Olney, MD, March 29, 2008---Chu-Sheng Yeh Cheng, former Elementary Education Division Director of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, and an ACEI member for many years, received the prestigious Patty Smith Hill Award at the 2008 ACEI Annual International Conference & Exhibition Business Meeting in Atlanta, GA. The Patty Smith Hill Award is the Association's highest honor, recognizing outstanding long-term members who have demonstrated a deep commitment to improving children's lives and fulfilling ACEI's goals.
Cheng is now retired, but for more than 40 years, she was actively involved in establishing Taiwan's educational and social service programs. She was instrumental in promoting quality education for all children in her country, and invited internationally recognized educators to Taiwan to engage and participate in innovative, new programs to benefit children.
Born in 1914, Cheng was privileged to obtain an advanced education in the United States. She received her first master's degree in social work from Chicago University in 1947, and a second master's in education from Columbia University in 1948. In 1956, Cheng became the first female Elementary Education Division Director under the Ministry of Education. Under her leadership, the Ministry of Education initiated many new programs for children and families. The programs included special education, family education, and child welfare and service programs for rural families. Cheng also championed children's nutritional health by implementing programs to provide healthy lunches for all school-age children, and obtained the necessary funding to support a nursing staff at preschool, day care centers, and kindergarten. In 1968, Taiwan extended its compulsory education plan from 6 years to 9 years of age. Cheng headed the education reform team, and established the nine-year education plan, essentially changing the plan to provide free education to children through the age of 9.
In 1973, Cheng established the ACEI-Taiwan Branch, and initiated global cooperation and collaboration by inviting international scholars to contribute, participate, and speak at the Annual International Conference. Cheng also chaired the 1989 ACEI World Conference in Taiwan.
Dr. Chu Ying Chien, Professor and Chair, Graduate Institute of Early Childhood Education, National Cheng Chi University, Taiwan, remarks, "On behalf of the ACEI- Taiwan Branch, we want to recognize Mrs. Cheng's contribution to Taiwan's elementary, early and special education. She is an extraordinary individual and an excellent role model for all young educators to follow."
About the Patty Smith Hill Award:A former president of the International Kindergarten Union (ACEI's founding organization), Patty Smith Hill was a classroom teacher, administrator, university professor, and author. Criteria for nomination and selection of the ACEI Patty Smith Hill Award honoree includes having exemplary, consistent contributions to the organization; achievements in the field of childhood education that have brought recognition to ACEI; and having held membership in the organization for 20 years or more.
About ACEI: The Association for Childhood Education International is the oldest organization in the world dedicated to the development of the whole child, from birth to early adolescence. Founded in 1892, ACEI is an organization of teachers, teacher educators, and parents whose primary purpose is to promote the inherent rights, education, and well-being of children in the home, school, and community. ACEI publishes the award-winning publication Childhood Education, as well as the Journal of Research in Childhood Education.