Research shows that poverty affects cognitive development of children more than factors such as parents’ education or parents’ cognitive abilities. Poor and low SES children perform significantly worse than their middle-class peers on many indicators of academic success such as: test scores, grade retention, course failures, high school graduation rate, high school dropout rate and completed years of schooling.
The ARISE – Action for Reducing Inequalities in Education – project is a platform created by a pool of NEPC members NGOs and research institutes from Western Balkans and Turkey (IPA countries) that will support schools, grassroots organisations and policy makers in developing actions and policies aimed at mitigating the effect of low socio-economic status on students’ achievement, reducing inequalities in education.
25 schools will receive support to implement a 2-year school development programme, based on whole school approach and mentoring, to reduce disparities of poverty. Consortium members will support schools to develop sustainable practices in that direction, including school staff training, school projects, school policies, community involvement.
The project foresees the following results:
The project started in March 2020 and it will last for 4 years.
Consortium
Kosova Education Center (project leader) – Kosovo
Network of Education Policy Centers – Croatia
Sabancı University Egitim Reformu Girisimi – Turkey
Children Are the Future – Albania
Centre for Education Policy – Serbia
proMENTE social research – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Centre for Educational Initiatives Step by Step – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Foundation for Education and Cultural Initiatives “Step by Step” – North Macedonia
The project is funded by the EuropeAid program of the European Union.