Primary Education Program

Grant Status

2009-2010:

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About

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The systems of poverty confronting families in El Porvenir inhibit children’s early academic growth and cognitive stimulation. This disadvantage is then compounded by the education children receive in the under-resourced and over crowded public schools of El Porvenir. Children spend the majority of the school day copying information from the black board into their notebooks. Children learn in classroom without books or didactic learning tools. Little emphasis is placed on understanding, analyzing concepts or building academic skills and problem solving strategies. In 2009 SKIP issued standardized tests to evaluate the academic level of the students. Results showed that the vast majority of students were performing far below grade level.

SKIP is looking to provide students with an alternative learning experience focsing on using modern methods of instruction to help children acquire a solid academic foundation. Primary school children attend three hours of enrichment classes in the afternoon at SKIP. During this time student are instructed in reading, writing, math and English, and participate in a variety of extracurricular activities.

Our targeted focus for this year however is to improve students overall ready abilities through implementing a new program approach that will provide students with sound instruction and a literacy rich learning environment.

Project History

SKIP has recently implemented a reading workshop model of instruction in order to foster the development of fluent readers that are able to apply varied strategies in order to aid textual comprehension and analysis.

A certified teacher and SKIP volunteer designed a curriculum (see blog for the specifics) based upon the reading workshop model of instruction. Both Peruvian teachers and foreign volunteers were then trained to implement this curriculum in their classrooms. In January of 2010 four classes of 30 students began lessons using this new model during a summer enrichment program. Currently there are 170 children in seven classes attending the SKIP primary program 6 days a week.

In order to execute this project with the appropriate and necessary tools, volunteers fundraised and purchased a limited number of books at developmentally appropriately reading levels. These books were leveled accordingly and are used by students in guided reading groups. Furthermore a small amount didactic phonics based learning tools were purchased in order to increase child engagement with reading process during the workshop period.

Currently we do not have enough reading materials or didactic tools to effectively support a strong reading workshop model. Students often have not more than one book option at their reading level to practice their developing strategies and thus are not provided with a full model of instruction. We are looking to purchase a reading scheme particularly for preliterate and emergent readers.

Project Impact

SKIP has developed an assessment process (see blog for the specifics) to measure progress made in student’s lexile level and comprehension abilities. A full direct reading assessment and evaluation of comprehension abilities will be administered at the start, middle and end of each school year.

We aim to see our project provide direct impact to children’s reading ability so that they are not only strong fluent readers, but readers that have the skills and strategies that allow them to critically analyze, question and infer information from a piece a text. More generally, this project aims to enhance children’s overall academic skills and allow them to become engaged and active agents in their own intellectual development.

Beyond these more measurable and concrete goals, there is a clear aim to create lifelong learners through the work we are doing at SKIP. We hope to create an educational environment that stimulates and excites students, providing them with academic skills that they can use to debate changes and creatively apply solutions both in their own lives and within society as a whole.

Project Team Credentials

The primary teaching team is composed of a team of 5 Peruvian teachers and 5 foreign volunteers. The coordinator of the education project and overseer of curriculum and instruction is a licensed teacher in the United States with 3 years of full time elementary school teaching experience. The primary teaching team works alongside a team of psychologists in order to help ensure that all children will maintain the abilities to reach their academic potential.