AT&T Contributes $500,000 for UTeach Program to Train Math and Science Teachers
DALLAS – The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) announced Thursday that AT&T has contributed $500,000 to support the highly regarded UTeach program to train math and science teachers on five university campuses: the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Irvine, University of Northern Arizona, the University of Florida, and Florida State University.
“This welcome support from AT&T will help create a new generation of math and science teachers in the United States,” said Dr. Mary Ann Rankin, president and CEO of NMSI. “Our nation needs an additional 280,000 math and science teachers by 2015, and the UTeach program is playing a key role in providing those teachers.”
University of Florida President Bernie Machen also commended AT&T for its foresight in recognizing the growing importance of math and science education at the announcement Thursday, adding, “If you want to get students interested in those fields, you have to reach them early. This gift is a long-range investment that will help the University of Florida graduate the teachers that are needed to keep our state and our nation economically competitive for years to come.”
Machen pointed out that UF Teach, modeled after the UTeach program, is the pillar of the University of Florida's science and math education reform strategy. It's a collaboration between the College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the goal is to recruit the very best math and science majors and prepare them to teach effectively.
He said master science and math teachers at UF's education college induct the students into the community of teachers by showing them the most effective, research-proven teaching methods in the given content areas and exposing them to supervised classroom experiences with schoolchildren beginning in their first semester. The program, in its fourth year, offers education minors for their efforts in hopes the students will take to teaching. Their degrees qualify them for teaching certification in Florida schools.
The first UF Teach class of 41 students enrolled in 2008 and enrollment jumped to 224 last spring. College of Education officials project that by 2015, UF Teach will graduate more than 60 students yearly who will be certified, and highly qualified, to teach middle and high school math and science in Florida schools. By then, they say the number of math and science students in Florida served by UF Teach graduates should top 25,000 and continue to grow exponentially each year.
"Our economy demands workers and citizens who are prepared to develop and use mathematics and science knowledge to solve real-world problems," added Florida State University President Eric J. Barron. "Meeting this demand requires mathematics and science teachers who can effectively teach students in ways that equip them to apply and use their knowledge. Through their support of FSU-Teach, AT&T is forging a partnership between private industry and public universities -- and such partnerships are essential if we are to both attract the top students into teaching and support the education of this new breed of teacher."
As the grant was announced, Beth Shiroishi, AT&T Vice President of Sustainability and Philanthropy, emphasized, “Helping students become knowledgeable in STEM disciplines is critical to their ability to compete with young people across the world for the jobs of today and the future. The work of the National Math and Science Initiative’s UTeach program is vital to ensuring we have effective teachers in the classroom helping our students succeed in these subjects.”
NMSI has partnered with the UTeach Institute to implement the path-breaking program for recruiting and preparing math and science teachers in universities across the country since 2008 and has helped expand the program to 29 universities. Enrollment in UTeach has tripled in the last three years, attracting more than 5,500 math and science majors across the country by fall 2011.
“Demand for the UTeach program continues to grow around the country,” said Rankin. “This proves that more college students will seek careers as math and science teachers if you provide an approach that makes sense. What we must do now is engage more far-sighted corporations like AT&T -- as well as foundations, and state governments – to take this proven program to more college students across the nation.”
The core elements of the UTeach program include:
- Active recruitment and incentives, such as offering the first two courses for free.
- A compact degree program that allows students to graduate in four years with both a degree and teaching certification.
- A strong focus on acquiring deep content knowledge in math and science, in addition to research-based teaching strategies focusing on teaching and learning math and science.
- Early and intensive field teaching experience, beginning in the UTeach students’ first semester.
- Personal guidance from experienced master teachers, faculty and public school teachers.
About UTeach: Originated at The University of Texas at Austin in 1997, the UTeach program enables students majoring in math, science, or computer science to receive full teaching certification without adding time or cost to their degrees. Ninety-two percent of UTeach graduates from the UT-Austin program become teachers, and 82 percent are still in the classroom after five years. About 45 percent of the UTeach graduates teach in high-need schools.
About AT&T Inc.: AT&T is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates provide AT&T services in the U.S. and around the world that include wireless communications, Wi-FI, high speed internet and voice services. AT&T also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T ¦DIRECTV brands as well as business communications services through AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive. In 2010, AT&T again ranked among the 50 Most Admired Companies by FORTUNE® magazine. AT&T is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives through its philanthropic initiatives. In 2010, more than $148.2 million was contributed through corporate-, employee- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs.
About NMSI: The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) was launched in 2007 by top leaders in business, education, and science to reverse the decline in American math and science education. NMSI is dedicated to dramatically impacting the U.S. public school system by multiplying best practices across the country. NMSI currently is replicating two programs nationally that have documented success in math and science education, UTeach and the Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program, which is increasing the number of high school students taking and passing college-level math and science courses.
Inaugural funding for NMSI was provided by the Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Expansion of the UTeach program is supported by additional funding from the UTeach Institute, Texas Instruments Foundation, the Texas High School Project, the Greater Texas Foundation, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, the Tennessee Department of Education, Texas Education Agency, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and other private contributions. With funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, NMSI is increasing the impact of the program through an alumni network for UTeach graduates.
Universities implementing the UTeach program
The University of Texas at Austin (1997)
First Cohort (2008-2010)
Florida State University
Louisiana State University
Northern Arizona University
Temple University
University of California, Berkley
University of California, Irvine
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Florida
University of Houston
University of Kansas
University of North Texas
University of Texas at Dallas
Western Kentucky University
Second Cohort (2010-2011)
Cleveland State
Middle Tennessee State University
University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Tyler
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
University of Memphis
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Third Cohort (2011-2012)
Boise State University (Boise, Idaho)
Columbus State University
Southern Polytechnic State University
University of Massachusetts Lowell
University of Texas at Brownsville (Brownsville, Texas)
University of Texas Pan American (Edinburg, Texas)
University of West Georgia
For more information, visit www.nationalmathandscience.org.
Contact: Rena Pederson, NMSI Communications Director, (214) 665-2523 or rpederson@nationalmathandscience.org
2:37 PM CST on 1.19.2012
