

Indian teacher hopes to import ideas to Mumbai

Ross Hill has just opened a new LEAP school in Diepsloot, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. As an inaugural recipient of an EdVillage scholarship that includes being an international Fisher Fellow, Ross believes that this program will make all the difference for his underserved children in his growing school. LEAP Science and Maths Schools are low-fee paying secondary schools in South Africa with very similar values to KIPP schools. Starting out as a Math teacher, Ross has been teaching Physics and Chemistry before moving into leadership. He has co-authored a few science textbooks. He obtained a BS in Applied Mathematics and completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education at the University of Cape Town. Having grown up, studied and worked nearly all his life in Cape Town, he relocated to Johannesburg with his wife this year to start the school. Ross is motivated to bring social justice to a country with huge socio-economic and educational divides as a legacy of Apartheid. He is very grateful for this opportunity to grow and has great hope that this will help change the lives of his students and himself.

Bonisile Ntlemeza – Cape Town, South Africa

 Bonisile Ntlemeza is currently the principal of LEAP1, the first of the four LEAP Science and Maths Schools in South Africa. LEAP Schools are achieving significantly better results than government schools serving a similar student population. LEAP1 is located in Cape Town and serves students from the township of Langa, a disadvantaged community that is made up of both informal settlements and established communities. Bonisile has held a number of posts at LEAP. He started his career at LEAP as a member of the schools Life Orientation, a subject that develops in students’ social-emotional security as well as a way for them to become role models in their homes and agents of change in their communities. He also worked as the International Liaison for the school, a role that involved establishing and nurturing partnerships that the school has with friends across the world. Bonisile was born and raised in Langa. He attended Pinelands High School prior to matriculating into the University of the Western Cape. There he earned a BA in Anthropology and Psychology focusing on Culture and Society. He also completed his honors degree in Psychology at the Stellenbosch University.

Gaurav Singh – Mumbai, India

Gaurav Singh is the Founder of the 3.2.1 Education Foundation. Prior to this starting the 3.2.1 Education Foundation, Gaurav was a Teach for India fellow from its first batch (2009-2011). In his first year, he taught in a low income private school in Pune and handled a class of 47 2nd graders (ages  6 to 13) and led them to a growth of more than one academic year in his one year with them. He also started teacher collaboration sessions in his school and worked on the teacher training. In his second year, he worked in a government school in Mumbai and took his 30 kids to 2.5 years of academic growth in one year (measured on standard TFI tests). He was also part of an effort by Teach for India to work with the municipal corporation of Mumbai with the aim of improving the 1,400 schools in Mumbai. He was Teach for Indias lead on administration systems improvement and was part of the McKinsey team working on this effort. He worked in getting technology into the schools to improve administrational efficiency. He also worked on School Leader and teacher training projects both in his school and at the city level.

Learn more about the EdVillage Global Fellowship Program on our website, http://www.edvillage.org/#!global-fellowship-program

Apply to the 2012 Global Fellowship now. Applications are due by January 31, 2012.
http://www.edvillage.org/#!apply-now

The Harvard Kennedy School Education Policy Interest Council and EdVillage invite you to a discussion in celebration of International Education Week…

Third Sector Solutions To Increasing High-Quality Education
Opportunities Around The Globe

Wednesday, November 16
4:00pm – 6:00pm

Harvard Kennedy School
Malkin Penthouse in Littauer Building (4th Floor Room)
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

 Over the past two decades, the international community has mobilized around the critical issue of universal access to quality primary education, resulting in the new enrollment of millions of children globally. However, educational systems are ill equipped to serve all of these students, particularly those in economically disadvantaged communities. As a result, a “third sector” of education providers – a middle ground between traditional government schools and expensive and often exclusive private schools – has emerged in the form of no fee schools, low-cost private schools, and charter schools, run by NGOs, public-private partnerships, and companies.

Is this “third sector” the solution to increasing the capacity of the global education system to provide an excellent education for all children? In celebration of International Education Week, please join the founder of EdVillage, Mark Medema for a discussion about the role of the third sector and education entrepreneurs in increasing excellent education opportunities for the world’s most impoverished communities.

EdVillage supports education entrepreneurs from around the globe that seek to start high-quality schools in economically disadvantaged communities. We provide access to world-class school leadership training and support the start-up of their schools by linking these entrepreneurs to the knowledge gained by others in the field and to a global network of excellent schools. EdVillage is currently working in India and South Africa with plans to expand to other countries around the world. www.EdVillage.org

Read about EdVillage in Education Week’s recent article, “International Education Entrepreneurs Look to U.S.-Style Models” goo.gl/dqg9g

It is 1989, South Africa was still a nation where over 80% of the population did not have the right to vote.  This was still apartheid South Africa.  In that year, a progressive white educator determined to reach out to his Black neighbors, started an exchange program called Africa Week that involved bringing students from a local township, Langa which is near Cape Town, to the all white suburb of Pinelands. Children from two very different and segregated worlds, met and began to talk.  In apartheid South Africa that was success.  However, for John Gilmour, simply bringing kids together was not enough. He saw how the apartheid system robbed Black and Colored South African children of a good education so he started the Langa Education Assistance Program, LEAP in 1990, the same year that Nelson Mandela was released from prison.  LEAP provided 100 students from Langa township extra lessons in English, Maths, and Science.  The students were bused from Langa to Pinelands High three afternoons a week for 20 weeks.   John, along with a number of other educators from both Pinelands and the township, worked tirelessly on a program that they later deemed a failure.  Simply providing tutoring was not enough to change the life trajectory of students from Langa. The students in the LEAP Program and similar programs were not performing well on the high stakes high school exit and university admission exam call the “matric.”

