Receives Second National Science Foundation Grant;
State Awards Grant to Replicate Program in Surrounding Counties
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- In the latest sign of its growing
national stature, ASSET (Allegheny Schools Science Education and Technology)
Inc., the innovative science education reform initiative created here by Bayer
Corporation in 1992, has been selected by the National Science Resources
Center (NSRC) to spearhead K-6 reform efforts throughout the region.
Southwestern Pennsylvania is one of eight regions chosen for the NSRC's
$6 million LASER project (Leadership and Assistance for Science Education
Reform) which is funded by the National Science Foundation. LASER's goal is
to bring by 2002 high quality, inquiry-based, hands-on curriculum materials
that align with national and state standards to some one million students and
27,000 teachers in more than 300 school districts nationwide.
Reform experts say that with these curricula, students learn science
experientially through the scientific processes of asking questions,
experimenting, analyzing and testing assumptions. In doing so, they become
scientifically literate and develop important lifelong skills, such as
critical thinking, problem-solving and teamwork.
ASSET was singled out to lead Southwestern Pennsylvania LASER for two
reasons:
-- Its demonstrated commitment to providing education excellence,
resources and leadership in implementing teacher training and materials
for this kind of K-6 science program makes it a paradigm for other
communities.
-- Its remarkable ability to sustain and spread reform through unique
community support systems. ASSET's strong partnerships with
universities, community organizations and corporations like Bayer
prompted the National Science Foundation to name it one of the most
outstanding projects in the country. In fact, because of Bayer's
support, it was in 1995 the first corporate-sponsored reform initiative
to receive a National Science Foundation grant.
"Increasingly, ASSET has become `the little grassroots reform program that
could,'" said Sally Goetz Shuler, deputy director, NSRC, an organization
jointly run by the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian
Institution whose mission is to improve K-12 science education for all U.S.
students. "Its success is showing other communities that, through public-
private collaborations, reform is possible and educational excellence is well
within their reach."
State Support
In the region representing Southwestern Pennsylvania and Harrisburg, ASSET
will work with the Regional Math/Science Collaborative and the Capital Area
Institute for Mathematics and Science to potentially reach 92 school
districts, making it responsible for one of the largest LASER initiatives.
To help support these activities, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has
awarded ASSET a $65,000 grant to spread curriculum and provide professional
development reform to the designated school districts. Already, ASSET has
begun providing assistance to surrounding counties, including Butler, Beaver,
Washington and Westmoreland, so that they may replicate the ASSET model.
"ASSET is an exemplary program that we both believe in and believe can be
emulated by other communities and school districts throughout Pennsylvania and
the country," said Dr. Thomas Carey, Pennsylvania's Deputy Education
Secretary.
Dr. Carey pointed out that the curricula being implemented by ASSET aligns
with Pennsylvania's recently drafted science education standards that are
currently undergoing a statewide approval process.
Continued National Science Foundation Recognition
In addition to state support, this fall ASSET received its second multi-
million dollar grant in just three years from the National Science Foundation
(NSF). This so-called supplementary grant, totaling more than $2 million,
enables ASSET to expand its teacher training activities, which it began in
1995 after receiving its first $3 million NSF grant.
Through these and other grants, ASSET has grown from a program that
originally targeted five elementary schools in two of Allegheny County's
43 school districts to include 125 schools in 30 school districts working with
1,800 teachers and 50,000 students. It also is piloting the program in
12 schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools District.
"The many shows of support that ASSET has received in its very brief five-
year life-span are a testament to its ability to significantly improve science
education for all students," said Sande Deitch, executive director of the
Bayer Foundation, the original supporter of ASSET. "If there is one lesson
to be learned from our experience it is that business, education and community
leaders can work together in partnership for change."
ASSET Inc. is an independent non-profit organization created by Bayer
Corporation in 1992 as part of its Making Science Make Sense program, a
company wide initiative supporting hands-on, inquiry-based science education
and a national science literacy campaign.
Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in
health care and life sciences, chemicals and imaging technologies. The
company had 1997 sales of $9.3 billion and employs more than 26,000 people.
FACT SHEET
ASSET (Allegheny Schools Science Education and Technology) Inc.
-- In 1992, Bayer Corporation created ASSET to change the way science is
taught in elementary school classrooms in Allegheny County and in 1993
formally established it as an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization
with its own board of directors, an executive director and staff of five.
-- Originally a program for five elementary schools in two out of
43 Allegheny County school districts, ASSET is now in 125 schools in 30 school
districts working with 1,800 teachers and 50,000 students. It also is
piloting the program in 12 schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools District
through a grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation.
-- In 1995, the National Science Foundation awarded ASSET a $3 million
Local Systemic Change Through Teacher Enhancement grant earmarked for a system
of ongoing teacher training allowing more than 1,000 teachers in 16 Allegheny
County districts to receive 100 hours of instruction over five years. It also
obtained a $40,000 grant from Pennsylvania Department of Education to evaluate
the pilot program.
-- In 1998, ASSET...
-- received its second multi-million NSF grant. The $2 million-plus
supplementary grant helped ASSET expand its teacher training to
14 more county school districts. To date, more than 2,500 teachers
have participated in ASSET training activities.
-- was named by the National Science Resources Center one of eight
regional centers across the country to lead LASER (Leadership and
Assistance in Science Education Reform), a $6 million science
education reform initiative funded by the National Science
Foundation.
-- was awarded a $65,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of
Education to support LASER.
-- formed a partnership with Carlow College as part of a $340,000 Bayer
Corporation grant to help create the "Bayer Children's Science
Learning Laboratory" -- a demonstration classroom laboratory used
year-round for pre-service and in-service teacher training.
-- moved into 21,000 square foot office space that better houses its
Materials Support Center and accommodates its growing staff of 16.
-- ASSET currently disseminates and refurbishes more than 1,400 curriculum
units to classrooms from kindergarten through sixth grade for eight-week
courses; requests for materials have risen by more than 400 percent between
1996 to 1998, from 675 to 2,978.
-- Teachers who participate in ASSET professional development have
increased by more than 800 percent between 1996 to 1998, from 427 to 3,527.
-- ASSET holds its annual Leadership Conference for teams of teachers,
administrators and industry/university partners. Attendance has increased from
90 in 1996 to 140 in 1997 and to 289 in 1998.
-- Four neighboring counties -- Washington, Beaver, Butler and
Westmoreland -- are setting up their own systemic reform initiatives based on
the ASSET model with help from ASSET staff and advisors.
-- The number of organizations that support it has increased from six to
25 in just five short years and includes the Alcoa Foundation, The Frick Fund
of the Buhl Foundation and Federated Investors.
SOURCE Bayer Corporation
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