Aprende Divirtiendote JUPA was developed by teachers and neuropsychologists and is designed to train 1st to 4th grade teachers from public schools in impoverished areas of Panama that have the lowest marks in reading comprehension. The goal is to promote a love of reading through specially selected literature that promotes positive values. The skills the teachers acquire are then replicated in all other areas of instruction where they are involved. Funds are for books. Readers are leaders!
7% of the Panamenian population over 10 years old is ILLITERATE. 50% of 3rd students in urban areas do not know UNDERSTAND what they read*. (*Results of the CRECER 2018 nationwide tests.) Love for reading is not even measured in our country. More than 30,000 illiterate people live in the province of Panama. In addition, the results of the PISA exams that measure, among others, reading comprehension, placed Panama in the 62nd place among the 65 participants, in 2009.
By providing teacher training in innovative strategies, using award winning children's literature to teach soft skills,valuesand reading skills in a fun way, and at the same time promoting positive teacher-student emotional connections, our program, designed by experts in academic and psychological areas has already proven to promote the LOVE for reading and significantly solve reading skills deficiency reported standardized, national and international, examinations.
By replicating the learning methodology of our program in more schools, we aim to ensure that at the end of the four years of primary school, all students reach the level of comprehensive reading appropriate for their school level and beyond that, to form citizens that demonstrate higher order cognitive skills. Currently, we serve 4 schools and more than 900 students; we are planning to expand to 2 new schools each year, aiming at reaching more than 1,500 students in the medium term.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
