Introduction to Global Urban Education

UPDATED SYLLABUSSpring 2014

March 30, 2014

ProfessorDr. Fred MednickFounder, Teachers Without BordersAssistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Educationcell: (Seattle) 206-356-4731fred@twb.org or fred.mednick@jhu.edu

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Session 8: Girls’ Education, NGOs, and Universities

Session Dates: March 10th – April 15th 2014

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE SESSION 8 DESCRIPTION BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE

INTRODUCTION Session 8 focuses on one of the most pressing issues of our time — girls’ education. After we orient ourselves to the subject (and its implications for everything we have studied thus far), we will address additional perspectives offered by universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) themselves in order to connect education and global development.If the film, Girl Rising, is showing on campus or near you, do what you can to see this extraordinary film about the indisputable impact of educating girls. “Girl Rising” follows the stories of 9 girls, each paired with a writer who helps tell that girl’s story and bring forth a different dimension of girls’ education. Please also the Girl Rising Curriculum produced by the Pearson Foundation.

Girl Rising trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsvklXhYaE Girl Rising has also released one of the nine stories -- “The Nepal

Chapter” -- the story of Suma, a Nepalese girl who enrolled in school after being rescued from indentured slavery. View the video below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L32OeswN47U

OBJECTIVES To examine the issues faced by global agencies, universities, and

NGOs to connect girls’ education to global development and national progress. In addition, to examine the gaps that exist among these entities

HIGHLIGHTED CHANGES:

Due Date Extension: April 15th (ELC will be down for maintenance on April 7th)

Clarification on Purpose of Assignment Changes in readings (the inclusion of targeted readings for your

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To explore how universities (Johns Hopkins University in particular) have made a contribution to education and development, particularly in their work with NGOs (non-governmental organizations)

To explore the impacts, challenges, and opportunities of NGOs working on behalf of girls’ education, with a particular focus on Haiti.

To understand the components of logic models or “theories of change” as an operational structure for NGOs to understand their context, challenges, and commitments

REQUIRED READING and WEB REVIEWSThese readings are designed to provide context for the larger issue of girls’ education.

Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women . Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women – CEDAW

Mednick, F. (2014) Case Study: Girls’ Education and the Millennium Development Goals

Nordland, R. (July 20, 2013). Despite Education Advances, A Host of Education Woes. New York Times

Storify Resources : “Educating Girls” United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education. http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/unesco-world-atlasgender-education-2012.pdf and corresponding interactive database, eAtlas of Gender Equality in Education: http://www.app.collinsindicate.com/atlas-gender-education/en-us

ACTIVITIES (TEAMS)I have created four teams: two JHU Teams and two NGO Teams. Join a team. Try to distribute yourselves evenly. The JHU team(s) conducts its research exclusively at/about Hopkins. The NGO team(s) will focus on research about Haitian NGOs. Please read the following descriptions of the team and their tasks. The writing assignment is customized accordingly. Click HERE for writing assignment requirements.

FOR THE 2 JHU TEAMS: The central question: “How does Johns Hopkins University advance girls’ education worldwide, particularly in its work with NGOs?” Additional Readings

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Skim this report: Academic-NGO Collaboration in International Development

Review this Storify: Cracking Collaboration between Academics and NGOs

BackgroundLast summer, the JHU School of Education and the School of Public Health joined forces to screen “Girl Rising,” followed by a panel discussion. The ensuing conversation between doctors and educators continued so long that the maintenance staff had to shoo us out of the auditorium. I want to build on that momentum by discovering, cataloguing, and mapping Johns Hopkins University projects, programs, grants, initiatives, experts, and other resources that seek to address girls’ education in the area of access/equity, public health, or education in emergencies. All too often, scholars and practitioners at large institutions (global agencies, universities, NGOs) are unaware of the wealth and resources available a short distance from one’s office. If JHU can visualize and model intra-university collaboration, global impacts can grow. The Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the School of Education, and the Center for Refugees and Disaster Response are great places to start that investigation.Each team should conduct at least 1 interview (2 is better) of those working at Hopkins directly on these initiatives to gather their perspectives on the issues, the gap(s) they are trying to fill, how they have gone about addressing those gaps, and how impacts are measured. FOR THE 2 NGO TEAMS: The central question: “How do NGOs demonstrate their impacts in the area of (1) equity and access (2) public health, or (3) education in emergencies?” You have $50,000 to award to an NGO operating in, or for, Haiti. Funds are to be used for the improvement of services and programs.

To begin your search for an NGO, I have two sources for you: (1) NGO Aid Map: in the grey bar at the top, click on the Sector pull-down menu and choose Education. You can also search for “gender.” Or, you can go through the Development Directory - Haiti

Please also read this brief article: Going to School in Haiti after the Earthquake

Your team needs to choose ONE organization (a global NGO working for Haiti or a Haitian NGO) based upon criteria you determine to be the organization’s clear advantage. Is it the organization’s track record?  How can that track record be proven? Its focus on local leadership?  Its transparency, accountability, and reporting? Its judicious use of funds?  Its ability to scale and sustain itself?  Its partnerships?  The qualifying NGO does not have to address all these issues. You may choose to

