Project Background
Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding. As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy Bor, in South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, Greenbelt Academy Bor currently serves 500 students in grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. Early last year, Education Bridge opened its second school, Greenbelt Academy Juba, in the capital of South Sudan. Greenbelt Academies seek to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.
Definition of Opportunity
With the recent launch of a new school in Juba, Education Bridge is now poised as one of the top secondary schools in South Sudan. Now, the organization is looking for ways to attract and foster high-quality teachers to improve learning outcomes across the schools. Further, once launched, Education Bridge is looking for ways to see the impact of its efforts. It should be easy to see changes in teacher practices. It will likely be much harder to see changes in student outcomes, and you will need a control group to make this pilot evaluation credible.
Definition of Success
Conversations with Majak, Jenny, & the Board will help to provide context and ideas for this training. Further, it may also be very helpful to contact students that are currently at Education Bridge, or alumni for more context.
)) how to ensure student learning gains and measure this impact?
2) the extent to which you want to consider professional growth pathways beyond this initial training, such that this training program would be viewed as a first step in a sequence?
3) How do you conceptualize the design and measure the success of the program and how do you draw upon the best available research about what works to improve teaching and student learning outcomes in LMICs in primary education?
4) The other thing worth thinking about is the extent to which your vision for the program is about human capital formation of your alumni (or other promising young educators) and creating cohorts of smart, talented, innovative teachers to grow as educational leaders and innovators within the system.