DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) and teacher training organization Laying the Foundation (LTF) are merging at the end of 2011, putting in place a seamless system for preparing middle and high school students to succeed in Pre-Advanced Placement (AP)* and AP courses in the critical fields of math and science, as well as English.
“This new partnership will provide a continuum of training that will dramatically extend our reach. We will be able to give teachers the tools and training to give more students the math and science skills they need to succeed in today’s world,” said Dr. Mary Ann Rankin, president and CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative.
Under the agreement, the LTF program will function as a division of the National Math and Science Initiative. Other NMSI divisions include the Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program (APTIP), which is expanding the number of high school students taking and succeeding in AP math, science and English, and UTeach, a program to train math and science teachers.
LTF focuses primarily on teacher training and resource development for Pre-AP and AP teachers of grades six through 12 (middle/junior high and high school). The organization has training contracts with organizations in the six states where NMSI’s APTIP is already in place, and also with school districts and individual schools in eight other states. In addition, LTF is providing teacher training services in South Dakota, where NMSI is implementing an online AP program in conjunction with the Learning Power organization.
“This is about the students. By joining forces and leveraging the talent and resources from both NMSI and LTF, we will reach more teachers who will challenge more students to succeed in the critical fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM),” said David Saba, president of LTF. “The whole will become greater than the sum of its parts.”
The merger of the two nonprofit organizations has been approved by the boards of directors for both groups and will take effect at the end of 2011. Carolyn B. Dickson, executive director of the O’Donnell Foundation, and a member of the LTF board of directors, will join the NMSI board.
“This merger will allow us to enhance STEM education and improve the ability of many more students to compete in the workforce — outcomes that are essential to the future of our country,” said Dr. Rankin. She pointed out that research indicates students who take an AP course that culminates in an AP exam grade of 3 or higher are more likely to complete a college degree than comparable students who did not take an AP course. Further, AP students are among the few American students who compare favorably with their counterparts in other countries on international math and science exams.
About Laying the Foundation: Laying the Foundation is a division of NMSI dedicated to providing the best content-based, pedagogy-driven, teacher-to-teacher training, which is supported by rigorous classroom-ready lessons and web-based resources to improve the quality of English, mathematics, and science instruction. LTF has trained over 36,000 teachers to date and has demonstrated dramatic increases in Advanced Placement exam participation and success in STEM subjects. LTF believes that training, mentoring, and empowering the teacher corps will lead to high standards of academic excellence for all students.
About APTIP: APTIP dramatically increases the number of high school students in rigorous AP courses in math, science and English. The comprehensive approach includes intensive teacher training, support from master teachers, increased time on task for students in special study sessions, open enrollment, and incentives for teachers and students. Qualifying scores on AP exams are generally accepted for course credit by the nation’s colleges and universities, which see success in AP courses as reliable indicators of students’ subject-area knowledge and capacity for college-level thinking.
About NMSI: NMSI is a nonprofit organization launched as an agent of change in 2007 by top leaders in business, education and science with the goal of improving student achievement in math and science across the American public school system. NMSI brings best practices to the education sector by replicating proven programs on a national scale that have more than 10 years of proven results. These programs include APTIP, which currently is being implemented in 10 states, and UTeach, a program to recruit and train math and science teachers, which is being implemented in 28 universities. Enrollment in UTeach has tripled in the last three years, attracting more than 5,000 math and science majors across the country this fall. NMSI has received major funding support for its groundbreaking national initiatives from ExxonMobil, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, with additional support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Contact: Rena Pederson, NMSI communications director, at (214) 665-2523 or rpederson@nationalmathandscience.org. More information about NMSI can be found at www.nationalmathandscience.org. To learn more about Laying the Foundation, visit www.ltftraining.org.
*AP, Pre-AP and Advanced Placement are registered trademarks of the College Board.
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