continued from

Following numerous meetings with education officials at both the municipal and regional level, Tejea was astonished to learn that she would receive support for every aspect of her plan. When the standing principal resigned unexpectedly in October of 1995, she accepted the job and suddenly found herself pitching the plan to the handful of parents who were still bringing their children to the school. “I asked them not to leave, to trust me and the people that I was planning to bring onboard, to take a gamble with me for one year,” says Tejea. “I promised them that we could change the school, but that I could not do it alone.”

With the tentative support of a small group of parents, Tejea threw herself into the project. She persuaded the Ministry of Education to commission a household survey of the neighborhood surrounding the school. The survey gave her a detailed and devastating snapshot of the social and economic problems the students were contending with. She methodically visited each home in the neighborhood, gradually gaining more supporters. For several months, she came to work “with a shovel, a rake and a broom” and spent much of her time cleaning and repairing with the help of teachers, parents and other volunteers.

Fast-forward. Five years later, Escuela Einstein is a very different school. The grounds are neatly swept and planted with flowers and shrubs. Fresh paint brightens both interior and exterior walls, and all the windows have been repaired. Walls in most classrooms are hung with students crafts and educational posters. The bathrooms are cleaned every morning, the cafeteria has a ull set of tables, and pleasant smells waft out of the kitchen.

One large room has been converted into a full-time library—a rare luxury for public schools in Pudahuel. Several thousand books and a variety of educational games and puzzles engage a steady stream of students. Another room now houses a computer lab with seven terminals that are connected to the Internet and loaded with educational software produced by Chile’s Ministry of Education. The software develops basic skills in areas such as language, math, history and geography through interactive programs.

Enrollment has grown to capacity: 392 students including 57 preschoolers. Desertion rates have plummeted to around 1 percent per year, according to Tejea. The school’s average scores on Chile’s standardized national education test (known as SIMCE for its Spanish acronym) have begun to creep up, even though they remain well below the national average.

Parents are now an integral part of daily life at Escuela Einstein. Teachers and social workers meet periodically with parents to review each student’s progress. Tejea hosts bimonthly workshops for parents on issues such as health, sexuality and substance-abuse. An active Parents’ Club solicits and coordinates volunteers for jobs such as cleaning the school bathrooms, repairing equipment, and periodically painting the walls. Fund-raising campaigns organized by the Parents’ Club have helped to pay for cafeteria tables, blackboards, books and other supplies.

I’d rather be here. But the most remarkable change at Escuela Einstein is difficult to quantify. A visitor to several classrooms on a weekday morning in late 2001 found students working quietly in small groups. Instead of standing at the front of the classroom and lecturing students in the traditional manner, teachers tended to wander among the students, crouching down to ask questions about their work and engaging them in one-on-one conversation. The interaction between teachers and students, though respectful, was warm and openly affectionate. Students lingered on the school grounds long after their classes were concluded, playing sports, rehearsing musical and theatrical productions, working with tutors or simply browsing materials in the library and computer lab. It was considerably clear that this school has become a place where students like to spend time.

Escuela Einstein still faces pressures that could crush an ordinary school. Poverty, unemployment and crime in the surrounding neighborhood have not diminished. The school’s operating budget is so modest that Tejea must ask for charitable donations and volunteer labor for things that would be considered essential in more prosperous settings. Salaries are so low that virtually all the teachers must hold down second jobs. And although parents have come to value and support the school, the staff must still make extraordinary efforts to encourage each student to attend classes consistently and complete the full primary cycle.

Yet unlike most schools in such circumstances, Escuela Einstein is no longer stuck in a vicious cycle of failure, repetition and wasted effort. Tejea has proved beyond any doubt that a school like Escuela Einstein can be turned around by a team of dedicated teachers and parents—and without a massive infusion of funds. This is largely a testament to Tejea’s abilities as a leader and motivator, and to the dedication of her staff. But it is also a testament to broader changes in Chile’s public education system, which increasingly embraces flexibility, innovation and a focus on quality (See sidebar, An environment that encourages change).

None of this matters to the students at Escuela Einstein, who are naturally indifferent to the polemics of educational reform. For them, Escuela Einstein is simply a refuge from the street, a place where it is fun to learn, and a source of encouragement and hope.

Date posted: May 2002

The news about public education in Latin America is often presented as unremittingly bad, particularly in the poorest rural and urban areas.

Yet in every country, a few public schools stand out for their ability to provide a good education in even the most difficult settings. Why do these schools succeed where others fail? How does their experience relate to broader education reform programs?
In this occasional series, we take an in-depth look at public schools in low-income areas that have found innovative ways to improve learning, motivate teachers, and engage the support of parents and local communities.

Music makers…

Parents, take note!

Why do you teach?
First, help the neediest
An environment that encourages change
Innovation can be contagious

Chile's Ministry of Education