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Puryear Speaks on Education Quality at the Virtual Educa Caribe Conference in the Dominican Republic

˙ PREAL Blog

This post is also available in: Spanish

On March 7, PREAL Co-director Jeffrey Puryear gave the keynote address at the opening ceremony for the Virtual Educa Caribe 2012 conference, a forum organized by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (FUNGLODE) in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

The conference brought together 400 government, business, and civil society leaders, including the Vice Minister for Higher Education Victor Hugo de Lánzer, and speakers from Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Great Britain, Guyana, Israel, Mexico, Puerto Rica, Spain, and Venezuela to discuss the topics of training, innovation, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable development.

In his address, entitled “An Education Policy that Works,” Puryear emphasized the distinction between quantity and quality in education. “It’s not just years spent in school that matters,” he stated, “but how much students learn.”

In order to increase learning, he argued, school systems in Latin America need to establish world-class learning standards, identify underperforming students quickly and provide them with extra support, and reform the teaching profession.

“Effective teachers are crucial” he stated. “The teaching profession has not been designed to attract high-quality teachers and encourage effective teaching. Systemic changes will be necessary.”

Puryear’s remarks kicked off a series of panel discussions and presentations which took place over the following two days on subjects ranging from E-learning and wiki-resources to school management and 21st century teaching.

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View Puryear’s slideshow presentation here. For more information on the Virtual Educa Caribe 2012 conference, visit the FUNGLODE website.

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