NEF CyberLearning Announces Matching Grants for Any of Georgia School District Applying for the $43 million in QZAB Funds Available
(PRWEB) July 01, 2013 -- The Georgia Department of Education QZAB funds are available for rehabilitating or repairing efforts in public schools. These funds can also assist in the purchase of equipment and the development of instructional materials. The Georgia Department of Education has $43 million allocated for the statewide QZAB program.
National Education Foundation (NEF), the national non-profit leader in assisting schools to find Federal funds, announced today a nationwide initiative to award matching grants of up to $2,000,000 each to any Georgia school districts with at least 35% of students on free or reduced cost lunch. NEF grants focus on helping schools get needed funds and bridging the academic divides through effective STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education solutions.
Dr. Appu Kuttan, Chairman of the National Education Foundation (NEF), global expert in digital education and empowerment, and the recent University of Wisconsin Distinguished Achievement Award winner, states, "School districts across the Nation are faced with serious budget cuts at a time US rankings in math, reading and science are still going down. Twenty four countries are ranked ahead of US in math. Our $100 million grant program would provide school districts the required 10% match, and thus enable them to receive $1 billion in Federal QZAB funds (http://www.qzab.org) for energy efficiency, renovation, technology, teacher training and STEM academies. Moreover, schools located in low income communities could receive additional Federal cash grants."
In addition to the 10% match grant, NEF helps the school districts to create QZAB STEM+ academies capable of advancing a student one grade level in a subject in 20-30 learning hours in the NEF system, as documented by the State University of NY (SUNY), which implements the academies nationally with a grant from NEF.
President Bill Clinton has commended NEF’s STEM+ academy program, "You are helping to empower tomorrow's leaders. I salute you for your ongoing commitment for creating a better and stronger America."
According to Misty Weber, the QZAB academy program director at the Warren County School District in PA, “NEF helped us to receive $34 million in QZAB funds for renovating our school facilities. In addition, NEF’s QZAB academy, implemented by SUNY, helped our students to advance a grade level in in math in 22 learning hours. NEF also set up a parent academy to train our parents in job skills, as well as a teacher academy to enhance our teachers’ teaching skills.”
In the high school for at-risk students in Virginia’s Prince William County, the graduation rate went up from 61% to 87%.
Kirsten DeMento, Curriculum Director of New York’s Watervliet school district says, "NEF grant provides a total learning solution including differentiated learning using the top-rated Pearson SuccessMaker and GradPoint courses, mentoring, teacher training and teacher-parent-student motivational incentives."
The NEF STEM program, formulated at the Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago, also creates school-college-business partnerships to provide world-class STEM+ academies for disadvantaged schools at no cost to the schools.
To apply for the QZAB grant, visit http://www.qzab.org.
About NEF
National Education Foundation (NEF), founded in 1989 in Washington, DC area, is the national non-profit leader in bridging the academic and job skills divides through high-quality, affordable STEM+ education solutions. NEF provides total STEM+ education solutions including 6,000 top-quality Web-based differentiated learning courses, mentoring, motivational rewards, teacher stipends and teacher training to disadvantaged school districts across the nation.
Contact: Tamara Stephens
Grants Director
Appu Kuttan, Cyber Learning, http://www.cyberlearning.org, 703-823-9999, [email protected]
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