Teacher Training and Basic Education
Location: São Paulo and Francisco Morato, Brazil
INMED’s Ready to Teach, Ready to Learn program in Brazil, developed in partnership with the GE Foundation, is a school excellence initiative that combines teacher training—focused on increasing students’ academic skills in reading, writing and mathematics—and improved school management.
Designated “master teachers” take part in regular trainings in academic topics and best practices in instruction and classroom management, then train their teacher colleagues in turn. Nearly 17,000 children and 750 teachers in more than 50 schools are now involved in the program.
Before INMED’s involvement, most public primary school teachers in São Paulo and Francisco Morato, a community on the city’s outskirts, had little or no formal training, and there was practically no accountability for teacher and student performance. Too many students were unable to read or write adequately when they reached 4th grade—and since many youth leave school after the fifth grade, the last year of compulsory education, they are unprepared to achieve long-term economic productivity and success in the workforce. So began the Ready to Teach, Ready to Learn program.
The goal of the program is to improve the quality of basic education, and in turn, to improve student performance in Brazil. And improve it has. Now, 97% of students in participating São Paulo schools complete 4th grade able to read and write, while historically poor-performing schools are surpassing state goals for standardized test achievement.
