The building or improvement of  classrooms is a huge part of what we do, but the impact of what happens inside those classrooms and inside the hearts of students is often the most significant part. It is difficult to measure, but fascinating to witness. School proprietors are our “customer” because they are receiving loans to improve and expand their school, but at the end of the day, our purpose, drive and motivation is to reach students. We want to impact the lives of students by building character in the classroom, which is why we also offer training, follow-up and improved curriculum options.

I have been visiting schools here in the DR for about seven months now. Some teachers and directors were trained a year ago, some were trained six months ago, but all of them have been receiving follow-up sessions to help them implement new curriculum. Change is never easy and so follow-up sessions are a key element to ensuring that a new curriculum or teaching methodology sticks and actually impacts the lives of the students. I can’t show you pictures of the step-by-step progress occurring in a child’s heart, but I can tell you that I have seen transformation. The other day I was at an AMO follow-up session at a school in San Pedro. We were talking with the school director, asking if students are enjoying AMO so far, and if he has seen any changes in them. He started telling us about a few students who have been greatly impacted, but then stopped and called some of the kids in that were walking by his office. He introduced us and asked them to tell us what they’ve been enjoying about AMO. One young boy said that his favorite vocabulary word from AMO is “potential” because he realized that God has given us all the potential to do great things in our lives. A young girl said that her dad is currently living in New York but she has been communicating with him more frequently lately since AMO has parent prayer and blessings cards that are distributed every two weeks. Since she can’t give the cards to her dad she has been emailing them to him so that he can still be involved in her life and Christian education. At multiple schools teachers are telling us that the students are behaving better than had in the past, not only in AMO classes but in their other classes as well. These are the little things that demonstrate the impact, that hearts are being touched. We are grateful for the dedicated school directors and teachers who are walking alongside these students daily, encouraging them in their academic and spiritual journeys.

We can visualize the foundation being laid in the hearts of these children; the construction of their principles, morals, values and the growth of their love for God. We can build classrooms but to build character inside of those classrooms is the greatest impact we can make.

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:20

A few weeks ago we wrapped up our first Teaching Methodology Training here in Kigali, Rwanda through the International Finance Corporation (IFC).  As it was a pilot project with new content, we really weren’t sure how it would go, but we were hopeful that our approach would make a deep impact on the schools that attended.

The training was created to target school owners, Principals, Deans of Study, and Head Teachers.  The goal of this training is to create a team structure at the school, which can work to create quality learning environments that are aligned to the individual schools’ needs, visions, and goals.  Throughout the 5 day workshop, school leaders came together to practice and learn current teaching methodology strategies, in an effort to go back and train their staff.  Professional Development calendars were created, and leaders gained strategies in such topics as active learning, positive behavior management, and group work.

We underestimated the weight and importance of this type of training for Rwanda.  Throughout the training, the 42 participants from low-cost, private Christian schools in Kigali, debated one another, challenged one another’s thinking, and encouraged one another to be open minded to new content.  This was a new way of thinking for them – a shift from teacher-centered, with the principal at the top of the hierarchy, to student-centered, with a team supporting student success.

This shift in pedagogy and thinking is needed here in Rwanda.  Why then, wouldn’t we provide this opportunity directly to the teachers?

The answer is because if really good teachers are not supported, they often will not be able to implement what they have learned from a workshop.  Their isolated efforts will frequently end in frustration.  Instead, if we are able to train key leaders who can instill change, we change the school from the inside out.  No longer are isolated teachers alone espousing quality, but the school as a whole becomes the catalyst for change.  This has to be a movement from within.  We also are able to impact so many more students using this model.  By training 42 key leaders at 14 schools directly, they can go back and train as many 140 teachers at their schools.  These teachers have the potential to impact as many as 4,200 students!

As one participant from the training stated: “We are the ones who are stuck in our ways.  The ministry has been asking us to be participatory and child centered for 2 years, why can’t we change?”

As Edify staff makes follow-up visits in the next few weeks, we hope to see the kind of change that was spoken of at the training.  One school owner stood up at the training and asked the key question, “What’s next?”  He knew that something was going to be different, but that he needed to be supported in this effort.  These relationships are so rewarding and the progress made by these schools is felt in the comments from a few of the exit slips seen below (click on the image to enlarge).

