Transcriber: Maria Carolina Aguirre J. Reviewer: Leonardo Silva
Rio de Janeiro, as some of you already know,
is known by its beauty,
but also for being the capital of knowledge.
Thus, you can imagine my shock when, starting in 2009,
I realized that the city had very poor learning outcomes.
This is really inconsistent with being a capital of knowledge.
Just to give you one example:
up to 28,000 kids from 4th to 6th grade
were illiterate or functionally illiterate.
Something had to be done immediately.
We did everything good science recommends.
We created a good curriculum,
we invested in professional development for teachers and principals,
we prepared our own textbooks,
but it simply didn't work.
The problem was clearly inside the classroom.
Most of the teachers, or some of the teachers,
were giving classes, most of the time,
with their backs turned to the students,
writing on the board just for the kids to copy
in their notebooks.
They needed additional tools.
A World Bank research done in 2010
realized we had poor class management skills in the classroom.
One day, Rafael Parente, my deputy, suggested that we create
a platform of sequential digital classes,
as an open education resource,
with everything a teacher would need to provide great classes:
material for preparation, background material,
study plans, PowerPoint options to be projected in the classroom
with videos, with images, small quizzes.
And there was one thing that I liked most:
the classes would be prepared by our own teachers
as a learning opportunity
and also as a great way to build ownership.
As we prepared the platform,
we realized that Educopédia has as a special feature:
the fact that it could be used either in schools,
with classes being projected from the teacher's computer,
or at home.
There are situations in a city like Rio de Janeiro
were kids cannot go to school,
such as conflicts in violent slums, or hospitalized children.
In those cases, Educopédia could provide --
Educopédia is the name of the platform --
could provide a great way for some days of home schooling,
with kids accessing it from home or even from community centers.
I'm not talking about something that will take ages
to change education in Rio,
or in other countries.
I'm talking [about] something that presented results on the ground.
And as I started as senior director for global education,
I realized there are situations in countries facing civil wars,
or where the rights to education are denied,
or even in the present outbreak of Ebola,
where the platform could be really useful.
The results of the platform are superb so far.
In just two years, we raised,
we improved learning outcomes up to 22%
and dropout rates have been significantly reduced.
(Applause)