Program Principles
At School-to-School International (STS), we are guided by three principles in our work to transform education and school health: participation, quality control, and sustainability. These principles are built into our 8-point STS model to ensure that the partner communities:
- identify, develop, and implement programs of their choosing,
- benefit from programs that are continuously monitoring and improved, and
- learn to manage their own programs to produce sustainable quality education and school health in their communities.
Participation
Community Involvement: We train parents and local community members to play an active role in the success of their children in home and at school, and strengthen their capacity to manage school activities and funds through PTA training. We also put them in charge of their own school-improvement projects, for which we provide small grants to which communities add their own in-kind support.
Training: We train principals, teachers and local education officials to improve teaching practices and learning conditions, develop and implement healthy school plans, and involve community members in school governance.
STS is currently developing a program targeting school principals who have worked with STS over the last several years. This program will reinforce their basic school management skills, as well as help them find ways to sustain innovations brought to their school by STS, including teacher training, health materials, and school health policies.
Quality Control
STS evaluates the impact of all its interventions by measuring two things: inputs and results.
We define inputs as "things put into the mix," such as training, materials, and small grants. All things –essential to development – are provided by STS on a regular basis.
We define results as outcomes that occur as a consequence of the inputs we provide. The main outcome we seek is improved learning on the part of all children in elementary school - not only academic gains, but also increased confidence, ability to learn independently, and the ability to think critically.
We use both input-based and results- based indicators to measure our success. It is not enough simply to measure what we have provided, but also the net effect of these efforts. If the effect is not increased learning, then we retool, change our approach, and try again.
Sustainability
Our third core principle is sustainability, or the ability of our local partners, both in the field and in our in-country offices, to continue using strategies introduced by STS to work toward improved education and health in their schools and communities.
Local communities: As we mentioned above, STS methodically builds the capacity of school teachers, principals, parents, and education officials to carry on the work we have initiated – things like ongoing support for teachers in schools, grant writing and project management skills to sustain school-based initiatives, and sensitizing parents and community members about controversial development topics like the use of local language instruction – a hot topic in many communities.
STS Guinea Staff: We build the capacity of our local staff in Guinea by providing ongoing training and support in project design and management, program development and fundraising, research design and implementation, and specific skills such as word processing and surfing the web.
As a result of our efforts, our staff have learned how to develop budgets and manage finances, hire and manage employees, develop programs in consultation with our local steering committee, conduct research and analyze data, write research reports, and represent STS at conferences and in the press. Two STS staff have received scholarships to study for their master's and doctorates in France and Canada, winning these scholarships as a result, in part, of skills acquired working with STS.
The long term: The kind of sustainability we’re talking about doesn't happen overnight. Rather, it takes years of building trust, sharing ideas, adapting processes to local conditions, and most of all, exercising mutual respect. To build this kind of capacity, STS has a policy of conducting its activities in partner countries for a minimum of 10 years so that the whole package can be rolled out and all key actors have a chance to practice their new skills with more and more autonomy – before STS leaves.
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Contact information: School-to-School International
200 San Marlo Way Suite 3Pacifica, CA 94044-3274Tel & fax: +1 (650) 355-6248Email: 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.
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