Teacher Training

The regional Centers of Excellence for Teacher Training (CETT) are an initiative of former President George W. Bush to provide a model for effective teacher development. CETT works to strengthen literacy instruction for primary students in first through third grades. The Initiative works in three regions: Central America and the Dominican Republic, the Andean Region (Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador), and the Caribbean.

The program’s objective is to improve the quality of teaching; it provides teachers with techniques and tools to teach basic reading skills that will help the children achieve excellence in reading and writing. The model is being implemented throughout the hemisphere, with special emphasis on the poorest countries and on teachers who work in poor and disadvantaged communities.

The program has five components to help teachers improve reading skills:

1. Teachers and administrative staff receive training in interactive techniques to teach reading, and to help teachers apply them in the classroom. Teacher training is provided through a “train the trainer” model, allowing teachers and support staff to replicate the training in their communities.
2. The program develops diagnostic evaluation instruments to allow teachers to identify their students’ learning deficiencies.
3. The program develops teaching materials to improve reading skill instruction.
4. Research is conducted to validate the efficiency and relevance of training, teaching materials, and diagnostic instruments.
5. The program uses information technology to increase the program’s coverage. It has created an internet portal through which it provides access to best practices and lessons learned, as well as a distance learning program.

CETT is implemented in Honduras through the National Pedagogical University. It offers teachers a rigorous training program, educational material, and follow-on support. The current focus of the CETT program is the implementation of an evaluation structure that will ensure program excellence.

CETT in Honduras introduced a more child-centered and interactive approach to learning than traditional teaching methods. Evaluations show that the CETT approach has provided very positive results for children in the early grades of elementary school. CETT has also teamed up with Scholastic Books, Inc. in the United States to provide participating schools with nearly 120,000 books for classroom libraries.

In September 2008, the Honduran Ministry of Education and the National Pedagogical University Francisco Morazan signed an agreement to adopt the model as a means to improve reading and writing in the first through third grades nationwide.

For more information, please visit: www.lectoescritura-cett.org.