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explore an NGO that demonstrates excellence in one area and go deep rather than wide. You’ll have to choose some kind of assessment design. Before I make you crazy with asking you to absorb a crash course on vetting NGOs, I’ve provided you with a “theory of change” model (also called logic models) to help your team focus. It’s called The Advocacy Progress Planner, which focuses on (1) policy or (2) services and programs. Theory of change models are basically a scaffold or set of guidelines for developing strategies, designing programs, challenging assumptions, addressing roadblocks, forecasting issues, communicating results, and measuring impacts. By providing evidence of critical practices, principles, resources, and other inputs and outputs necessary for affecting specific outcomes, these models help enhance understanding and address macro issues facing education and development. Theories of change are often presented as a visual diagram, accompanied by a narrative. Here’s information about the Advocacy Progress Planner:

Please designate a team member to register for a free account of The Advocacy Progress Planner: http://planning.continuousprogress.org and start a new plan

The person who has registered for the program will then invite team members as collaborators by clicking on a page entitled Save & Share Your Plan: http://planning.continuousprogress.org/app/save/share. Make certain to choose the last bubble on that page: My Plan + Notes + Comments. Each team member must have access to the team’s plan

The entire components of the Advocacy Progress Planner are available here: http://planning.continuousprogress.org/sites/default/files/app_definitions.pdf http://planning.continuousprogress.org/sites/default/files/ app_definitions.pdf

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TEAM ASSIGNMENT (PAPER) Title page with Abstract 5-7 pages, plus 1 paragraph on each person’s contribution Reference page (in addition to the 5-7 pages). Cite and

reference research from assigned readings plus 5 other readings

I suggest that teams use Google Docs for collaboration Upload the final report to your team space

Expectations JHU Groups:

1) School, Department, or Center 2) Type: Research project, ongoing program, course, or…3) When and Where?4) Goal of the research, program, course, or…5) What drove Hopkins to initiate its research, program,

course, or… 6) What gap is the Hopkins school, department, or center

trying to fill? 7) What makes it successful? (For the paper only – won’t be

published in a map)8) Which hasn’t been successful? (Please reassure

interviewees that this part is for the paper only and will not be published in a map)

9) Does the research, program, or initiative at Hopkins interact with NGOs? If so, how are NGOs identified, vetted, supported?

10)How is the research, program, course, or project evaluated?

NGO Groups:1) The state of education in post-earthquake Haiti2) Research process for discovering the NGO 3) Use of the Advocacy Progress Planner4) Challenge faced by the NGO for which the funds would help5) The inputs, outputs, and outcomes (see Advocacy Progress

Planner, below)6) Why the NGO is deserving of the funds (and for what)7) Questions 3-6 from the list above8) What you would want the NGO to spend the money 9) How the program is evaluated

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>> Each team has different specifications for its paper. Read about each below <<

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PAPER TEMPLATE

JHU TEAMSTITLE PAGE

Title of Paper: Your Title HereJohns Hopkins University School of

EducationIntroduction to Global Urban EducationDate | Group Members (below the date)

ABSTRACT (include in Title Page)

Provide 1-2 sentences of a broad summary of JHU’s efforts on behalf of global girls’ education.  Follow those two sentences with:  (1) people, places, and projects consulted, including the interviews conducted (2) a statement about patterns, themes, or variability you see, and (3) a 1-2 sentence summarization of conclusions, such as new perspectives, recommendations, or considerations

SUMMARY of JHU’s EFFORTS (3 pages)

Describe more background and detail for your exploration of research, ongoing programs, courses, or other projects at Hopkins. Provide detail about when these activities took place (or are ongoing), and where. Whether from interviews or web research, include information from as many of the ten questions listed in the JHU Teams section (above), linked here

PATTERNS, THEMES, VARIABILITY (2-4 pages)

Return to the central research question upon which your exploration will take place: “How does Johns Hopkins University advance girls’ education worldwide, particularly in its work with NGOs?” Integrating the readings, research, and interviews, what do you notice? Save opinions for the last section

CONCLUSIONS and PERSPECTIVES (half a page)

What have you learned? If you were to create a strategic plan for a university-wide girls’ education initiative, what might your evidence lead you to conclude or suggest?

PARAGRAPH for TEAM MEMBER (Contributions)

REFERENCES

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NGO TEAMSTITLE PAGE

Title of Paper: Your Title HereJohns Hopkins University School of

EducationIntroduction to Global Urban

Education

Date | Group Members (below the date)

ABSTRACT (include in Title Page)

What is the state of education in post-earthquake Haiti? Follow this with 1-2 sentences on your decision to award funds to a particular NGO.  Follow those two sentences with details of: (1) the process you decided upon to make your decision (2) the rationale for your decision and what you confronted along the way (3) the discoveries you made along the way, based upon research conducted

POST-QUAKE HAITIAN EDUCATION (1 page)

Describe the state of affairs of education in Haiti, including information about the impact of global agencies and NGOs.

DECISION and THEORY OF CHANGE (2.5 – 3 pages)

Include information from as many of the nine questions listed in the NGO Teams section (above), linked here

PATTERNS, THEMES, VARIABILITY (2 – 3 pages)

Return to the central research question upon which your exploration will take place: “How do NGOs demonstrate their impacts in the area of (1) equity and access (2) public health, or (3) education in emergencies?” Integrating the readings, research, and interviews, what do you notice? Save opinions for the last section

CONCLUSIONS and PERSPECTIVES (half a page)

What have you learned? Are you inspired? Discouraged? Are your opinions divided amongst the groups? What does the research indicate to you to give you these impressions?

PARAGRAPH for each TEAM MEMBER Contributions)

REFERENCES

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