Change the Equation

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The White House has announced the launch of Change the Equation (CTEq), a public-private partnership designed to cultivate widespread literacy in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

An offshoot of the $250 million public-private Educate to Innovate initiative, CTEq has received commitments from more than a hundred companies and several foundations that are dedicated to preparing U.S. students for STEM-related careers as an investment in business, the economy, and the country's future. In collaboration with the Obama administration, state houses nationwide, and the education and foundation communities, CTEq aims to improve STEM teaching at all grade levels with a larger and more racially, ethnically, and gender-diverse pool of highly capable STEM teachers; deepen student appreciation and excitement for STEM programs and careers, especially among women and students of color; and achieve a sustained commitment to the STEM movement through communication, collaboration, and data-based decision making.

In its first year, CTEq will work to establish a set of criteria to help guide the initiative and its member companies in defining program success, create a state-by-state scorecard to assess the condition of STEM education across the country, and launch a core set of programs at a hundred sites across the country. The initiative's board is made up of executives from ExxonMobil, which has committed $120 million to the initiative; Intel, which invests $100 million in education annually; Time Warner Cable; the Eastman Kodak Company; Sally Ride Science; and Xerox. Additional corporate and foundation partners include Texas Instruments, Bayer, JPMorgan Chase, Oracle, Boeing, Samsung, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Bill & Melinda Gates and S.D. Bechtel, Jr. foundations.

According to a Center on Education and the Workforce report, there will be eight million job openings in STEM-related fields by 2018, although the next generation of U.S. workers will be unprepared and unqualified to take advantage of many of those positions. Meanwhile, a CTEq-funded survey found that nearly three-in-ten adults believe they are not good at math, an attitude especially prevalent among younger Americans.

Target donates to reading programs

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Minneapolis-based Target Corporation has announced that it will donate more than $500 million in support of education by 2015, doubling its support for education-related activities and organizations to date.

The commitment is part of a new reading initiative, Target Read With Me, that aims to help more U.S. children become proficient in reading by the end of third grade. Through the initiative, Target will work to encourage parents and caring adults to commit to a reading schedule with a child, provide up to two million books to children in need, and create an innovative reading center that will reach communities across the country using both physical and virtual locations.

According to the most recent data available, one out of four young people in the U.S. fails to graduate from high school, while nearly 40 percent of African-American and Hispanic students do not earn a diploma. By launching the initiative and increasing its focus on helping young children read more proficiently, Target hopes to build greater awareness of the education crisis in America, reinforce the importance of the role reading plays in shaping a child's future, and provide access to the tools and resources needed to help children beat the odds and stay on the path to graduation.

"When more than a million students a year fail to graduate with their class, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said Gen. Colin L. Powell, founding chair of America's Promise Alliance. "Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to educate the leaders and the workforce of the future. No single organization or entity can solve this issue on its own. We have a responsibility to unite across sectors to address this crisis on its own. We have a responsibility to unite across sectors to address this crisis because we cannot afford to let our kids fail."

“Target Announces Plans to Reach $1 Billion in Support of Education.” Target Press Release 9/27/10.

Kresge Foundation Announces New Education Grantmaking Strategy

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Kresge Foundation in Troy, Michigan, has announced a new education grantmaking strategy designed to increase the number of low-income and underserved individuals earning two- or four-year college degrees.

The three-part effort will focus on supporting pathways to and through college, building the capacity of postsecondary institutions, and promoting systems and technology that increase productivity and foster innovation in higher education.

To that end, the Pathways for Students initiative will support national, regional, and state- or consortium-based efforts that assist large numbers of low-income, first-generation African-American, Latino, and Native-American students entering and graduating from community colleges and four-year institutions. Through the Strengthening Institutions initiative, the foundation will work to build the capacity of community colleges and minority-serving and special-mission institutions — historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and Title III and Title V institutions — with a primary mission to educate low-income, underrepresented, and first-generation college students. And through the Higher Education Productivity initiative, the foundation will fund networks and systems that operate at the cutting edge of academic and/or administrative productivity, employing new and proven uses of technology for educating students and creating back-office cost savings and efficiencies.

