Bayer Corp. Applauds ASSET Inc. on U.S. Department of Education Grant

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer Corporation congratulates ASSET Inc. (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) for being selected by the U.S. Department of Education to receive a $22.3 million Investing in Innovation (i3) grant, a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  

ASSET was named one of the 49 winning finalists out of a group of nearly 1,700 schools, districts and education organizations competing for i3 funding nationwide.

Bayer created ASSET, a standards-based elementary school science education reform program, in 1994 as part of its national award-winning Making Science Make Sense® initiative.  While ASSET is now an independent nonprofit organization, Bayer has remained a staunch supporter and has used it as a model to spearhead other science education reform initiatives around the country.

This achievement for ASSET is the latest in a long history of growth over the last 16 years.  

• In the early years, with ASSET beginning as a pilot program in five schools in two local school districts, Bayer provided most of the financial, human and intellectual resources for the project.
• In 1995, ASSET garnered the first of what would become $5 million in National Science Foundation grants, helping it provide its system of teacher professional development and hands-on, inquiry centered curriculum materials to more schools throughout the region.
• In 2000, when the NSF grants concluded, Bayer once again helped ASSET transition to a fee-for-service organization, allowing it to become independent and self-sustaining.
• Since 2006, ASSET has received more than $56.9 million from the State of Pennsylvania to implement its program statewide for the Pennsylvania Department of Education under the name "Science Its Elementary."
• Today, ASSET provides hands-on, inquiry-based science and math professional development and materials to 180 school districts, 5,000 teachers and 142,000 students around the state.

ASSET is in the process of working to secure the 20 percent private sector match, which is a condition of being awarded an i3 grant. Corporations, organizations, foundations and individuals interested in supporting ASSET to reach this goal should contact Karen Ahearn, Director of Communications/ Resource Development at [email protected]. Information on ASSET's i3 application may be viewed at http://data.ed.gov/grants/investing-in-innovation/applicant/15864.  

About Bayer Corporation and Making Science Make Sense^®

Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company's products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time Bayer creates value through innovation, growth and high earning power. The Corporation is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its role as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen. Economy, ecology and social responsibility are corporate policy objectives of equal rank.  In North America, Bayer had 2009 net sales of approximately 7.7 billion euros (about $10.7 billion) and employed 16,300 at year end. For more information, go to www.bayerus.com.

Formalized in 1995, Making Science Make Sense is Bayer's national award-winning initiative to advance science literacy through hands-on, inquiry-based science learning, employee volunteerism and public education.

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SOURCE Bayer Corporation