NMSI Program for Students from Military Families Expands Seven-fold
Pentagon leaders salute Initiative for Military Families growth -
DALLAS – The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), the Office of Naval Research and the Army Education Outreach Program will announce Friday (Sept. 30) the major expansion of the Initiative for Military Families (IMF), which provides college-level courses in math, science and English for students from military families.
A special ceremony will be held from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Friday at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, Va. The IMF is being expanded from four initial sites, two near Fort Campbell in Kentucky and two near Fort Hood in Texas, to a total of 28 schools in 10 states that are serving high concentrations of students from military families. Eleven of those new school locations will be in Virginia, including seven in the Hampton Roads area.
Those participating in the Friday event will include Rear Admiral Nevin P. Carr Jr., