A detailed article describing RCEF’s educational initiatives at Guan Ai Primary School was recently published in the journal Positions: Dialogues on Education (立场：教育对话 ）. The journal focuses on unique perspectives in education. The article, Curriculum Reform in A Rural Village: the Experiment of Rural China Education Foundation, was written by RCEF Executive Director of Programs Sara Lam and describes RCEF’s teacher professional development methods, challenges, and lessons learned. The article is in Chinese but an English translation will be posted on RCEF's website in the future. Click here to read the article.

RCEF's Co-Executive Director Diane Geng spoke about the challenges in rural education at a panel discussion at Stanford University on November 12, 2009. Directors from the Rural Education Action Project (REAP) and Zigen Fund also presented about their organization's approaches to improving rural education. The event brought together members of the public, academia, and social organizations to discuss methods and lessons learned in the process of improving rural education in China.

Photos from the event can be seen here. Photos are courtesy of P H Yang Photography 摄影： 杨必兴 (phyang.org)

RCEF Co-Executive Director Diane Geng
with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

For the third year in a row, President Bill Clinton invited RCEF to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting. Taking place each September in New York City, this prestigious gathering brings together heads of state, global CEOs, philanthropists, and leaders of non-governmental organizations from around the world.

RCEF was one of the few NGOs at the conference from China and the only one there focused directly on quality rural Chinese education. We participated in a NGO exhibit during the conference that raised RCEF's profile among hundreds of attendees. In addition, RCEF made a commitment at this year's meeting to develop and disseminate high quality curriculum materials to promote the adoption of community-based, student-centered teaching in rural primary schools in China.

The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation has given RCEF a US $68,180 grant for the Integrative Rural Education Program. Last year, the Foundation also sponsored the creation of "Innovations Central," RCEF's database for sharing best practices among rural teachers. We are extremely grateful to the Foundation for its generous support of RCEF's year round efforts on the ground in rural China.

The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation was founded by Dr. Robert Yet-Sen Chen in 2003. Its mission is to ENGAGE with promising non-profit organizations to ENABLE them to implement programs to EMPOWER their target clients to strive for ENLIGHTENMENT through achievement. The Foundation supports high need areas within Mainland China, Hong Kong and Africa.

For more information, visit http://www.chenyetsenfoundation.org.

RCEF's "Integrative Rural Education Program" announced a commitment to action at the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. Gene Sperling, the chair of the Education Working Group, introduced RCEF's commitment to develop a localized professional development system for teachers in rural China.

"It is very helpful for RCEF to join the global CGI community as we work to expand quality education in rural China," said RCEF President Diane Geng. "The issues rural Chinese teachers face are similar to teachers the world over. RCEF looks forward to continued engagement with the CGI network to advance a world in which education can become truly student-centered."

Since 2005, CGI’s Annual Meetings have brought together more than 100 current and former heads of state, hundreds of leading global CEOs, heads of foundations and major philanthropists, directors of the most effective non-governmental organizations, and prominent members of the media. These CGI members have made more than 1,200 commitments valued at $46 billion. These commitments have already impacted more than 200 million lives in 150 countries. Commitments made at the 2008 Annual Meeting are expected to impact almost 160 million people.

A video of this announcement is available here:

Grant Will Fund Integrative Rural Education Program 

Shanxi, China (August 23, 2008) – The Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF) will receive a $25,000 grant from the Tiger Woods Foundation, which supports organizations focused on youth education and character development. Since 1996, TWF has positively affected the lives of an estimated 10 million young people and dispersed more than $30 million to communities nationwide through direct grants and scholarships.

"We are very thankful for the support of the Tiger Woods Foundation," Diane Geng, President of RCEF, said. "This grant helps strengthen our program and allow us to reach out to more children and teachers in rural China. The grant will be used for RCEF's Integrative Rural Education Program, which provides year-round teacher professional development and promotes whole-school reform.

RCEF will also receive US$3,500.00 in prize money and have a permanent place on the Global Giving website. Upon entering the competition, we set a goal of raising US$4,000.00, through 100 donors. When we achieved this target, we then set a higher goal target and at the end of the campaign, we had achieved a total of more than double our original goal.

To our volunteers’ and donors, we are extremely grateful for your effort and support during the competition, but if you would still like to make a donation to this worthwhile cause, we encourage you to do so directly through RCEF's website here.