“Kresge Foundation Announces New Grantmaking Strategy to Increase the Number of College Graduates in the U.S..” Kresge Foundation Press Release 9/17/10.

Community College White House Summit

A White House Summit on Community Colleges will be held on October 5, 2010. Dr. Jill Biden discusses the Summit and how individuals can share stories, ideas, and questions for the summit in a September 15, 2010 posting to the White House blog.

White House Press Release on Summit

ArtsErie receives over $1M for elementary school art programs

[From Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper's website] Monday, 13 September 2010 10:23 Erie, Pa.—Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3) today announced ArtsErie has been awarded $1,122,733 in federal funding for their new project, Art in Action, to strengthen arts experiences in local elementary schools. The funds will support Art in Action for four years, serving about 900 local students annually by incorporating the arts into their classroom curricula. The program will also create local teaching opportunities for artists and educators.

The funding was awarded through the Department of Education’s Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination grant program (AEMDD). Of 200 applicants from throughout the United States for the AEMDD grant program, only 33 were chosen to receive funds, including ArtsErie.

ArtsErie will partner with Union City Elementary School, Second District Elementary School in Meadville, Cambridge Springs Elementary School, and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania for Art in Action over the next four years. Resident artists will be assigned to up to forty-eight classrooms of students in grades PK-6 each year. For nine weeks, these artists will infuse arts-based instruction into the classroom to improve student achievement and engagement.

In addition to the advantages for the students, more than 60 elementary school teachers will benefit from ongoing training and professional development to help enhance their teaching skills through the arts, including an opportunity for a three-credit graduate course at Edinboro University. Art in Action will undergo an ongoing evaluation process to measure the program’s effectiveness for the students. The evaluation results will be made available to the education community to share the successes and lessons of the program with other schools.

ArtsErie’s Art in Action project is also creating jobs and business opportunities in the area. In addition to the resident artists in the classroom, art specialists will help facilitate teacher training and retired teachers will observe classrooms as part of the program evaluation, which is being managed by KeyStone Research Corporation in Erie.

The AEMDD grant program stipulates projects must serve at least one elementary or middle school in which 35 percent or more of the children enrolled are from low-income families. One hundred percent of the total costs of the program or project will be financed with federal money.

HMH creates $100M Innovation Fund

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a leading global education company, has announced the creation of a $100 million innovation fund to support the development of new products that promote and enhance student achievement, individualized learning, and effective technology integration in the classroom.

The HMH Innovation Fund will work to engage all stakeholders — teachers, administrators, parents, and students — by creating a collaborative process for soliciting, evaluating, developing, and executing innovative ideas that address teaching and learning challenges and will also support the development of new consumer applications to engage students outside the classroom.

The educational publisher also has committed to investing as much as $300 million over the next three years in the development of innovation centers in the United States and Dublin, Ireland. Teams at HMH will work closely with institutions in other sectors — manufacturers, foundations, and academia — to roll out broader technology initiatives such as a one-year pilot program in four California school districts featuring the first full-curriculum algebra application for the iPad.

“Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Announces $100 Million Innovation Fund to Invest in Education Initiatives Globally.” Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Press Release 9/13/10.

Science to Achieve Results Fellowships

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is offering Graduate Fellowships for master’s and doctoral level students in environmental fields of study. The deadline is November 5, 2010 at 4:00 PM for receipt of paper applications, and November 5, 2010 at 11:59:59 PM ET for submittal of electronic applications to Grants.gov. Subject to availability of funding, the Agency plans to award approximately 105 new fellowships by June 30, 2011. Master's level students may receive support for a maximum of two years. Doctoral students may be supported for a maximum of three years, usable over a period of five years. The fellowship program provides up to $42,000 per year of support per fellowship.

