CONTACT: Amy Yuen, Stanford University School of Education/ External Relations, (650) 724-9440, amy.yuen@stanford.edu
COMMENT: Rachel Lotan, Professor (Teaching) and Director, Stanford Teacher Education Program (Secondary), (650) 723-5992, rlotan@stanford.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STANFORD – The Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) has joined 100Kin10,
a new national initiative to improve the academic performances of all
U.S. students in science, technology, engineering, and math. The
nationwide effort is aimed at recruiting, developing, and retaining
100,000 STEM teachers over the next 10 years.
Stanford's role in 100Kin10
is to prepare and retain at least 230 highly qualified STEM teachers
for academically and linguistically diverse K-12 classrooms in the next
five years through its elementary and secondary teacher preparation
programs. The program will evaluate the performance of these teachers
based on their impact on student learning, their retention rates, and
the extent to which they take leadership positions in the field.
Stanford will partner with local schools and districts, as well as local
and national nonprofit organizations, to connect highly qualified
teacher candidates with schools and districts who need them the most.
“We
are honored to be one the few university-based teacher education
programs selected to participate in this national initiative,” said
Professor (Teaching) Rachel Lotan,
director of the Stanford Teacher Education Program. “Our teaching
candidates are led by our outstanding faculty and they learn to practice
teaching under the mentorship of highly qualified cooperating teachers
in our partner schools. We are excited to build on the excellence of our
program and our efforts to recruit and prepare exceptional STEM
teachers.”
In addition to preparing and retaining STEM teachers
through its teacher education program, the Stanford School of Education
prepares teacher educators at the PhD level who will impact the
preparation of new mathematics and science teachers nationwide. These
doctoral students will deepen their research expertise in the teaching
of mathematics and science, and will co-teach STEP classes and supervise
teacher candidates.
Organizations spanning multiple
sectors—including higher education institutions, corporations, school
districts, museums, foundations, federal agencies, states, and nonprofit
organizations—have joined100Kin10 to address the challenges of
increasing and retaining the nation’s highly qualified STEM educators.
To date, more than 80 partners are participating in the effort,
including NASA, Google, The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and the
Clinton Global Initiative. The initiative is being led by Carnegie
Corporation of New York and the Opportunity Equation.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has lauded the 100Kin10 initiative.
"President Obama and I believe that recruiting and preparing 100,000
excellent new teachers in the STEM fields is essential for our students'
success in the 21st century knowledge economy,” said Duncan. “We need
an all-hands-on-deck strategy to make this happen. I applaud the work of
Carnegie Corporation and the Opportunity Equation and the 80
organizations including corporations, universities, non-profits, states,
and districts that are coming together under the banner of ‘100Kin10’ to provide our students with a world-class education in the STEM subjects."
Michele
Cahill, vice president for National Programs of the Carnegie
Corporation of New York and co-chair of the Opportunity Equation, said,
“With 100Kin10, partners aren’t just voicing their concern.
They are making real, measurable commitments to solving a complex,
national problem. We hope their commitments will help mobilize others to
join in the effort to increase the supply of excellent math and science
teachers and retain them and all those currently in the classroom so
that all students have access to rich, engaging, challenging science and
math learning.”
A dozen corporate and foundation partners have
created an initial funding base of nearly $20 million in pledges that
can be allocated to any of the 100Kin10 partner organizations
at the discretion of the funder. More information, including a complete
list of partners and their commitments, is available on the 100Kin10 website.
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About the Stanford Teacher Education Program
The Stanford Teacher Education Program
(STEP) of the Stanford University School of Education is a nationally
renowned, innovative program leading to a Master of Arts in Education
and a preliminary California teaching credential. STEP aims to cultivate
teacher leaders who share a set of core values that includes a
commitment to social justice, an understanding of the strengths and
needs of a diverse student population, and a dedication to equity and
excellence for all students. The program takes an approach to teaching
and learning that is sensitive to the family, community, and political
contexts of education; focused on the needs and development of diverse
learners; and grounded in the study of subject matter that enables
inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, and high academic
achievement.