International Partnership Formed to Improve Student Achievement for Children of Color

Washington, D.C.  – The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) and the Israeli-based International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential (ICELP) have formed a partnership to address the need for improved student achievement.  Dr. Reuven Feuerstein is the Chairman of ICELP, which currently houses 70 centers in 30 countries around the world.  The partnership was formally announced in Birmingham, Alabama at the NUA conference, “Teaching for Intelligence,” April 27-29, 2007

The purpose and mission of the new partnership between ICELP and NUA is to address the need for improved student achievement, especially for children of color, with a special interest and concern for underserved and underperforming African American males in the United States.  ICELP’s target populations include students with special-needs, and its program effectively improves thinking and learning skills not only among the culturally different and deprived, but also among high-functioning individuals.

 

"Establishing a partnership with NUA is the fulfillment of a dream of many years for me", said Feuerstein. "When people are shown that they can dare to believe in the innate flexibility and potential of the human mind, hope is re-established and sustained. The programs we are preparing can accomplish tremendously positive things in the competitive global market and in the communities that we will serve."

The ICELP programs are operated on the basis of Dr. Reuven Feuerstein’s Structural Cognitive Modifiability theory. The well tested and applied theory of structural cognitive modifiability (SCM) views the human organism as open, adaptive and amenable for change. The aim of this approach is to modify the individual, emphasizing autonomous and self-regulated change.  Many behavioral learning disabilities and emotional conditions become modified through cognitive intervention.  ICELP centers have seen huge successes on cases that normally are seen as hopeless throughout 30 countries, including South Africa, Brazil, China, India, Spain, England and France.

 

NUA’s mission is to close the achievement gap for America's urban students by working with local school district administrators and classroom teachers to ensure that all students receive high quality instruction every day in all academic subjects.  With its district partners, NUA has been able to accelerate the achievement of urban and metropolitan students sufficiently to enter  a college or university. NUA also partners with the districts and with community stakeholders to promote resolute belief in the potential of every student. It views effective public education as the critical equalizer to ensure that all children have fair opportunity to realize that potential.  

 

The innovative approaches of NUA recognize that each school community faces distinct challenges, requiring proven models of instruction adapted to meet the needs of students.  This understanding enables NUA to be a partner in successful education initiatives in districts across the country, including Seattle, WA., Albany, N.Y., Birmingham, Alabama, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Indianapolis, IN, Newark, N.J. and Minneapolis, MN.

“This partnership will deliver on the promise of education reform in America for underserved schoolchildren and youth,” said Dr. Cooper, founder and president of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education.  “Armed with successful student data, we are thrilled to be able to weave the lifelong work of Dr. Feuerstein into the work of NUA's partnerships”  NUA and ICELP’s programs share a common belief that virtually all students are capable of mastering a rigorous high school curriculum, by focusing their programs on engaging students through effective learning and teaching practices.  With the leadership of superintendents from across the country, the partnership recognizes that there is no more important task facing the United States than improving the life trajectories of all students.

 

The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) ® was founded in 1989 with a vision of school reform based upon three beliefs:  all children are capable of attaining high educational standards; intelligence is modifiable, not fixed; and all stakeholders in the community must be involved in addressing the social, cultural, and intellectual needs of our youth.

 

Established and led by Prof. Reuven Feuerstein, the International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential (www.ICELP.org), based in Jerusalem, has developed and executed programs based on Prof. Reuven Feuerstein's theories of Structural Cognitive Modifiability and Mediated Learning Experience for more than four decades. Today, with a staff of more than 160, ICELP targets diverse populations including children with special needs, communication or emotional disorders; the blind; culturally different and deprived populations; high-functioning individuals; the brain-injured; and the aged and ageing. In addition to its own educational and clinical services, ICELP has authorized training centers in more than thirty countries.