Sponsor Opportunities School Site Grants
Garland ISD is one of three local districts that has been chosen to participate in a program that will be funded by Texas Instruments Foundation grants of $3-million. The grant money will be used to train existing advanced math and science teachers in middle and junior high schools. The funds will also be directed to programs designed to increase the number of math and science teachers graduating from local universities.
This investment is consistent with the TI Foundation’s focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and its mission to substantially strengthen the number of high school graduates who are capable of advanced math and science by focusing on teachers – the most critical link in the learning chain.
“Teachers are key but we can’t expect to graduate the caliber of students our state and nation need without more and better trained math and science teachers,” said Sam Self, chairman of the TI Foundation. “We’re investing in proven programs to address both quality and quantity of STEM teachers. The grants will help by training 180 existing teachers in three school districts and developing 300 new teachers from three North Texas universities by 2013.”
The grants will fund two programs that have proven successful at both the state and national levels – Laying the Foundation and UTeach. Both will receive $1.5-million in funding.
Laying the Foundation will focus on the advanced training of existing teachers in 10 middle and junior high schools in the Dallas, Garland and Richardson ISDs. The grant will include pre- and post-course student assessment and financial incentives of up to $4,500 per teacher. It is aimed to improve strategies for teaching pre-AP courses.
UTeach is at three universities in the DFW area – North Texas, UT-Arlington and UT-Dallas – and will prepare college undergrads to become secondary math and science teachers. The grants will provide seven master teachers at all three institutions to work alongside senior faculty and more than 50 students.
Two grants will expand on existing UTeach centers at North Texas and UT-Dallas. Another grant – complemented by funding from the National Math and Science Initiative, the Texas Education Agency and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation – will establish UTeach at UT-Arlington.
