Escuela Nueva

Escuela Nueva, which means "New School" in Spanish, is often referred to as "Escuela Activa" or "Active School." This educational model was created by Vicky Colbert and Oscar Mogollon in the 1970s to serve poor, rural schools in Colombia.

Theory

The model is based on the educational theories of Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and Paulo Freire.Escuela Nueva is child-centered, community-based education led by teachers who are facilitators for innovative learning. Cost-effective and highly adaptable, Escuela Nueva works with—and for—millions of children around the world. Escuela Nueva programs are based on three essential elements: innovative curriculum, effective teacher training, and community empowerment. Implemented together, these three ingredients enable teachers and administrators to make lasting improvements to the quality and effectiveness of basic education.

Geographic Reach

Escuela Nueva has been adopted by 14 countries and has influence reform in 35 more. It is best known in Latin America.The Escuela Nueva Foundation in Bogota, Colombia, is known as the authors and primary implementers of the model. Currently, there are many successful Active School programs run by governments and educational organizations. Among them include Aprendes in Peru and Escuela Nueva in Nicaragua.

Academic Research

Escuela Nueva is a popular topic of academic research in the fields of international and comparative education and education policy. There have been many independent evaluations conducted in various countries in Latin America. In Colombia [Benveniste, L.A., & McEwan, P.J. (2000). Constraints to implementing educational innovations: the case of multigrade schools. International Review of Education, 46(1/2): 31-48. ] [McEwan, P. J. (2001). The politics of rural school reform: Escuela Nueva in Colombia. Journal of Education Policy, 16(6), 547-559. ] [Programa de Promoción de la Refoma Educativa en América Latina y el Caribe (PREAL). (2003). Desarrollo de la educación en sectores rurales. Serie Mejores Prácticas. Santiago: PREAL. ] evaluations have been conducted by English and Spanish speaking researchers.

In other countries, evaluations have shown mixed review as to the effectiveness of the model, typically due to poor implementation [Chesterfield, R., & Rubio, R.E. (1997). Estudio de impacto del Proyecto BEST en la efectividad de maestros en la educación básica de Guatemala. USAID. ] and a lack of curriculum [Jimenez, E., & Sawada, Y. (1999). Do community-managed schools work? An evaluation of El Salvador’s EDUCO program. World Bank Economic Review, 13 (3), 415-441. ]

History

1975 Escuela Nueva is developed by Vicky Colbert in collaboration with rural Colombian teachers.
1976 USAID supports roll-out of Escuela Nueva to 500 rural schools in 3 regions.
1979 The Inter American Development Bank and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation fund the expansion of Escuela Nueva to 3,000 schools.
1983 Vicky Colbert becomes Vice Minister of Education in Colombia.
1985 Landmark decision leads to National Policy of Escuela Nueva for rural education.
1986 Escuela Nueva gains momentum as a grassroots movement from teacher to teacher and from school to school until it reaches 8,000 schools.
1987 The Escuela Nueva Foundation (ENF) is founded by Vicky Colbert in Bogotá, Colombia to continue promoting the model and adapting it to new populations.
1988 ENF pioneers Escuela Nueva’s adaptation to urban schools, Escuela Nueva Activa.
1989 The World Bank selects Escuela Nueva as one of three most effective reforms worldwide that successfully impacted national policy.
1992 Escuela Nueva reaches 27,000 rural schools and, due to its success, the program becomes one of the 5 pillars of the Colombia National Plan to eradicate poverty.Enrolments increase by 45% in rural schools versus 8% in urban schools.
1993 Vicky Colbert leverages her position as the Regional Advisor for Education at UNICEF to take Escuela Nueva internationally to 12 countries.
1996 UNESCO finds that Colombia is the only country of 11 in Latin American in which rural students outperform urban students. UNESCO attributes this reversal of the achievement gap to the widespread use of Escuela Nueva in rural areas.
1998 Escuela Nueva schools in Bogotá, previously the lowest ranking in the city, perform better than the city average.
2000 [UN Human Development Report [ selects Escuela Nueva as one of Colombia’s three main achievements as a country.
2002 ENF designs the Learning Circles project for children displaced by internal warfare in Colombia with support from USAID, the International Organization for Migration, and the Ministry of Education.
2003 Vicky Colbert is recognized as both a Schwab and Ashoka Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship for her lifetime of achievement and continuing innovation of Escuela Nueva.
ENF hosts inaugural International Congress on Escuela Nueva in Armenia, Colombia, bringing together teachers, NGOs, academic researchers, the private sector, and governments from 10 different countries.
2004 UNESCO evaluations of Learning Circles pilot show improvement in math and language score above the national average and 18% increase in self-esteem.
2005 Vicky Colbert is named one of the 100 most influential women in the history of Colombia.
2006 Escuela Nueva International (ENI), ENF’s U.S. sister organization, is founded in San Francisco, CA to promote and connect the international network of Escuela Nueva.
2nd International Congress of Escuela Nueva in Medellin, Colombia unites over 1500 teachers, practitioners, researchers and supporters of Escuela Nueva from 18 countries.
World Bank sponsors the Regional Multigrade Project, contracting ENF to strengthen and improve Escuela Nueva schools in 8 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries.
2007 ENF is awarded the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
In crisis with over 3 million internally displaced people, the Ministry of Education calls on ENF to take the Learning Circles project to scale nationally throughout Colombia.
Bill Clinton awards Vicky Colbert with the inaugural Global Citizen Award for her success in creating lasting, positive social change around the world.

education|date=April

References