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Education Week (May 26, 2005) has reported that the federal agency that helps underwrite schooling in developing countries released a new education strategy that broadens the agency’s traditional focus on increasing access to paying more attention to the quality of schooling. The strategy provides a framework for the U.S. Agency for International Development to become more involved with informal education, secondary education, workforce development, and higher education.“We want to discipline ourselves to say, ‘It’s not just the number of classes and kids,’ but rather, ‘Are they really learning?’ ” John Grayzel, the director of the office of education in the USAID’s bureau for economic growth, agriculture, and trade, said in an interview. “They have to be learning what’s truly relevant to their lives.”According to Education Week, the game plan doesn’t clarify the extent to which the USAID will get involved in influencing education curricula in other countries, which has been a particularly sensitive issue in the Muslim world. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings told reporters during her visit to Jordan this week that the United States was not trying to “influence or interfere” in curricula in Middle Eastern countries, according to a May 24 article in the Jordan Times. USAID officials announced last school year that the agency would not take part in writing a curriculum for Iraq. At the Washington gathering this week, they gave a less definitive answer than Ms. Spellings did about U.S. policy on curriculum development in other countries.

The decision to “not get involved in curriculum development is specifically for Iraq,” said Norman Rifkin, a USAID official. He was responding to a reporter’s question about whether the USAID decides to steer clear of involvement in writing curricula in all countries.

To review the complete Education Week story, go to http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/05/26/39usaid_web.h24.html.html

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