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Supporting student achievement
AP Incentive | Dallas Achieves | Destination: Graduation | HiTECCC | Infinity Project | MATHCOUNTS | Mentoring | Rising Star | Robotics Competitions | SMART Educational Initiative | TI MathForward | Visioneering
TI has worked diligently to help students achieve success and pique their interest in pursuing technology-related university degrees and careers. These are some of the key programs in which TI is involved:
Advanced Placement (AP) Incentive Program
The AP Incentive program is designed to encourage students to take more rigorous, college-level course work in high school. TI believes that this program prepares students for high-tech careers, and the TI Foundation supports it by funding incentives for both Dallas Independent School District teachers and students. In 2008, 1,407 students received qualifying scores in math, science and English Advanced Placement exams, up from 157 students when the program began in 1995 (a nearly 800 percent increase).
Dallas Achieves
To help the Dallas Independent School District ensure that every graduate is ready for college and the work force, the TI Foundation contributed an additional $225,000 in 2008 to its Dallas Achieves program. The TI Foundation and other donors are helping the district achieve academic excellence with a goal of winning the nationally coveted Broad Prize for Urban Education by 2010. This prize honors urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement, while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students.
Destination: Graduation
Since 2005, the TI Foundation has partnered with the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas to improve graduation rates among Texas students in select Dallas and Collin County schools. The program targets freshmen using college preparation, interactive parental involvement classes, and mentoring programs to educate students and parents on the long-term benefits of a high school diploma.
In 2008, the TI Foundation committed an additional $200,000 to the initiative, which supported almost 900 students, parents, and staff in Dallas and Plano schools during the 2007-08 school year. To date, the TI Foundation has given $700,000 and donated significant volunteer hours to support this program. For participating students in the original program offering, the promotion rate improved 20 percent. Results from the 2008-09 school year were not available at the time of this report release.
HiTECCC
TI co-founded the High-Technology Education Coalition of Collin County (HiTECCC) in 2004 as a unique collaboration that includes a local school district, community college, university and regional industry partners. The mission of the coalition is to promote high-quality science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for North Texas students.
Since the program's inception, 80 high school students have participated in University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) science/technology research internships. UT Dallas has awarded $185,000 in scholarships to Collin County Community College students. Eight Collin County faculty members also received or are pursuing doctoral degrees, while 150 Plano Independent School District high school girls attended physics camps. These camps enabled 53 percent more girls to pass AP physics exams.
Additionally, volunteers from TI and other industry companies conducted HiTECCC's Engineering Your Future through Math and Science program in 2008, which reached more than 1,100 seventh- and eighth-graders. The program reinforces the importance of STEM in order to increase interest in related careers.
Infinity Project
Created by TI and Southern Methodist University's (SMU) School of Engineering in 1999, the Infinity Project was among the first in the country to help school districts incorporate state-of-the art engineering and advanced technology into the high school classroom. The program makes math and science more relevant by incorporating real-world applications, such as MP3 players and digital cameras, instead of just textbooks. It is designed to encourage high school students to choose science and math to prepare for high-tech careers. The program has expanded to include a middle school curriculum. At the end of 2008, more than 350 schools in 37 states and the District of Columbia had implemented Infinity Project curriculums.
MATHCOUNTS
MATHCOUNTS is a national enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school math achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory. As a national sponsor, TI provides financial support to more than 6,700 math coaches and 115,000 math students through the National MATHCOUNTS Foundation. We also distribute our latest Education Technology products to approximately 225 "mathletes" participating in the national competition and to each state team's math coach. In 2008, TI gave $55,000 in cash and in-kind donations to support the program.
Mentoring
By serving as role models and mentors, TI employees counsel students in elementary schools in our communities. Through these efforts, these students have shown marked improvements in test scores, attendance and capabilities. TIers have mentored hundreds of students through Big Brothers Big Sisters programs and other employee initiatives as well. Through the Mentornet program, our employees also have served as e-mentors to more than 600 U.S. engineering students since 2005.
Rising Star
Since 1999, the TI Foundation has donated a collective $1.5 million to enable any Dallas County student in the top 40 percent of his or her high school class to attend any Dallas County community college. Rising Star scholarships go to students who might not otherwise be able to afford college, and include tuition, fees and books for the two-year degree. More than 9,000 Rising Star students have enrolled in the Dallas County Community College District since the program's inception.
Robotics Competitions
Texas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) challenges middle and high school students to build remote-controlled robots. Founded in 1993 by two TI employees, the competition attracts entries from nearly 700 middle and high schools and more than 10,000 students across several states each fall. In 2008, TI gave $20,000 and hundreds of volunteer hours to the program. To date, we have invested $500,000 in Texas BEST, which has reached more than 80,000 students.
Additionally, TI is the official technology supplier for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition, a multinational contest that brings professionals and high school student teams together to solve an engineering design problem. FIRST engages high school students in mentor-based programs to build science, engineering and technology skills that inspire innovation and foster well-rounded life capabilities, including self-confidence, communication and leadership. In 2008, TI gave a $100,000 in-kind donation of analog chips used in the controller systems for the robots.
SMART Educational Initiative
In 2004, TI created a $1 million endowment for the Collin County (Texas) Community College District for the Science, Math, Advanced Research and Technology (SMART) Educational Initiative. SMART Educational Initiatives provide scholarships for academically qualified high school and community college students who intend to pursue or are pursuing four-year degrees in engineering and related fields. The goal is to fuel a pipeline of highly skilled professionals in science, math and engineering disciplines. By the end of 2008, approximately 32 scholarships had been awarded.
TI MathForward™
Launched in 2005, TI MathForward combines instruction, professional development, curriculum integration and classroom technology to help middle and high school students build confidence and achievement in mathematics. Leading mathematicians, researchers, educators and administrators assisted TI in the development of this research-based program. In 2008, more than 40 schools from eight states participated. In the Richardson (Texas) Independent School District, the pass rate of students in the TI MathForward program rose 57 percent in one year.
Visioneering
TI annually sponsors this unique event at Southern Methodist University (SMU), which brings together middle school students, working engineers and innovators to explore the ways that engineering makes a difference in the world around us. Since 2001, more than 7,000 students, teachers and industry volunteers have participated in the program. More than 750 students, teachers and volunteers attended the annual Visioneering event on the SMU campus in Dallas in 2008 to experience real-world engineering and applications. Click here to a see a video about Visioneering.
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