An "integrated cooperation accord" that he and Mr. Chavez signed on Oct. 30 calls for Cuban educators to help Venezuela in "the consolidation of the Bolivarian schools" through joint teacher training and curriculum development programs.
As the deputy chancellor for instruction, Dr. Rizzo was charged with developing curriculums, policies and teacher training programs and assessing how well they worked.
Jerri Willett, the chairwoman of the department of teacher education and curriculum studies, said because it was a pilot program, it had taken time to develop procedures.
Among its first programs was a G.E.D. class with a part-time teacher and no curriculum; the pass rate, less than 20percentt, made center officials wince.
Doreen Luckey, an eighth grade math teacher, said the curriculum worked in test-taking, with morning enrichment and after-school programs to work on test skills.
The schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, said Monday that he was reshuffling the top jobs at city's Education Department headquarters and eliminating the division that oversees school curriculum and teacher training programs.
Also, large disaster-proofed schools would be built, teacher training programs established and the 50-year-old national curriculum modernized.
Efforts have been made to bridge the gap in personnel and resources, including teacher training programs intended to reduce the pupil-to-teacher ratio, curriculum development and reform, and the construction of new classrooms.
As reported by Korthagen et al., 2006in their reflection of the fundamental principles guiding teacher education programs and practice across three different university contexts in Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, one of the key principles of learning to teach requires a shift in focus by teacher education programs from the curriculum to the learners.
The evidence may be used to improve entry requirements, curriculum and instruction, and assessment criteria for teacher education programs.
