My name is Mackenzie and I’m a rising sophomore working with Bridge International Academies this summer thanks to generous funding from the MacMillan Center, among other sources. Bridge is an organization dedicated to providing high-quality education at a low cost and a tremendous scale. Several years ago, Bridge expanded into Liberia under a government partnership, and currently operates 68 schools in the country.
I spent my first three weeks on the ground in Monrovia, Liberia, learning about challenges the organization faces with student retention, teacher attendance, and technology. As a part of my work, I visited three Bridge schools in three different counties, talking to teachers, principals, and students about how Bridge has impacted their communities and what they would like to see in the future. Please find some photos of academies in more rural regions of the country attached.
I am now working with the Academics team in Boston, Massachusetts, supporting them on a variety of projects including analyzing and publishing global reports on lesson delivery across Bridge territories and executing pressure tests to validate lesson delivery data. I will also be working on two innovative learning interventions: Teaching at the Right Level in Nigeria and Reading Clubs in Liberia.
I am so looking forward to the rest of my time with Bridge and am extremely grateful to the MacMillan Center for its support.
