Medtronic Foundation Donates $500,000 To Teach For America

August 14, 2007 – 12:17 pm | posted in Public Health

Medtronic, Inc., (NYSE: MDT) announced a series of Medtronic Foundation donations to Teach For America totaling $500,000 to provide advanced training for incoming math and science teachers. More than 150 first-year Teach For America corps members will attend the Medtronic Math and Science Seminar from August 8 to 12 at St. John’s University in Queens, NY.

This weeklong, intensive training program represents a significant increase in the amount of training Teach For America provides to its corps members in a specific content area. As the achievement gap in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) widens between underserved and affluent school districts, and as the country continues to lose ground to the rest of the world in developing scientists, this pilot program is designed to prepare teachers for the challenges confronting many American classrooms today.

According to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) published by the U.S. Department of Education, in 2003 the average score for fourth-graders in the United States ranked 8th in science and 12th in mathematics in comparison with other participating countries.

“Given the subject-specific challenges of teaching math and science, as well as the pressing need to reduce the gap in math and science education, our corps members and their students will benefit significantly from specific preparation for STEM teaching methods,” says Matt Kramer, president and chief program officer of Teach For America. “Medtronic’s donation demonstrates a critical commitment to the education of the next generation of math and science leaders. Teach For America is thrilled to work with a dedicated partner who recognizes the magnitude of the crisis we’re facing.”

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 the effort to expand educational opportunity.

“As a company built on science and technology, we recognize that Medtronic’s continued success, and more importantly the improved health of the world, will depend on the next generation of scientific innovators,” said David Etzwiler, executive director of the Medtronic Foundation. “Teach For America educators have had remarkable success in classrooms throughout the country. We want to provide the additional tools and training to enable these outstanding student leaders to better tackle STEM subjects.”

The Medtronic Math and Science Seminar curriculum will include additional training for teachers in content areas ranging from core math skills like algebra, to science focused studies like biology and physics. Attendees will have the opportunity to work with experienced teachers in these fields on lesson planning, generating assessments, and other useful tools for ensuring student success.

Upon completion of the Seminar, corps members in this pilot program will teach in schools in Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Eastern North Carolina and Los Angeles. Throughout the school year, these corps members will participate in regular workshops, providing the opportunity to compare experiences in the classroom and reinforce skills acquired during the Seminar, also funded by the Medtronic Foundation.

Lessons learned from this inaugural program will be utilized as a foundation for an expansion of the content-specific support Teach For America will provide to all math and science corps members in the future. For additional information on the Medtronic Math and Science Seminar visit: http://www.teachforamerica.org/math_science_seminar/.

About Medtronic and the Medtronic Foundation

Medtronic, Inc. headquartered in Minneapolis, is the global leader in medical technology - alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world. The Medtronic Foundation is committed to improving the health of people and communities. Its grant making is focused in three areas: health, education and community.

http://www.medtronic.com

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. In the 2006-07 school year, 4,400 Teach For America corps members reached nearly 375,000 students in 25 urban and rural regions nationwide, while more than two-thirds of our 17,000 alumni continued working in education, policy, law, medicine, and other sectors to effect the broader changes needed to bring about educational equity in our country.

http://www.teachforamerica.org

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