Founder, Escuela Nueva Foundation
Sixth Annual Recipient
February 03, 2011
Founding
In 1975, Ms. Colbert designed the innovative Escuela Nueva model for rural schools in her native Colombia, with the aim of improving literacy rates and raising student achievement levels by providing high-quality teacher training, strengthening curriculum, and fostering classroom environments that are engaging and compelling to students. After initial pilots proved successful, Ms. Colbert established the Escuela Nueva Foundation in 1987 after leaving her position as Vice Minister of Education for Colombia, which she held from 1982-1987. She started the Escuela Nueva Foundation to implement and scale the Escuela Nueva model for communities in need throughout Latin America. As the co-author of the Escuela Nueva educational program model, Ms. Colbert is highly regarded as an innovator in the field of education.
Current Operations
Reaching more than 5 million children, Escuela Nueva has been formally implemented in 14 countries in Latin America and has influenced educational models in Africa and Asia. The model is highly cost-effective – costing approximately $10 per student – so that it can be scaled worldwide. In fact, Escuela Nueva has hosted representatives from more than 35 countries who have visited programs in Colombia to inform their own countries' educational reform programs. More than 1,500 practitioners have joined the global Escuela Nueva Learning Network and online community.
Approach and Distinguishing Features
Transforming the conventional school system, Escuela Nueva responds directly and systemically to educational challenges that arise in communities with poor educational infrastructure, inadequate resources, high teacher turnover, high drop out rates and low academic achievement. Escuela Nueva programs are based on four essential components: innovative curriculum, effective teacher training, community empowerment and school and classroom management. Implemented together, these components create a synergy between children, families, community and the school to improve the quality and efficacy of education. External evaluations from organizations including the World Bank and UNESCO, conducted over the past 15 years, confirm that the Escuela Nueva model is effective in raising student achievement levels, especially for students in early grades.
Ms. Colbert's Background
Prior to her leadership in the Foundation, Ms. Colbert served as International Consultant for the World Bank, Regional Advisor of Latin America and the Caribbean for UNICEF, and Vice Minister of Education for Colombia. Ms. Colbert has received numerous international awards, including honors from the Schwab Foundation, the World Technology Network and the Skoll Foundation. Ms. Colbert was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to serve as an Advisory Board member of the Education Working Group for the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative, and was selected by President Clinton to receive the honorary and first ever Clinton Global Citizenship award. In Colombia, she has been named among the 100 most influential women of Colombia’s history and the Most Successful Woman of 2002 in the education field. Ms. Colbert completed her undergraduate Sociology degree at Javeriana University in Colombia, and earned Masters degrees in Sociology of Education and Comparative International Education from Stanford University
For more information about Ms. Colbert's work and the Escuela Nueva Foundation, please visit www.escuelanueva.org.
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