Washington, DC and Cape Town, SA, June 1, 2011 – EdVillage is pleased to announce the launch of their non-profit, with the support of a 2-year founding grant of US$700,000 from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. EdVillage offers a six month Global Fellowship program that brings principals and school leaders from South Africa and other countries to the United States for leadership training. EdVillage also offers a global knowledge sharing framework and technical assistance to school leaders to start schools or improve the quality of their schools. The organization will launch initially in South Africa and India.
“We are thrilled that the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is investing in our work to develop new school models that help prepare low-income children for university,” said Mr. Allison Rouse, EdVillage’s Co-founder and CEO. “This investment in world-class leadership training and educational and operational support will create school environments that set and achieve high expectations for low-income children.”
Ms. Caitlin Baron, Country Lead, South Africa for the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation said, “We believe that there are a number of transformative school models being created in South Africa that target the needs of underserved learners, and that these programs can become even stronger if school leaders are trained using education best-practice and are given the proper leadership development support. EdVillage’s approach of training school leaders and sharing educational models from successful school networks in South Africa and around the world will provide a platform to help South African educators deliver superlative education to disadvantaged young people.”
EdVillage will work with a number of schools in South Africa, helping them to significantly improve the academic performance of their students. Their primary partner will be the innovative LEAP Science and Maths Schools, which operates four schools in townships in Cape Town and Johannesburg. EdVillage has awarded Global Fellowships to two principals from LEAP schools and an educational entrepreneur from Mumbai, India.
About EdVillage
EdVillage brings the best practices of school leadership and school development together to help education entrepreneurs and school leaders create great schools in their own countries. EdVillage is creating a global alliance of schools that are focused on providing a high quality education to low-income children throughout the world by disseminating successful educational models.
About LEAP Science and Maths Schools
LEAP Science and Maths School started in 2004 with the aim of creating a model that could begin to address the inequalities in the South African education system. The values-based framework of LEAP creates an empowering educational environment that enables each learner to develop fully as a human being with a positive, caring lifestyle and healthy work ethic. LEAP consists of four high schools serving students from townships in South Africa.
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Contact: Mr. Mark Medema at Mark.Medema@edvillage.org or Mr. Allison Rouse, Allison.Rouse@edvillage.org or via phone at +1 (415) 215-7641 or +27 (082) 798- 5581
