Outstanding Math and Science Graduates Bring Expertise to Classrooms in Low-Income Communities
For Immediate Release
Contact: Carrie James | Teach For America
415.271.2000 | carrie.james@teachforamerica.org
NEW YORK, October 1, 2008—Teach For America today announced the appointment of 50 new Amgen Fellows, selected from Teach For America’s incoming corps of 3,600 top recent college graduates and young professionals teaching in low-income communities nationwide. Amgen Fellows hold a degree in science, mathematics, and/or engineering and exemplify at the highest level the characteristics Teach For America seeks in its corps members, including achievement, perseverance, critical thinking, ability to influence and motivate others, and respect for low-income communities. Each Amgen Fellow receives a $2,000 signing bonus for joining the Teach For America corps.
The Amgen Fellows program is funded by the Amgen Foundation, Teach For America’s National Math and Science Partner. The two organizations 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. The United States ranked 21st in science and 25th in math among 30 industrialized nations in the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment. It was also one of nine countries with the largest performance gaps between high- and low-income students.
These gaps are confirmed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the nation’s report card: In 2007, only 22 percent of fourth graders and 15 percent of eighth graders eligible for free or reduced-price lunch scored at or above “proficient” in math, compared with 53 percent of non-eligible fourth graders and 42 percent of non-eligible eighth graders.
Further, according to a 2008 report by the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, only 4 percent of under-represented minorities graduate from high school “engineering eligible” (having passed the math and science courses necessary to pursue engineering at the college level). This has long-term consequences for the strength of our workforce, as under-represented minorities account for 34 percent of the population age 18 to 24. In 2000, only 4.4 percent of science and engineering jobs were held by African-Americans and only 3.4 percent by Hispanics, according to the National Math and Science Initiative.
“Each new class of Amgen Fellows and their fellow Teach For America corps members are taking on the vital work of building our next generation of scientists and mathematicians and opening doors for students from backgrounds traditionally under-represented in these careers,” said Jean J. Lim, president of the Amgen Foundation. “We’re pleased that our partnership with Teach For America is bringing increasing numbers of the highest caliber math and science graduates to our nation’s lowest-income communities and developing the pipeline of future math and science professionals.”
“Amgen knows that the students of today are the scientists and engineers of tomorrow,” said Matt Kramer, president and chief program officer of Teach For America. “The Amgen Foundation’s support has been invaluable as we work to recruit, train, and develop committed teachers who bring a passion for discovery into underserved classrooms. Through the significant academic gains that these corps members are leading their students to achieve, we have seen that educational inequity in our country can be eliminated.”
The 2008 Amgen Fellows are among the 1,500 Teach For America corps members currently leading math and science classrooms in 29 regions across the country. With the partnership of the Amgen Foundation, Teach For America is advancing toward its 2010 goal of 2,000 math and science corps members among a total corps of at least 7,500 talented and committed young teachers, who will reach more than 450,000 students in 33 regions.
About Teach For America
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. This year, 6,200 corps members are teaching in over 1,600 schools in 29 regions across the country while more than 14,000 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 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 nearly $110 million in grants to nonprofit organizations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Europe that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways. It has also supported disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally.
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