The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards announced last week that it has raised $2.35 million of the $10 million it will seek this year from the nation’s business community.
The board’s 1990 corporate campaign is being directed by David T. Kearns, chairman and chief executive officer of the Xerox Corporation, and Richard E. Heckert, retired chairman and chief executive officer of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company Inc. Both men are members of the national standards board.
“Industry has a huge stake in ensuring an educated workforce if we’re going to be competitive internationally,” Mr. Heckert said. “In recent years, we’ve had more and more difficulty hiring throughout the country the kind of employees we really need to achieve this competitiveness.”
The board must raise $50 million to cover research and development costs for the assessments that will be used to certify teachers beginning in 1993. A request for $25 million in federal matching funds is pending in the Congress.
James A. Kelly, president of the board, said last week that the bill has “broad bipartisan support” in the House, and that the Senate is expected to “act favorably” on its version of the bill.
Among the grants announced last week was $500,000 from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Other corporate contributors include: Xerox, $500,000; DuPont, $500,000; rjr Nabisco, $150,000; Chrysler Corporation, $500,000; ara Services Inc., 100,000; Sears, Roebuck & Company, $100,000.
In addition, contributions from foundations total $4.075 million to date. The board has received $3 million from the Lilly Endowment, $1 million from the Ford Foundation, and $75,000 from Charlson Research.
The board was launched with a $5-million, five-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.--ab
