Scholastic chess teaches critical thinking skills to improve student academic success; a key component of the new Florida Standards is a focus on in-depth critical-thinking and problem solving skills rather than rote memorization for English language arts and acquiring an ability to understand and apply mathematical concepts. In the 2014-15 school year, the National Scholastic Chess Foundation (NSCF) partnered with the Broward Education Foundation to launch the Next Move Chess Initiative to bring chess to students of all grades in schools and in community programs. The initial funding was provided by The City of Sunrise which has continued to support and encourage this program.
The first goal was to train teachers as well as other youth workers to be able to teach chess. The NSCF created two full-day Demystifying Chess Workshops to take somone from having little to no knowledge of chess to being able to deliver approximately 26 weeks of instruction, in class or in aftercare. As of December 2016, 370 teachers, youth workers, police officers, and even some parents and student volunteer mentors, have completed Workshop #1: Teaching the Basics. Of these, 205 have also completed Workshop #2: Moving Beyond the Basics. Over 150 new or expanded chess programs are now in operation across Broward County led by teachers who have taken the Demytifying Chess workshops.
You can read a short summary report on the Next Move Chess Initiative from June 2015 through December 2016. You can also click here to read the October 2014 to May 2015 report.
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Resources for Teachers