For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 21, 2001
Fact Sheet Creating Centers of Excellence for Teacher Training
"We are committed to making education a centerpiece of our economic
agenda -- because learning and literacy are the foundations for
development and democracy. The United States will sponsor
the creation of Hemispheric Centers for Teacher
Excellence. These centers will provide teacher training for
improving literacy and basic education, both in person and over the
Internet."
President George W. Bush
April 21, 2001
At a time when education is acknowledged as the most decisive factor
for national progress, educational indicators for Latin America and the
Caribbean compare poorly with the rest of the world. In some countries
fewer than 60 percent of children who start school reach the fifth
grade and illiteracy rates remain high. The deficiencies in the
educational systems strike hardest at the poor. Although the reasons
for the poor performance of the region's educational systems are
complex, one of the major reasons is that teacher quality has
deteriorated. Most teachers and school administrators in the hemisphere
have limited materials, little support in the classroom and poor
training that is ill-suited for dealing with disadvantaged students.
In response to this problem, President Bush announced the creation of
three
Hemispheric Centers for Teacher Excellence, to be housed in existing
institutions in the Caribbean, the Andean region of South America, and
Central America. These will be regional teacher training and
resource centers. Their objective will be to improve teacher and school
administrator quality and to improve the quality of early instruction
in the classroom throughout the hemisphere, with special emphasis on
poorer countries and for teachers who work in disadvantaged
communities. It is expected that about 15,000 teachers will
benefit from this training over four years.
The focus of the program will be on improving reading instruction and
upgrading the knowledge and pedagogical skills of poorly qualified
teachers. The project will establish a training-of-trainers program so
that
teachers and school administrators can take the training back to their
communities.
The program will also create a clearinghouse of teacher training
materials and an Internet Portal linking teacher training institutions,
think tanks, schools, teachers, and universities so that they can share
materials, "best
practices" and "lessons learned" as well as provide virtual training.
USAID will administer the resources and coordinate the program, with
the guidance of an advisory panel of U.S. and Latin experts. The
Department of Education, the Organization of American States,
Ministries of Education, business and citizen groups, faith-based
organizations, international donors, and other hemispheric governments
will be enlisted to form a partnership with USAID for the
implementation of the program. The U.S. Government will
invest $10 million in the first year of the program.
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