50 Fellows Selected from Top Math and Science Graduates Teaching in Underserved Public Schools
For Immediate Release
Contact: Lorraine Anderson | Teach For America
212.279.2080 x715 | lorraine.anderson@teachforamerica.org
NEW YORK, October 27, 2009—Teach For America today announced the appointment of 50 new Amgen Fellows, selected from Teach For America’s incoming corps of 4,100 outstanding college graduates teaching in low-income communities nationwide. Amgen Fellows hold a degree in science, mathematics, and/or engineering and exemplify the characteristics Teach For America seeks in its teachers, including achievement, perseverance, critical thinking, and leadership.
The Amgen Fellows program is funded by the Amgen Foundation, Teach For America’s National Math and Science Partner. Amgen Fellows are chosen annually, and each fellow receives a $2,000 signing bonus upon joining the Teach For America corps. Amgen Fellows are also eligible to receive funding for innovative classroom projects under a special partnership between the Amgen Foundation, Teach For America, and DonorsChoose.org.
Teach For America and the Amgen Foundation joined forces in 2006 to address the urgent need for excellent math and science education in this country, particularly among students of color and those in low-income communities. Only 58 percent of U.S. children living below the poverty line are performing simple multiplication and division by the end of third grade, compared with 84 percent of their peers from higher-income families, according to a 2008 report by the National Science Board. The U.S. is one of the 10 industrialized nations with the largest performance gaps between high- and low-income students, based on results from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment. The PISA, which measures knowledge and skills among 15-year-olds globally, also ranks the U.S. 21st in science and 25th in math among 30 industrialized nations.
“Amgen Fellows and many Teach For America corps members are taking on the vital role of inspiring and motivating students to get excited about math and science,” said Jean J. Lim, president of the Amgen Foundation. “We believe that partnering with Teach For America to place the highest-caliber graduates in our nation’s most challenged schools will also help prepare the next generation with the necessary tools and skills to contribute to innovation that moves our country forward.”
To further the impact of Amgen Fellows, the Amgen Innovation Fund provides up to $1,200 for each fellow to implement original classroom projects. Fellows post their project proposals and funding requests on DonorsChoose.org, the online charity that connects the public with classrooms in need. The Amgen Foundation funds all but $100 of each eligible project; the final $100 is leveraged from the general public who visit DonorsChoose.org.
"The Amgen Fellows program and the Amgen Innovation Fund exemplify Amgen’s commitment to improving math and science education in our nation’s economically disadvantaged communities, and to cultivating future generations of leaders in these fields,” said Wendy Kopp, founder and chief executive officer of Teach For America. “The Amgen Foundation’s generous support enables us to recruit and train exceptional math and science graduates to lead classrooms in underserved urban and rural schools, where they are having a life-changing impact on their students. By sharing their expertise and passion in these subjects, our math and science teachers are raising achievement levels among their students and opening doors for the scientists and engineers of tomorrow.”
Through the partnership with the Amgen Foundation, Teach For America has exceeded its goal of doubling the number of corps members teaching math and science, from 1,130 in the 2006-07 school year to nearly 2,400 corps members today. These top-notch math and science teachers are impacting 150,000 students across 35 regions. Beyond their corps experience, Teach For America alumni continue to advocate for children in low-income communities as public school teachers, principals, district officials, policymakers, and leaders across all professional sectors.
About Teach For America
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Today, 7,300 corps members are teaching in 35 regions across the country while 17,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.
About the Amgen Foundation
The Amgen Foundation (www.amgen.com/citizenship/overview.html) seeks to advance science education; improve patient access to quality care; and strengthen the communities where Amgen staff members live and work. Since 1991, the Foundation has made $130 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways, and those that provide disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally.
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