In the Spring of 2008, we began partnering with the CASS program (Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships) at The University of Northern Colorado. This program was created in 1989, to improve the academic skills and practices of teachers in Central America and the Caribbean. The program, funded by USAID and administered by Georgetown University, provides opportunities for teachers in rural areas in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic to attend a U.S. institution, and complete a specialized program that meets the educational needs of the CASS teachers. UNC has become one of the USAID/Georgetown University implementation partners and hosted 20 teachers who were on campus from July to December of 2009. The 20 students attended classes daily and participated in campus and local activities. At the conclusion of the program, all CASS participants returned to their countries with new understandings of teaching methodologies; enhanced academic skills; materials to be used for professional development activities; and action plans to implement in their schools and communities to assist in the improvement of services offered to children and families. Dr. Madeline Milian, Professor in the School of Teacher Education, oversees the CASS/UNC program.
Through my initial involvement in 2008 and involvement in 2009 as an adjunct faculty member with the CASS program, I have become more familiar with the challenges of being a teacher in the public schools in Latin America. In the U.S., this is also very challenging, however we do sometimes take things for granted. The teachers related stories to me of teaching class sizes of 40-50 students. Because of this, students are taught with rote memorization strategies, and no small group or individual attention is available. One teacher reported frequent school cancellations in the Dominican Republic because the roof of the school leaked. Teachers often go without things like computer labs, school libraries, or even toilets that flush.
Because of this, Dr. Milian and I have worked hard to find the teachers computers, books, and other educational materials. It is USLA's goal to be able to help two teachers in rural Guatemala build a computer lab and for another to add books to his school library. We recently wrote a grant through Scholastic in order to help a teacher in rural Quiché, Guatemala build up his library and plan to write another grant to fund these computer labs.
However, assistance can be more than just materials. In keeping with USLA's focus on helping individuals with disabilities, I hope to be able to develop more workshops on classroom interventions that can be useful to children with disabilities. These will include content around informal behavioral assessments and interventions, math/reading/writing interventions, and use of social stories. Recently, Dr. Jeannie Dice-Lewis of The Children’s Hospital Rehab Department generously allowed me to use translated information from the Brainstars Manual to help teach more workshops for interventions for kids with traumatic brain injuries and/or learning disabilities. We are very excited for this opportunity.