Carnegie Awards $175,000 Planning Grant To Envision Excellence In STEM Education

CLEVELAND, March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Envision Excellence in STEM Education (Envision) today announced the receipt of a $175,000 planning grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to create an innovative STEM school design organization that will facilitate the rapid deployment of effective practices in the design model to leverage the growing demand for improved educational performance in our K-16 school system.  

"Envision's focus on STEM school design advances the Corporation's investment in supporting equity and excellence in mathematics and science education, as advocated by the Carnegie Corporation-Institute for Advanced Study's Opportunity Equation initiative," said Leah Hamilton, the Carnegie Program Officer for Urban Education and the manager for the grant.

The new organization, to be named Designing Excellence in Education (DEE) will act as the headquarters organization that aggregates the findings from leaders engaged in the new dynamic approach to educational reform. These visionaries utilize the energy and innovation of the Design Studio atmosphere coupled with the discipline that insures design fidelity to excellence, scale and sustainability. This repository of data will provide school districts, charter school operators and municipalities with the road map to launch new and repurpose existing schools with the very best in education and STEM school design protocol. The design plans will be taken from schools that have a proven track record in improving test scores and closing the achievement gap among all students but with an emphasis on underserved populations. The framework draws on the significant experiences and success gained from the work of Envision's team members in their design of dozens of schools throughout Arizona, New York, Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

The Executive Director of Envision and President of TIES, Ms. Jan Morrison, will also serve as the Executive Director of Designing Excellence in Education. "We are delighted to have the support of Carnegie Corporation who has done so much to advance our nation's educational performance. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that the most productive and successful school design principals are readily and easily accessible for all schools. Innovation in school design will only be successful when it is available to all students."

The planning grant provides the support for an aggressive mid 2011 launch of Designing Excellence in Education with active support available to districts and charter school operators during the planning phase.  Interested municipalities, charter school operators and educators can contact Designing Excellence in Education immediately at (443) 421-1076 or [email protected] for more information on resources and school design support.

CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK is a philanthropic foundation created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to do "real and permanent good in this world." 

ENVISION EXCELLENCE IN STEM EDUCATION is the country's foremost innovator bringing results-oriented School design, curriculum, and instructional support to schools, districts, states and the federal government. ENVISION design teams work to create and build the finest schools throughout the country. ENVISION recognizes the importance of school design and professional development for all teachers as the basis to improve and advance the character of science, technology, engineering and mathematics teaching for students regardless of grade level. Visit Envision at http://www.EnvisionSTEM.org

SOURCE Envision Excellence in STEM Education and The Carnegie Corporation of New York