Bayer USA Foundation Makes $750K Grant to Create Flagship Bayer Professional Development Academy at ASSET
Mar 22, 2011 10:00 AM ET
(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) PITTSBURGH - March 22, 2011 - The Bayer USA Foundation has awarded a $750,000 grant to ASSET Inc., (Achieving Student Success Through Excellence in Teaching) to establish the "Bayer Professional Development Academy" at ASSET and support the creation of new Regional Professional Development Centers and Satellite Sites across Pennsylvania.
The new Bayer USA Foundation grant supports ASSET’s Investing in Innovation (i3) grant program that is designed to scale up the organization’s reach and impact on K-8 teachers and students throughout Pennsylvania. It will allow for a growing number of teachers in Southwest Pennsylvania and in high-need urban and rural areas to receive more and higher level teacher training in ASSET’s proven K-8 standards-aligned STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education program.
“For ASSET and Bayer, the ultimate goal is to improve student achievement in science and math in our region and across
Pennsylvania,” said Greg Babe, President and CEO of Bayer Corporation and Chairman of the Bayer USA Foundation. Bayer's U.S. headquarters is located in Pittsburgh. “To accomplish that, we recognize that teachers are the key. With this grant, ASSET will provide more Pennsylvania teachers with a solid foundation of ongoing professional development that allows them to continuously improve their teaching style and knowledge of science content.” ASSET’s STEM education reform program is based on the NationalScienceResourcesCenter’s five tenets of quality science education, including quality curriculum materials, ongoing teacher professional development, centralized materials support, student and program assessment and community involvement.In addition to mastering these five tenets, ASSET has advanced new aspects of effective teacher professional development strategies through its own research and development (R&D) activities.
The Bayer USA Foundation grant, to be administered over five years, will further support the R&D innovations made at the BayerAcademy and provide these leading-edge practices to teachers attending the professional development at the BayerAcademy, the Regional Professional Development Centers and the Satellite Sites. “As always, we are enormously thankful to Bayer for this grant and for its unwavering support of ASSET for nearly two decades now,” said Dr. Helen Sobehart, Executive Director, ASSET Inc. “With this grant, Bayer helped us secure the i3 grant in 2010 and is now allowing us to greatly expand our reach into areas of the state where significant teacher needs exist.” The latest Bayer USA Foundation grant is the fulfillment of a matching grant pledge Bayer made to ASSET in 2010 when the organization was competing for a $20.2 million U.S. Department of Education i3 grant, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. ASSET won the i3 grant in 2010. The grant demonstrates Bayer’s longtime commitment to a program it helped spearhead in 1994 in Southwest Pennsylvania as a way to implement high-quality, standards-aligned elementary school science education in the region. Today, ASSET, under the statewide Science: It’s Elementary initiative, is the official K-6 science education program in Pennsylvania schools. # # # About ASSET Inc.Established in 1994 by Bayer Corporation and several community partners, ASSET Inc. is an education improvement nonprofit that supports school districts in implementing a standards-based science education program through teacher professional development aligned with hands-on curriculum materials for grades K-8. ASSET also designs and manages Pennsylvania’s Science: It’s Elementary initiative. Independent evaluation results show that 4th-grade students in ASSET member schools scored statistically significantly higher than their peers in science and significantly higher in reading and math. ASSET currently impacts 140 school districts, 4,000 teachers and 150,000 students. For more information, visit www.assetinc.org. About Bayer USA Foundation
The Bayer USA Foundation is an endowed 501(c)(3) entity and is the primary source of Bayer Corporation’s philanthropy in the United States. With a programmatic focus on the environment and sustainability; education and workforce development; arts and culture; and health and human services, the foundation creates and supports organizations that improve communities in which Bayer employees live and work, as well as society at large. The Bayer USA Foundation is one of three Bayer foundations worldwide, including the Bayer Science & Education Foundation and the Bayer Cares Foundation. About Bayer Corporation
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company’s products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. The Corporation is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its role as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen. Economy, ecology and social responsibility are corporate policy objectives of equal rank. In North America, Bayer had 2010 net sales of EUR 8,228 million ($10,861 million) and employed 16,400 at year-end. For more information, go to www.bayerus.com.
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