$22M Fund to Kick-Off Effort by Cross-Sector Partnership to Hire, Develop, Retain Excellent STEM Teachers

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to President Barack Obama's announcement about the critical shortage of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers first made in his 2011 State of the Union address and reinforced today at the second White House Science Fair, the 100Kin10 partnership announced an initial $22 million fund to help support the creative and strategic efforts of the partnership's more than 115 members to meet their respective—and measurable—commitments to bring more, excellent STEM teachers to American classrooms.

One year into the 100Kin10 initiative, which was created in response to the country's need for 100,000 excellent STEM teachers, partners have already made commitments to train over 40,000 STEM teachers in five years and to support and retain tens of thousands more.

Led by Carnegie Corporation of New York and Opportunity Equation, the movement is inspired by a vision of a future—shared by partners from federal agencies to states, museums to universities, teacher residencies to school districts, non-profits to corporations—where all students have the STEM literacy necessary to be full participants in the nation's economy and democracy.

"The country is at a critical juncture: Our need for STEM capacity in every part of our economy far outpaces our ability to train and keep great STEM talent," said Talia Milgrom-Elcott, program officer at Carnegie Corporation of New York who, with Maya (Agarwal) Lundhagen of Opportunity Equation, is leading the 100Kin10 effort. "100Kin10 takes the best of open, networked, bottom-up problem-solving and applies it to the complex challenge of securing and supporting 100,000 excellent STEM teachers in a decade.  With the $22 million, funders are signaling to the country that solving this problem is a priority and that we can't use conventional means to do it."

The fund, contributed by 14 philanthropic, corporate, and community partners—including Carnegie Corporation, Google, Freeport McMoRan and the S.D. Bechtel, Bill & Melinda Gates, and Michael and Susan Dell foundations—will help make possible many of the partners' innovations in STEM teacher preparation and retention.

In addition to the fund, 100Kin10 partners are making more than 100 individual commitments, such as:

• California State University will prepare 1,500 new math and science teachers annually through 2015, half of whom will teach in high-need schools for at least three years and 10% of whom will earn dual certification, addressing the needs of hard-to-staff schools.
• National Math and Science Initiative will prepare 4,000 new STEM teachers from 31 UTeach sites by 2015.
• Google will design a high-profile recognition program for the top 5% of STEM teachers nationwide.
• Teach for America will recruit 11,000 STEM Corps members by 2015 and connect other qualified applicants to additional STEM teaching opportunities.
• DonorsChoose.org will inspire 50,000 citizens to sponsor projects in math and science classrooms over the next two years, delivering $15M in critical classroom resources and helping 600,000 students nationwide.
• University of Chicago will create a framework for organizing the learning that results from "100Kin10" investments and coordinate research among partners on key questions about STEM teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and development.

The complete list of 100Kin10 partners and their commitments is available at the 100Kin10 website, showcasing the breadth and depth of work being done to increase the supply of excellent STEM teachers; hire, develop and retain excellent STEM teachers; and build the 100Kin10 movement.

Note to Editor: On February 21 in Washington, D.C. 100Kin10 will convene its first Partner Summit. The Summit is designed to both celebrate and foster further collaboration among the more than 100 organizations that have made commitments toward the goal of 100Kin10.

Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic foundation created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to do "real and permanent good in this world." In education, the Corporation works to create pathways to opportunity for many more students by promoting systemic change and innovation in secondary and higher education. www.carnegie.org

The Opportunity Equation initiative promotes equity and excellence in mathematics and science education. A partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study and Carnegie Corporation of New York, Opportunity Equation engages national and local decision makers and thought leaders to carry out the recommendations of the Carnegie Corporation of New York-Institute for Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics and Science Education in its 2009 report, The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy. www.OpportunityEquation.org.

SOURCE Carnegie Corporation of New York