National Math and Science Initiative Selects Tennessee High Schools for its AP Program for Military Families

DALLAS, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), a non-profit organization launched in 2007 to transform math and science education in the United States, announced today that its Advanced Placement* (AP) program for military families is being expanded this fall to Clarksville High School, Northeast High School, and Rossview High School, near Fort Campbell in Tennessee, thanks to a grant from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).

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"This innovative program can open doors to college for so many more students by providing them with more rigorous, project-based coursework to help them succeed in the highly competitive fields of science, technology, engineering, and math," said Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI.

A special event was held today to announce the expansion of the NMSI program to these three schools. NMSI's AP program for military families is currently in 52 schools in 15 states. Further expansion is anticipated to reach more than 70 schools in 18 states.

"The school district and our community have joined in a commitment to encourage our students to take more rigorous courses. As a result, we have seen an increase in both enrollment and success in AP classes," said Dr. B.J. Worthington, Director of Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. "This grant, however, will take us to a much broader and deeper level of participation by students, teachers and administrators.  This grant allows us to better prepare our students to be college or career ready."

The addition of these high schools was made possible by a $1,667,330 grant from DoDEA who has awarded nearly $17 million total in grant funds to NMSI for its AP program supporting military families. 

"This investment in the AP program for math and science is truly transformational and raises the bar academically in our public schools," said Adrian B. Talley, DoDEA's Deputy Director. "The results are proven, consistent and speak for themselves – in the schools that have been supported by DoDEA's NMSI AP grant funds, students have increased the number of qualifying AP scores by more than 60 percent."

Although NMSI's AP program targets schools serving military dependents, the program is open to all students in participating high schools who are eligible for AP classes.  

About National Math and Science Initiative: NMSI, a non-profit organization, was launched in 2007 by top leaders in business, education, and science to transform education in the United States. NMSI has received national recognition for training K-12 teachers and improving student performance through the rapid expansion of these highly successful programs: NMSI's AP program, NMSI's Teacher Training program, and UT Austin's UTeach program. NMSI's AP program dramatically increases the number of students taking and passing AP math, science, and English exams, and expands access to traditionally underrepresented students and students in military families. NMSI's Teacher Training program has trained over 60,000 teachers to deliver more rigorous lessons in the classroom and was selected by PARCC as a premier partner to deliver common core teacher training. The UTeach program, which is now in 35 universities in 17 states, will produce a new generation of content-trained teachers that will impact millions of students in the next decade. Inaugural funding for NMSI was provided by the Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

For more information, visit www.nms.org.

*Advanced Placement and AP are registered trademarks of the College Board.

Media Contact:  Mary Ortiz, 214-346-1245, [email protected]­­­­

SOURCE National Math and Science Initiative