NEF CyberLearning Sets Up New STEM+ Academies in Dallas ISD and Laredo ISD for 2013-2014 School Year
Alexandria, VA (PRWEB) August 27, 2013 -- Dallas ISD and Laredo ISD have accepted NEF Cyberlearning grants that will see the opening of STEM academies beginning this fall. NEF Cyberlearning STEM Academies’ vision is to compliment the Texas Public schools educational goal of providing an academic experience that prepares them for success in the classroom and workforce. “We hope to expand our STEM+ initiative significantly in the coming years,” states Dr. Appu Kuttan, founder and chairman of NEF.
Other selected school districts include: Salida and Garvey (CA), Wendell (ID), Merrillville (IN), Kansas City (KS), Fort Meade (MD), Center Line and Mesick (MI), Canton (NY), Tri-Valley (PA), Williamsburg (SC), and Seattle (WA). All these school districts are in high poverty areas and are classified as disadvantaged by the US Education Department.
The goal of this initiative is to close the STEM+ (science, technology, engineering, math, English, social studies, SAT/ACT, IT and business) skills gap in the United States. By creating an effective school-nonprofit-university-business partnership, NEF can more effectively provide 21st century STEM+ education to disadvantaged K-12 students. The initiative also focuses on supporting the larger American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) to keep the United States competitive in critical STEM-related fields.
The innovative academy program advances a student one grade level in a subject in 20-30 learning hours by providing personalized learning, teacher stipends, learning management system, mentoring, motivational rewards for students and parents, teacher training and tech support.
“U.S. is ranked 25th out of 34 countries in math and 17th out of 34 countries in science.” NEF has been advocating school-college-business partnerships to improve the critical STEM+ education in our nation’s schools since 2012. President Obama advocated such a partnership in the 2013 State of the Union speech.
About NEF
The National Education Foundation (NEF) is the national non-profit leader in bridging the academic and job skills divides by providing world-class STEM+ (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, English, test prep, digital literacy, IT, business and management) education to millions of disadvantaged students and adults. See http://www.cyberlearning.org.
Appu Kuttan, Cyber Learning, http://www.cyberlearning.org, +1 (703) 823-9999, [email protected]
Share this article