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Contact information: School-to-School International
PO Box 371056Montara, CA 94037Tel & fax: +1 (650) 728-7138Email: info@sts-international.orgWeb: http://sts-international.orgSchool-to-School International is a tax-exempt, nonprofit
501 (c) (3) organization registered in the State of California.
Copyright 2008 © School-to-School International. All rights reserved.
Our Activities in Guinea
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Pen pal program
The pen pal program provides students with the opportunity to build friendships that consists of sharing and learning. The exchange of letters allows students to build greater knowledge of the world around them. They have the opportunity to learn about a different society, culture, landscape, and daily routiines and responsibiliites.
Since 2003, over 300 students have taken part in pen pal exchanges in the US and Guinea. If you are interested in joining the program contact us today.
In 2002 School-to-School International started working in Guinea. We currently have 30 partner schools in Guinea's coastal region, where we provide the following programs:
Contact information: School-to-School International
PO Box 371056Montara, CA 94037Tel & fax: +1 (650) 728-7138Email: info@sts-international.orgWeb: http://sts-international.orgSchool-to-School International is a tax-exempt, nonprofit
501 (c) (3) organization registered in the State of California.
Copyright 2008 © School-to-School International. All rights reserved.
Research
STS conducts a variety of types of research, both for its own monitoring and evaluation purposes, and for clients on a fee for service basis.
Active Teaching and Learning
Teacher Training
Since its inception, STS has trained 150 teachers in active teaching methods, including the development of instructional materials using local resources, school health and hygiene through a life skills approach, and mathematics instruction.
Instructional materials
STS has produced a series health materials, including teacher's guides, posters, and readers, so children can learn new behaviors and dispel old myths - for example, about how malaria is contracted.
School health
With support from the Alcoa Foundation, STS has implemented the Alcoa School Health and Education Project (ASHE) in all 30 Guinean partner schools. The project consists of the following:
- Assist schools develop their own school health policies - each school develops their own rules and regulations to maintain a healthy school environment.
- Provide grants to communities to improve health conditions in their elementary schools. Community members are trained in school-base health promotion, then they select projects to be funded, such as latrines, wells and first aid kits, and they manage the projects. Read more about the small grants program!
- Train teachers to use more active teaching methods to teach health - ones that develop life skills, not just memorization of health facts.
- Organiz school sanitation days in which whole communities are mobilized to clean their schools.
- And much more...
The following are examples of our research:
Baseline Health Survey in Guinea, 2004 (French):
An investigation of the current state of nutrition and hygiene in STS partner schools. The key findings include:
- 21.3% of students have failed a year of elementary schools
- Only 0.6% of students reported washing hands with soap after defecating
- 41% of students have intestinal parasites
An analysis of the practices used to evaluate the students knowledge in the classroom and at other levels within the education system. The key findings include:
- There is an urgent need to raise the reliability and validity of the exams as well as lay basic conditions to ensure this occurs.
An evaluation of student achievement in grade 2, 4 and 6 in French and math, 2004-2007. The key findings include:
- Statistics indicated that the tests to measure achievement were found to be of high quality.
- There are important variations in achievement scores between certain schools and zones.
- The results showed an improvement in girl's performance by 2007.
An evaluation of whether or not higher levels of learning have occurred as a result of training activities provided by the UNITY project. The key findings of the first (of three) Monitoring Learning Achievement exercise include:
- Numerous statistical procedures indicated high levels of test and item quality.
- The test scores revealed significant disparities between regions, pupils' languages, types of schools, status of repeaters, their ages, and their home environments.
- Results between girls and boys were comparable.
An evaluation of REPLICA, a program designed to address the particular educational needs of children, teachers and parents in the conflict-affected areas of northern Uganda. The key findings include:
- There was overwhelming support for the REPLICA project at all levels.
- The success of the Guidance and Counselling component was one of the biggest findings, where evaluation participants cited improved relations among school staff and between staff and pupils; and reportedly improved enrollment and retention in REPLICA model schools, especially amongst the girls.
- The School-Based Training model had minimal impact on teachers.
An analysis of the Alcoa School Health and Education II (ASHE II) project impacts. ASHE II is a project designed to improve the quality fo health education in the schools and improve the health knowledge and practices of the students and teachers, in those schools. The key findings include:
- In comparison to the baseline, teachers use more diverse methods of knowledge transfer in a lesson.
- Students greatly improved their ability to dispel myths regarding malaria, HIV/AIDS and diarrhea.
- The parents, teachers and school directors highlighted an increase in the implementation of healthy behaviour initiatives that have taken place in conjunction with ASHE II activities.
STS has also worked with several partners to provide materials to schools in Guinea, including:
- Partage Québec Guinée: to facilitate the distribution of 8,000 textbooks and novels to 16 schools.
- Individual donors like Noranizan Mohd Adzahan, a graduate student at Cornell University who mobilized her fellow students in "the Bradley Challenge," named after their dormitory. Nora's group assembled 3 boxes of books and school supplies that STS delivered to partner schools in Guinea.
- Teachers at Alvarado Elementary School in San Francisco, CA who pooled contributions from students to provide soccer balls for partner schools in Guinea.
Early Childhood Education
Effective School Management
Equity for Girls and Boys of Differing Abilities
Exposure to the World
Health and Nutrition
Instruction in Local Language
Parental Involvement
In Guinea, children often live in families and communities with few resources to provide services or programs for Early Childhood Education (ECE). As a result children are not provided the conditions to develop to their cognitive potential.
School-to-School International is still in the process of developing ECE initiatives in our partner schools. If you are interested in assisting us to further develop this program contact us today.
In Guinea, elementary school teachers often receive no training beyond their initial teaching certificate. This limits their ability to effectively manage schools.
The management staff of our partner schools receive several interactive training sessions. For example, STS provides training on how to develop and implement a school health policy.
The Girls' Education Project has three primary activities:
- Conduct workshops in schools and communities to sensitize teachers, parents and education administrators to the importance of girls' education.
- Give teachers training and a modest stipend for leading after-school classes for children at risk, with a special focus on girls.
- Provide the families of the poorest girls with half a sack of rice per month for an entire school year - enough to feed the average Guinea family for a month.
Girls' Education Project
While working with our partner schools in Coastal Guinea, STS has consistently witnessed girls struggling to complete elementary school; nationwide, less than half of school-aged girls complete their elementary school education and make it to middle school. As a result, the Girls' Education Project was developed.
Through this integrated approach, our program supports the girls, their families and the school so girls are encouraged to enroll in school, stay in school, and so girls can succeed in their studies.
French is the official language in Guinea and it is taught in all elementary schools. However, in everyday conversation people often speak their local languages, not French. This presents significant challenges for both teachers and children in the 1st grade. Teachers struggle to ensure that the children understand the lessons and children are often unable to successfully learn concepts.
In response School-to-School is in the process of implementing a local language program for the 1st grade. This program provides curriculum and teaching materials that will help teachers teach more effectively in the 1st grade.
School-to-School International believes that parental and community involvement is essential for the success of our programs. Their knowledge informs our programs to ensure our assistance is relevant and their support ensures our programs are used effectively.
Examples of parental and community involvement:
- School health small-grants program
- Girls' Education Project
- Research
