Each day we see the realities of educationalinequity juxtaposed against the concrete evidencethat when students in low-income communitiesare given opportunities they deserve, they excel.

Math and science initiative

Recognizing the urgent need for excellent math and science education in this country, we launched a campaign in 2004 to bring more outstanding math and science teachers to low-income communities. In the 2009-2010 school year, nearly 2,400 corps members are teaching math and science to more than 150,000 students.  We project that this number will increase to 3,600 by 2015.

The program

This initiative begins with focused recruitment of graduating college seniors, graduate students, and professionals with math, science and engineering expertise. Over the past two years, this approach has increased the number of Teach For America applicants with a math, science, or engineering background.

Year Corps Size Total applicants Science/Technology/
Engineering/Mathematics applicants* (STEM)		 STEM applicants (% of total)
2004
1,600
13,300
2,200
16.5%
2005
2,200
17,300
3,100
18%
2006
2,400
18,900
3,500
18.5%
2007
2,900
18,100
3,400
19%
2008
3,600
24,700
4,700
19%
2009
4,100
35,100
7,200
20.5%

Percent change '04-'09

+156%
+164%
+227%
+4%

     *includes applicants with backgrounds in finance

In addition to recruiting a growing corps of individuals with strong math, science, and engineering backgrounds, we give our math and science teachers the training and support they need to succeed in the classroom. This requires content-specific training at the summer institute and targeted support through the two-year commitment.

Finally, this initiative aims to develop programming necessary to maximize the degree to which our alumni continue working beyond their two-year commitments to improve math and science education practice and policy.

Sponsors

Our efforts will be successful only with the continued investment of companies and organizations that recognize that the students of today are the mathematicians, scientists, and engineers of tomorrow.

  • Amgen, Founding National Math and Science Partner
    In 2006, the Amgen Foundation, the charitable arm of Amgen, Inc., a leading human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry, joined Teach For America as its Founding National Math and Science Partner. The Amgen Foundation has pledged $5 million over five years towards our math and science initiative. Through the Amgen Fellows program, made possible with this support, Teach For America offers modest signing bonuses to particularly sought-after math and science majors who commit to join the corps. In addition, as part of a special partnership between the Amgen Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, and Teach For America, fellows are eligible to receive funding for valuable student learning materials and innovative math and science classroom projects. Click here to read profiles of recent Amgen fellows
  • Medtronic
    Medtronic is funding the costs of a full-time managing director of this initiative who coordinates our math and science professional development program and engages the broader math and science education and policy communities both to enlist additional resources and expertise in our effort and to share our experiences and learnings. With Medtronic’s support we are strengthening the content-area and grade-level specific training and professional development provided to our corps members who are teaching math and science.
  • NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
    NASA is helping Teach For America train and support thousands of America’s most promising future leaders to become excellent math and science teachers in our nation's highest-need urban and rural schools. In 2008 Congress directed NASA to provide Teach For America a significant, noncompetitive grant,** which supports development and execution of Teach For America’s pre-service training and ongoing support programming, including the creation of new online resources for our teachers. In addition, NASA shares its extensive expertise in providing K-12 educators with the tools and learning opportunities to increase their STEM knowledge and its vast array of hands-on learning experiences designed to inspire the next generation of scientists and explorers. Learn more about the NASA Office of Education.
  • Symantec
    Symantec is fueling the pedagogical development of our math and science teachers through support of our flexible and customized online training programs. Together, we aim to capture and make available to current and future corps members and alumni the best possible math and science trainings, classroom strategies, lesson plans, assessments, and other resources.

Contact
Bree Arsenault
Teach For America
bree.arsenault@teachforamerica.org

 

*National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2007 Mathematics Assessment and 2005 Science Assessment.
**Grant number NNX08AQ39G

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