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Teach For America And EdX Partner To Create Accessible Online Courses For Educators Teach For America And EdX Partner To Create Accessible Online Courses For Educators

NEW YORK, N.Y., August 18, 2016Teach For America announced today that it will partner with edX, the nonprofit online learning destination founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to develop a global teacher-preparation math massive open online course (MOOC) series. Launching this fall, the MOOC series will offer access to professional learning about math teaching practices to learners interested in teaching and to new teachers across the globe.

“We are honored to welcome Teach For America to edX. As an education leader, Teach For America will bring its extensive experience with professional teacher and leadership development to the edX global community,” said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO and MIT professor. “This partnership furthers our shared mission to enhance teaching and learning both online and in the classroom and increase access to high-quality education.”

By 2018, the United States will have 8 million jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Unfortunately, the vast majority of the nation’s students will be unprepared for these jobs because of the disparities in access to excellent STEM education. Through this partnership, edX and Teach For America will help a diverse group of teachers and leaders develop essential skills and provide their students with the many benefits that STEM education has to offer.

“We’re thrilled to partner with edX to ensure that more educators have access to high-quality professional development opportunities,” said Dr. Joseph P. Wilson, who leads Teach For America’s STEM Initiative. “At Teach For America, we believe that all students deserve access to an excellent STEM education to prepare them for an ever-expanding world. We’re committed to supporting STEM educators in expanding opportunities for students and bringing to life the real-world applications of STEM learning.”

The first Teach For America MOOC, How To Teach High School Geometry, is open for enrollment now to learners from across the edX global community. The course, which begins October 10, will focus on innovative ways to engage students, and visualizing best practices for teaching geometry and across diverse communities. 

Course participants will have the opportunity to develop their skills in high school geometry lesson-planning and teaching while learning how to teach introductory geometry concepts in a way that empowers students to explore math practices on their own. Upon completing the course, participants will receive a verified certificate from edX. Teach For America and edX will expand the new MOOC series in spring 2017 with an additional math course.

About Teach For America

Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals to make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to end educational inequity. Today, 8,600 corps members are teaching in 53 urban and rural regions across the country while more than 42,000 alumni work across sectors to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. Teach For America is a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebookand Twitter

About edX 

EdX is a massive open online course provider. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide student body, including some courses at no charge. It also conducts research into learning based on how people use its platform. EdX differs from other MOOC providers, such as Coursera and Udacity, in that it is a nonprofit organization and runs on open-source software.

Contact

Rachel Lapal

617.324.7072

rlapal@edx.org

edX

Ashley Johnson

646.634.5001

ashley.johnson@teachforamerica.org

Teach For America