Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools

The Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) is a network of schools for exceptional students of age 5 to 18 throughout Kazakhstan.[1] The schools are named after Nursultan Nazarbayev, former president of Kazakhstan, who has promoted the idea as a means of developing the intellectual life of the country.[2] Previously, each school focused primarily on a specific set of subjects: either physical sciences and mathematics, or chemical and biological sciences, as well as foreign languages.[2] Although this division is still represented in the names of schools, most schools share the same curriculum based on Cambridge O Level and A Level, except for NIS IB in Nur-Sultan. Instruction is trilingual, in Kazakh, Russian and English,[1] shifting to exclusively English by the junior year.[2]

Partnerships

The program was initially set up with the assistance of faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.[3] Subsequently, Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools partnered with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education on curriculum development; Cambridge Assessment on design of the assessment system; CiTO, Netherlands on the testing and measurement; and Johns Hopkins University on working with talented youth.

Schools
Nazarbayev Intellectual school in Shymkent

Currently there are 20 NIS or associated schools located in the following localities:

Currently NIS operates twenty intellectual schools throughout the country, in addition to an international school and specialist mathematics school in Nur-Sultan.[1]

Conferences

The NIS International Conference is one of the largest educational conferences in Central Asia, and the largest focusing exclusively on preschool, primary and secondary education, typically attracting around 1000 participants. Previous keynote speakers have included Colleen McLaughlin, Patrick Griffin, Fred Genesee, William Schmidt, Richard Phelps, Miho Taguma, David Bridges, and John Elliott.

Criticism

The Nazarbayev network has been criticized for its concentration on only the best and brightest at the expense of the bulk of the rest of the student population.[2]

References
  1. "Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools" (PDF). Randstad: Teach Anywhere. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  2. Bartlett, Paul (22 February 2012). "Kazakhstan: Elite Schools May Limit Opportunities". EurasiaNet. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  3. Weinberg, Rachel (10 February 2011). "GSE works to improve Kazakh schools". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
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