We held the training away from home for the attendees, in the Windy Lodge in Winneba on the coast of Ghana (which, coincidentally is known for being a very windy place!). It is a small fishing community that is away from the distractions of day-to-day life that allowed the attendees to focus on the training. We started on Monday and went for seven days straight, covering fundamental topics like conducting better research using the Internet, utilizing PowerPoint in your classroom to cutting-edge topics like Intel’s curriculum on 21st Century Learning Skills and using the Khan Academy in a classroom rotational model. It was a jam-packed week with plenty of hands-on experience for the attendees and cumulated with the presentation of group projects presenting how the teachers can write lesson plans around using these new software packages to integrate them into their teaching.

One of the attendees said “I am very happy to be a part of this training – I have been looking for a long time ways that I can improve my ICT [Information and Communication Technology] skills.” For the teachers in attendance, most of this information was new, and alongside the hands-on training with plenty of screen-time, there was considerable excitement as their knowledge grew. I am looking forward to the reports of how they have started to use these new tools and skills in their classrooms as school (and the early reports are promising!) here in Ghana gets back into session.

Before taking a loan from Esperanza, one of Edify’s partners in the DR, her school had 200 students. After putting the loan to use, this passionate “edupreneur” has more than doubled her attendance. She’s not stopping there though! Aleyda has her sights set on having 2000 students exposed to the quality Christ-centered education her school offers. For more about Aleyda’s story, watch this short video.

When it comes to hiring new employees at Esperanza International, one of Edify’s microfinance partners in the Dominican Republic, they have a poignant modo, “We want someone with the heart of a pastor and the mind of a banker.” This is critical to operating a Christian microfinance organization.  Likewise, when running a low-cost Christian school we see that the truly sustainable, transformational schools are those who have leaders with the heart of a pastor, but the mind of a businessperson.  They employ a strategic approach to operating a school on a shoestring budget, but deliver an academic “product” that often surpasses what is available in the public school systems and more importantly they share the transforming love of Christ in the classroom each day.

Sharing Christ’s love and the gospel message in a school is more difficult and more complicated than simply providing a good academic education.  The message and life of the gospel is shared through people and relationships, thus having leaders and teachers who are committed to changing the mindset of their students is crucial.

Tomás Ramirez of the school Hogar Cristiano Buenas Nuevas (Good News Christian Home ) is an inspiring example of a school owner that has committed to transforming students lives through transforming the school’s teachers. Tomás is the owner and director of the school as well as the pastor of the adjacent church, Iglesia De Cristo. Every morning at 7:30 am Monday through Friday the 10 teachers, 2 administrators & Tomás meet in a small room on the first floor of the school for a 30-minute Bible study before they gather the students to raise the flag and say their prayers. Every morning they gather together to read scriptures and better understand how God’s Word is to shape their lives and the lives of their students.  One can also see that the discipline that begins with teachers and school administrators is also clearly reflected in the attitudes and behavior of the students.

Tomás’s ability to grow the school from a 2-room shack into the beautiful 3 story building with nothing other than his personal savings, income from the school and a small loan from Edify’s partner, ASPIRE speaks loudly to his business acumen.  Considering the fact that Tomás lives in a low-income area where many parents can only afford to pay half of the tuition (full monthly tuition is $19), the story becomes more impressive. His ability to run a low-cost school while keeping Christ’s love central to the mission of the school and in the heart of the teachers is inspiring.

Edify CEO Chris Crane and a few children from Imena Academy in Kigali, Rwanda take a break during recess. The students and administration at Imena Academy welcomed Chris Crane and Chris Fenton with open arms. It was an inspiring visit for Chris and Chris to see the great work that Antoinette, the proprietress, is doing at Imena Academy.

