Nearly three dozen philanthropies, educational organizations, and other institutions yesterday announced a new coalition to advance the goal President Barack Obama has declared of attracting 100,000 excellent science and math teachers to the profession over the next decade.
Current partners in the effort, dubbed 100Kin10, say they have already created a funding base of $8.5 million toward this agenda and will support as many as 100 “innovative programs” to develop and retain outstanding math and science teachers, according to a press release. Among the 28 institutions involved so far are the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the New Schools Venture Fund, the Baltimore school district, Teach For America, and the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation.
“The 28 partners are tackling the president’s challenge from three directions: by increasing the supply of excellent STEM teachers; by developing and supporting STEM teachers so that our schools retain excellent talent, thereby reducing the need for new teachers; and by building the movement so that the quest for 100,000 excellent STEM teachers can succeed,” Michele Cahill, a vice president at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, said in a press release.
The new coalition was announced at a session yesterday of the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in Chicago, and the former president gave a plug to the effort.
“The overwhelming focus of this conference is on getting people into the workforce over the next two years,” Mr. Clinton was quoted as saying. “If we don’t address this looming shortage of STEM teachers, ... everything done in the next two years will be undone.”