In 2009, the Chao Foundation gave a grant to the Rural Education Action Program (REAP) at Stanford University. REAP was founded in order to help children in rural China overcome the barriers they face in receiving a proper education. REAP is working to accomplish this goal by conducting experiment based research that shapes policies for improving the accessibility and quality of rural education in China. Now we would like to share with you some of REAP's accomplishments since they received the Chao Foundation Grant.
This year, REAP has:
• Distributed 400,000 vitamin packets to families with babies at risk for nutritional deficiencies.
• Screened 30,000 children for vision problems and passed out 8,000 pairs of glasses to nearsighted students.
• Provided counseling programs to more than 4,500 students in rural China.
• Deployed a team of undercover "patients" to visit 48 rural clinicians and measure the quality of health care that they received.
• Created the first-ever standardized evaluation tools for 180 vocational school programs.
• Handed out $53,000 in financial aid to the poorest rural students in China to attend high school.
• Tracked down 2,000 rural babies and tested their physical and cognitive development.
• Treated 2,000 children for intestinal worms.
• Initiated teacher performance pay programs for teachers of 5,000 students in rural China.
• Launched a prefecture-wide pilot for computer assisted learning in Qinghai Province.
• Distributed 400,000 vitamin packets to families with babies at risk for nutritional deficiencies.
• Screened 30,000 children for vision problems and passed out 8,000 pairs of glasses to nearsighted students.
• Provided counseling programs to more than 4,500 students in rural China.
• Deployed a team of undercover "patients" to visit 48 rural clinicians and measure the quality of health care that they received.
• Created the first-ever standardized evaluation tools for 180 vocational school programs.
• Handed out $53,000 in financial aid to the poorest rural students in China to attend high school.
• Tracked down 2,000 rural babies and tested their physical and cognitive development.
• Treated 2,000 children for intestinal worms.
• Initiated teacher performance pay programs for teachers of 5,000 students in rural China.
• Launched a prefecture-wide pilot for computer assisted learning in Qinghai Province.
Through extensive research, REAP has learned that:
• Rural students are up to 20 times less likely than their urban counterparts to attend elite colleges.
• China's first ever life counseling curriculum for rural schools, developed by REAP, reduces the middle school drop out rate by 25%.
• 55% of rural babies are anemic, and 85% are suffering from cognitive or motor delays.
• 40% of rural primary school children are infected with intestinal worms, and this infection is associated with worse performance on cognitive tests.
• Having anemic students in class leads to worse academic performance even among the non-anemic students in the same class.
• Only 1 in 6 rural/migrant children with correctable vision problems in China has glasses.
• Over an academic year, a nearsighted child that wears glasses learns roughly double what they would without glasses.
• Vocational schools fail to teach students any practical skills and even make them forget basic math skills they originally had.
• Rural students are up to 20 times less likely than their urban counterparts to attend elite colleges.
• China's first ever life counseling curriculum for rural schools, developed by REAP, reduces the middle school drop out rate by 25%.
• 55% of rural babies are anemic, and 85% are suffering from cognitive or motor delays.
• 40% of rural primary school children are infected with intestinal worms, and this infection is associated with worse performance on cognitive tests.
• Having anemic students in class leads to worse academic performance even among the non-anemic students in the same class.
• Only 1 in 6 rural/migrant children with correctable vision problems in China has glasses.
• Over an academic year, a nearsighted child that wears glasses learns roughly double what they would without glasses.
• Vocational schools fail to teach students any practical skills and even make them forget basic math skills they originally had.
We look forward to seeing what REAP can accomplish in the years ahead and we are proud to have been a contributor to their success!
(Data from the REAP 2013 December newsletter)
