(NAME-MCE) International Partnership Formed to Improve Student Achievement for Children of Color

[Anselmo Villanueva]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   March 1, 2007

Contact: Mary Lousteau

    (202) 387.8550

http://www.nuatc.org/newsite/home.html

International Partnership Formed to Improve Student Achievement for
Children of Color
Syosset, NY – The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education
(NUA) announced today a partnership with the Israeli-based
organization called, the International Center for the Enhancement of
Learning Potential (ICELP).  Professor Feuerstein is the Chairman of
ICELP, which currently houses 70 centers in 30 countries around the
world.  The partnership will be formally announced on April 27 in
Birmingham, Alabama at the NUA conference, "Teaching for intelligence:
Believe to Achieve"

The purpose and mission of the new  programmatic partnership between
ICELP and NUA is to address the need for improved student achievement,
especially for children of color, with a special interest and concern
for underserved and underperforming African American males in the
United States.  ICELP's target populations include children with
special-needs and its program effectively improves thinking and
learning skills not only among the culturally different and deprived,
but also among high-functioning individual.

"Partnering with NUA will be the perfect compliment for ICELP's
program, and I have long-awaited such a tremendous opportunity in
America with the NUA. When people are taught to dare to believe in the
innate flexibility of the human mind, hope is sustained  in
communities," said Feuerstein.  "Together, our programs will
accomplish wonderful things which enables more people to succeed in
the competitive global market."

The ICELP programs are operated on the basis of Dr. Reuven
Feuerstein's Structural Cognitive Modifiability theory. The theory of
structural cognitive modifiability (SCM) views the human organism as
open, adaptive and amenable for change. The aim of this approach is to
modify the individual, emphasizing autonomous and self-regulated
change.  Many behavioral, learning disabilities and emotional
conditions become modified through cognitive intervention.  The
centers have seen huge successes on cases that are normally seen as
hopeless throughout 30 countries, e.g., South Africa, Brazil, China,
India, England, France.

NUA's mission is to close the achievement gap for urban students by
working with local school district leadership and classroom teachers
to ensure that all students receive high quality instruction every day
in all academic subjects.  NUA also works with the districts and with
community stakeholders to promote resolute belief in the potential of
every student and determination that they will have fair opportunity
to realize that potential.

The innovative approaches of NUA recognize that each school community
faces distinct challenges, requiring proven models of instruction
adapted to meet the needs of students in each city and town.  This
understanding enables NUA to be a partner in successful education
initiatives of districts across the country, including Albany,
Seattle, Birmingham, Minneapolis, Bridgeport, Indianapolis and Newark.

"This partnership is poised to deliver needed contributions to the
field of education," said Dr. Cooper, founder and president of the
National Urban Alliance for Effective Education.  "We are thrilled to
be able to weave the lifelong work of Dr. Feuerstein into the work of
NUA."

NUA and ICELP's programs share a common goal of improving student
achievement while focusing their programs on engaging student
performance through effective teaching and learning.  With the support
of superintendents from across the country, the partnership will work
to initiate projects in Birmingham, AL, Minneapolis, MN, Albany, NY,
Bridgeport, CT and Newark, NJ.

The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) (r) was
founded in 1989 with a vision of school reform based upon three
beliefs:  all children are capable of attaining high educational
standards; intelligence is modifiable, not fixed; and all stakeholders
in the community must be involved in addressing the social, cultural,
and intellectual needs of our youth. The NUA is in partnership with
school districts, Stanford University's School Redesign Network, the
International Reading Association, the National Council on Educating
Black Children, The Aspen Institute, the National Council of Teachers
of English, and the New York State Council of School Superintendents.
The goal is system-wide education transformation with a focus on
education as a civil and human right.

The International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential
(ICELP) was founded by Professor Reuven Feuerstein.  The Center works
to enhance the educational and psychological well-being of populations
that are typically overlooked.  The ICELP accomplishes its goals based
on the Structural Cognitive Modifiability theory as well as the
Mediated Learning Experience theory.
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