John’s conclusion was that the teachers needed more time to work with the students.  An after-school program was not enough.  He needed the students for the entire school day.  He began discussions with a local wealthy private school, Bishops College about a partnership to create a new school model that could begin to address the inequalities caused by apartheid’s education legacy. By October 2003, John had secured start-up funding from several sources including the Shuttleworth Foundation.  With some funding, a partnership with Bishops, and the blessing of the Western Cape Education Department, the first LEAP Science and Maths School opened its doors to 72 high schools students from Langa Township in 2004.

Since then, LEAP Science and Maths Schools have expanded.  They now operate two schools that serve students from Langa, Gugulethu and Crossroads Townships near Cape Town and two schools near Johannesburg serving the communities of Alexandra and Diepsloot Townships.  They have had great success.  Last year, 98% of the LEAPsters passed the matric exam and over 60% passed with a mark that qualifies them to attend a university in South Africa.

Akanksha Foundation, India

Akanksha began in 1990 with then eighteen-year-old Shaheen Mistri’s pairing children from “slum” communities with volunteer college students in an open space in schools to for extra tutoring and full lessons. Shaheen believed that every child deserved the opportunity to learn and to have space and time to be a child.  Holy Name School in Mumbai provided space for the first Akanksha center. One site soon became several dozen.

Maximizing existing resources, the Akanksha after-school centers began to effectively fill many of the educational gaps children had as they progressed through the government school system.  Each center utilizes trained teachers and volunteers to teach English, Math and Values to 60 children for 2 ½ hours a day, five days a week.  The program focuses on the goals of providing a strong educational foundation, a good time, self-esteem and values.  In addition, the curriculum addresses successful completion of secondary school and job preparation to help them plan how they can earn a steady livelihood as a step towards improving their standard of living.  Today there are 46 centers in Pune and Mumbai serving over 2,500 children.

Recognizing the staggering statistics of a 50% drop out rate between grades 1 and 5 and a 90% drop out rate by grade 10 and the insufficient number of effective schools available to low income students, Akanksha decided to step back and redefine its approach to its mission of equipping all children with an education that has the power to fundamentally transform their life path.  In 2006, Akanksha approached the Pune Municipal Corporation to adopt a school.  From this partnership, The School Project emerged and the first school opened in June 2007.  The mission of The School Project is to create a model for high-performing schools that redefines what is possible for children from low-income communities.  Akanksha Schools have the potential to drive wider systemic reform.  The promising improvement in student performance on a third party assessment called ASSET built confidence that children from low-income communities could perform at higher levels in the right educational environment. Akanksha decided to work within the government system because of the potential to reach more children and possibly advocate for broader, system-wide education reform. There are now 9 Akanksha Schools operating in partnership with local municipalities in Pune and Mumbai.

How We Help – Our Work with LEAP and Akanksha

EdVillage is helping LEAP in two ways and learning from them on another front.

First, we are providing access to the world-class KIPP School Leadership Program to two of their existing principals through our Global Fellows Program. Bonisile Ntlemeza and Ross Hill are currently in the United States having spent 5 weeks in KIPP’s Leadership Institute they are now “interning” at high performing schools learning best practices from Instructional Leaders like Michael Mann and Juliann Harris at North Star Academy College Preparatory High School in Newark, NJ; Tammi Sutton and Kevika Amar of KIPP Pride High School in Gaston, NC; and Natalie Webb of KIPP NYC College Prep High School.

Second, EdVillage is providing targeted consulting and support services to the LEAP network.  The newest addition to the EdVillage team, Mike Rettberg, is working on the ground with LEAP’s leadership team on improving instructional practice.

And finally, each innovative school model we partner with demonstrates excellence in a variety of ways.  Since the doors of its first school opened in 2004, LEAP Science and Maths Schools have used a values-based framework as a way to empower their high school aged students.  LEAP’s Life Orientation program is unlike any in South Africa. Life Orientation strives to provide the learners with a sense of self, develop their genuine voice, and empower them to take action in their communities.  What we are learning from LEAP is that students arrive with a resiliency that provides a strong foundation ion which to build.  We plan to support LEAP in their efforts to share what they have learned with schools around the world.

EdVillage is helping Akanksha in two ways and learning from them on another front.

First, we are helping Akanksha develop a stronger human capital pipeline including the ability to support, mentor and develop their teachers and principals.

Second, working along side Akanksha’s CEO, Vandana Goyal, we will conduct school reviews and create an improvement plan for each school.  We will then work with the Central Office to ensure they have the right systems and personnel in place to support their schools and centers.

However, Akanksha has lots to share with the world.  One of the things Akanksha does better than their peers in India is to fully engage the community in their schools.  They have done an amazing job of working with parents, reaching out to community members, opening their schools so that people in the community can use them and supporting other children through their centers.  This multi-pronged approach to improving education is a community is something worth emulating.  We plan to help Akanksha share the lessons learned from their community building and engagement activities with schools around the world.