 Pictured (from left) are: Stan Woodward, president, Laying the Foundation; Tom Luce, CEO, National Math and Science Initiative; Peter O’Donnell, chairman, Laying the Foundation; Dr. Carolyn Bukhair, interim superintendent, Richardson ISD; Dr. Phyllis Parker, assistant superintendent, Garland ISD; Dr. Michael Hinojosa, superintendent, Dallas ISD; Sam Self, chair, Texas Instruments Foundation; Dr. James Spaniolo, president, University of Texas at Arlington; Gretchen Bataille, president, University of North Texas; Dr. Myron Salamon, dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Texas at Dallas; and Dr. Mary Ann Rankin, dean, School of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin.
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The Texas Instruments (TI) Foundation recently announced grants of $3 million to train existing middle and junior high school teachers and to increase the number of such teachers who graduate from local universities.
This investment is consistent with the TI Foundation's focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and its mission to substantially strengthen the number of high-school graduates who are capable of advanced math and science by focusing on teachers – the most critical link in the learning chain.
"Teachers are the key. But we can't expect to graduate the caliber of students our state and nation need without more and better trained math and science teachers," said Sam Self, chairman of the TI Foundation. "We're investing in proven programs to address both quality and quantity of STEM teachers. These grants help by training 180 existing teachers in three school districts and developing 300 new teachers from three North Texas universities by 2013."
The Foundation grants will fund two programs that have proven successful at the state and national levels:
- Laying the Foundation® will receive $1.5 million for advanced training of existing teachers in 10 middle and junior high schools in the Dallas, Garland and Richardson school districts to improve their strategies for teaching Pre-AP-level coursework. This grant also will include a unique component for mentoring and lesson modeling, as well as pre-and post-course assessment of students. The LTF grant provides potential financial incentives of about $4,500 per teacher to encourage retention over the next five years. As partners in the program, the schools applied to be part of the program and share in the cost of the training.
- UTeach programs at three universities will receive a total of $1.5 million to prepare college undergraduates to become secondary math and science teachers. Specifically, these grants will be used to provide a total of seven master teachers at The University of North Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington. Each master teacher will work alongside senior faculty to prepare more than 50 undergraduate students each year for certification in math or science. Two Foundation grants will expand existing UTeach centers at The University of North Texas and The University of Texas at Dallas. Another Foundation grant, complemented by funding from the National Math and Science Initiative, the Texas Education Agency and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, will establish a new UTeach center at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Teachers and schools need more support
"Both federal and state governments are strongly promoting STEM education, and we applaud those efforts," Self said. "But, the support of more foundations and corporations is needed to address the critical teacher shortage. We invite others to join us in this mission. The more we can all put our resources behind proven, successful programs, the farther we believe we can advance STEM education."
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