Chess in Schools (CIS) is pleased to announce a cooperative agreement with the European Chess Union (ECU) supporting Chess in Education (CIE) in the United States.
Under the agreement, the ECU, a world leader in CIE development, authorizes CIS as the exclusive provider in the United States for its CIE-certification program. Chess in Schools will offer training programs to teachers and education-savvy chess instructors. They will work to adapt and expand CIE adoption within the US through cooperative agreements with third parties interested in establishing a local or regional presence to do their own CIE training and certification based on ECU methodologies.
ECU joins the Chess in Education Coalition, an advisory group of commercial and non-profit organizations that support CIS’s Chess in Education Initiative through commitments of their time, resources, and endorsements.
ECU and Chess in Schools pledge to cooperate on selected future international CIE projects and explore new areas of cooperation regarding the development of Chess in Education. CIS will endeavor to assist ECU in finding US parties interested in other CIE-related efforts, such as organizing CIE conferences and looking for university scholarship opportunities.
Chess in Schools believes this collaboration will build broader awareness of the educational benefits of chess when taught, not simply as a competitive activity, but as an effective and proven educational tool for teachers.
National Chess Education Consultant Jerry Nash describes the benefits this way. “The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted classrooms around the world in 2020 and 2021. While educators have scrambled to make the best of a difficult situation, there is general recognition that confronting student learning loss and addressing student engagement are critical issues for the days ahead. This past year has also revealed the attraction chess has for students of all ages. Students are engaged by the game, and students who are engaged are more likely to be self-motivated learners. This ground-breaking partnership offers Chess in Schools and the European Chess Union a new framework to expand awareness of the power of chess as an educational tool and to increase the number of educators who are trained to help students build the academic and 21st century skills inherent in the game.”
Chess in Schools is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization founded in 2015 in conjunction with its launch of the Alabama Chess in Schools program, the first statewide US CIE program in the United States. Website: chessineducation.us.
Additional information about CIE concepts and pedagogy is available at chessineducation.org/learn-2.
Details about the Chess in Education Initiative and the CIE Coalition may be found at chessineducation.org/about.
The Education Commission of the European Chess Union seeks to promote chess for educational purposes in schools. We work with all federations in Europe sharing ideas and best practice. The Commission is composed of leading chess teaching experts from several European countries. Together they devise and implement plans to bring chess to schools and to ensure that it is taught according to modern standards. Recently the Commission extended its outreach to other continents, notably Africa and South America.
Website: edu.europechess.org.