Fall 2011 EPA Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowships For Graduate Environmental Study

Education Grant Program

Lowes Toolbox for Education Grant Program
The Toolbox for Education Grant Program, offered by Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation, provides grants of $2,000 to $5,000 to public K-12 schools and school parent-teacher groups associated with public schools throughout the U.S. that develop projects that encourage parent involvement and build stronger community spirit. Preference is given to funding requests that have a permanent impact such as facility enhancement (both indoor and outdoor) as well as landscaping/clean up projects. This year the program is seeking ways to provide the tools that help educators and parent groups through these challenging times efficiently and with the greatest impact. Therefore, basic needs will take priority. The application deadlines for the upcoming school year are October 15, 2010 and February 18, 2011. Visit the program’s website for detailed funding guidelines.

Financial Literacy National Strategy: Request for Comments

On behalf of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, the Department of Treasury announced it is seeking comment on the draft "National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2010."

The September 3, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER provides full background, and instructions for obtaining a copy of the draft as well as for the submission of comments. Please note that the comment period is limited; comments must be received by September 19, 2010.

Also see:

Treasury Department Publishes Proposed Set of Financial Education "Core Competencies"; Seeks Comments by September 12

Broadening participation in engineering

To address the need to enhance diversity in its programs, the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) at the National Science Foundation is offering research initiation grants under the program name Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering, BRIGE. ENG offers this BRIGE funding opportunity to all beginning engineers with the intent of increasing the diversity of researchers in the engineering disciplines. The goal of the BRIGE solicitation is to increase the number of proposals to the Directorate for Engineering from individuals who can serve as role models and mentors for an increasingly diverse engineering student population who will become the workforce of the future. BRIGE aims to support innovative research and diversity plans that contribute to recruiting and retaining a broad representation of engineering researchers especially those subgroups that are underrepresented in the engineering population in programs supported by these grants. Throughout this solicitation, the term underrepresented groups will refer to and include the following: women, persons with disabilities, and ethnic groups which are in the minority in engineering such as African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Pacific Islanders.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Publication 10-609

National Math and Science Initiative

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The National Math and Science Initiative has announced that its Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program helped boost the number of students who passed the AP tests in math, English, and science by 98 percent between 2008 and 2010.

The NMSI program is designed to increase teacher effectiveness and student achievement. During the 2009-10 school year there was an 84.6 percent increase in the number of students who passed AP exams at the seventy-five first-year APTIP schools — more than eleven times the national increase of 7.5 percent, and an improvement from the 52 percent increase recorded by the first cohort of sixty-five schools in 2008-09. The results from schools that participated both years were significantly better than the national two-year increase of 13.6 percent.

In addition, there was a 107.3 percent increase in math, science and English AP exams passed by African-American and Hispanic students during 2009-10 and a 91.5 percent increase in exams passed by female students. The first cohort of schools reported a 154.6 percent increase in passing math, science, and English scores in two years among African-Americans and Hispanics, which is almost six times the national two-year increase of 27.7 percent. Among female students attending the first cohort of schools, a 116.4 percent increase in passing math and science scores in two years was reported, which is almost thirteen times the national two-year increase of 9.2 percent.

This year, APTIP will be implemented in more than two hundred and twenty public high schools across six states — Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Virginia — and is expected to reach three hundred and fifty schools by the fall of 2012.

$58.7 M for Philly schools

Fifty-seven struggling Pennsylvania schools - most of them in Philadelphia - will share $101 million in federal grants over three years to boost student achievement.

In the region, 33 schools will split $58.7 million.

But the money comes with strings attached.

The schools must adopt one of four reform models that trigger changes such as replacing principals or at least half of their teaching forces, bringing in outside management, or closing schools and transferring students to higher-performing ones.

Schools in the Philadelphia, William Penn, and Southeast Delco districts, plus the Philadelphia Montessori Charter School and the West Philadelphia Achievement Charter School learned Thursday that they would receive between $679,200 (Park Lane Elementary in Darby) and $4.2 million (Lincoln High in Philadelphia).

The Chester Upland School District, which applied for $6 million in grants for two schools, was not awarded any money.

Districts will still be able to apply for an additional $40 million to be awarded this year, Pennsylvania Department of Education spokesman Steven Weitzman said Thursday.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100827_33_schools_in_the_Philadelphia_region_will_share__58_7_million_in_federal_grants.html#ixzz0yTF2JQIy
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