Winthrop Administrator And Professor Help Design Liberian Workshop For Teachers

July 7, 1999

ROCK HILL - As a group of U.S. educators teach their craft in Africa this week, they will incorporate ideas proposed by a Winthrop administrator and education professor.

Frank Ardaiolo, Winthrop's vice president of student life, and associate professor Ray Dockery contributed to the design of a workshop now underway in Liberia. Six teacher trainers from different parts of the United States volunteered to instruct primary school teachers in the workshop from July 3 through July 25 at Cuttington University College in Suacoco, about 150 miles from Liberia's capital of Monrovia.

The American teachers have all taught in Liberia and are members of Friends of Liberia, a non-profit group founded by former Peace Corps volunteers. Ardaiolo, who lived in Liberia during his childhood, serves on the board of directors of Friends of Liberia.

"I believe this workshop will be an entree for Winthrop's deeper involvement in the future," Ardaiolo said. "Given York County's connection to Liberia, this is truly a historic re-connection."

Liberia is an African country founded in the 1800s by freed American slaves, many directly from York County and South Carolina. Today, its people are recovering from a devastating civil war.

The workshop is a new initiative by FOL, which has refurbished schools, sent textbooks and furniture to the universities and, most recently, co-sponored the Post-Conflict Conference for Liberian non-governmental organizations.

"Many of our members are educators," FOL President Pat Reilly said. "We realize better than most that it takes more than a coat of paint and a new roof to bring back the quality of education Liberia had before the war. A well-prepared primary school teacher can influence the rest of a child's life."

The six U.S. master teachers, two of them school principals, will conduct the workshop with 15 teams of principals and teachers from Liberian elementary schools. Their goal is to improve and diversify teaching and evaluation methods for the basic curriculum of math, science, reading, writing, music and verbal skills.

Ardaiolo designed the evaluation component of the project which will be used to assess the workshop's operation and short- and long-term impacts. Dockery of Winthrop's Center of Pedagogy added to the workshop's research design and subsequent analysis.

Friends of Liberia members said they are committed to continuing the workshops for at least the next five years. Follow-up evaluations by the Cuttington staff will determine what works best for the participating teachers.

Ardaiolo hopes to send a Winthrop faculty member and student to next summer's workshop and to involve more faculty members.

"I hope this is the beginning of an endeavor that will grow, for it once again demonstrates Winthrop's commitment to international education and our global perspectives," he said.