Christopher M. Whitsel, NDSU assistant professor of sociology, traveled to Kazakhstan to provide research design assistance and training for evaluators of the Getting Ready for School initiative of the Open Society Foundation.

The program is a nine-month, home-based curriculum aimed to help parents prepare their young children, who have not attended formal pre-school, to arrive at school with the necessary skills and enthusiasm for learning. It especially targets families who cannot afford to send their children to pre-school or who live in rural areas without access to pre-schools.

Whitsel traveled to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in October of 2009 to participate in the initial training of the local data collectors. He will continue to guide the evaluation process throughout the year and return to Tajikistan to assist in the second round of evaluations in the coming summer.

The program evaluation will take place in three stages, once in October 2009, again in July 2010 and then after the children have completed first grade in 2011.