To IMPROVE and expand low-cost Christ-centered education in the developing world.  [emphasis added]

Spring has now arrived here in full-force in North America and in the spirit of Spring cleaning I thought it would be appropriate to provide a short update on all of our recent quality improvement initiatives underway at Edify.  So forgive the laundry list:

1. Teacher training is in full swing on several fronts in the DR, Ghana and Rwanda.  We believe that the teacher is at the core of our work – the classroom teacher in a low-cost school in the developing world is both a great challenge and a great opportunity.  Low-cost schools battle with high teacher turnover and low-levels of teacher training.  We are meeting more and more teachers in our work and continue to be thankful for their openness and enthusiasm for continuous improvement. Through the first half of this year we have trained over 2200 teachers since starting our programs.  The training falls into several initiatives:
   1. Christian transformation – in the DR and in Ghana we are partnering with Christian curriculum and training organizations to equip teachers in their dual role as scholar and shepherd.  Check out our work in the DR here and our work in Ghana – just happening this week – here.
   2. Proprietor training – we have now completed proprietor training in all three countries.  In particular, in Rwanda we are teaming up with the International Finance Corp to offer training basic business skills and school leadership.
   3. Pedagogy training – we are working with Apprendi in the DR to provide teachers with practical skills on classroom management.  In January in Ghana we were grateful for the start of an ongoing exchange program with the University of San Diego’s SOLES program.  Professors and students from the University are working with schools in Ghana to improve inquiry-based classroom practice.  As I write this, a small team from USD has returned to Ghana to develop a coaching program for instructional leadership.
2. We have two major initiatives to improve educational outcomes with the use of technology.
   1. We are in the midst of launching our computer lab loan product that we piloted in schools in Ghana and the DR over the last year.  The purpose of this offering is to provide schools with a cost-effective, high-quality and reliable computer lab that will engage students and provide teachers with tools for skill-reinforcement and basic differentiated instruction.  We have compiled a pre-installed collection of high quality educational software that is not dependent on internet access – including products from Khan Academy and Flink Learning.  Teacher training is a critical portion of this offering as well.  This week we are piloting a teacher training program with our local implementation partner, Techaide.  Many thanks to Techaide for its partnership in training teachers from our current computer lab schools in Ghana!  In preparation for the coming school year, we plan to offer the computer lab loan product to many more schools.  We are in 15 or so schools today and expect to expand quickly this summer.
   2. We are also launching a pilot program with TeacherMate from Innovations for Learning – a non-profit organization with great experience addressing the literacy challenges in North America and the developing world.  The TeacherMate program provides a daily dose of targeted, individualized instruction to improve literacy and math using an engaging app on an iPod Touch.  We are excited about this program because it has shown strong early results on reading skills for students for whom English is their second language.  It also is a good match for our schools who do not have reliable access to the internet.  More to come on this project but we will be starting small, initially with two schools in Ghana and one in Rwanda.  Thanks to Innovations for Learning for their support!

So from this laundry list it seems we have quite a big push under way on the quality-side of our program with schools.  Edify was founded on the key insight that affordable-private schools are a highly scaleable and cost-efficient means for expanding access to significantly better education for the poor in the developing world.  With all of these projects aimed at improving the quality of the education, we are taking the key insight to another level by learning what interventions best help schools improve education and spiritual transformation outcomes.

I cannot deny how engrossed I was in organizing the first Christian Transformation Training in Koforidua, (the eastern region of Ghana), with our partner Compassion International. Yet, I could not hide my excitement of seeing this training take off. Surely the excitement and anxiety on the faces of the participating teachers was enough motivation for us, (the organizers), and Compassion, (the facilitators).

The first day was filled with activities. I was running around making sure everything was okay and everyone was fine, which is very typical with first days. In the midst of the pressure of coordinating affairs, I couldn’t ignore the excitements, contributions, activities and demonstrations that emanated from the training rooms.

The second day continued in similar fashion, but this time most of the activities were outdoor. It included hopping around, drawing with mud, and cutting of oranges and pears illustrating different aspects of the Christian curriculum in terms of being spiritual, physical, cognitive and socio-emotional.

Tomorrow marks the final day of the training and I am looking forward to it as the participating teachers are going to demonstrate different aspects of the curriculum by teaching their colleagues. The curriculum purchased by Edify as a teaching guide, was distributed to the participants to help them prepare their lesson. I look forward to seeing the participants teach with the curriculum tomorrow and also to gather their thoughts on the whole training and the impact they expect the Christian Transformation to bring in their lives and the lives of their students.

-        Godwin Fiagbor, Edify-Ghana.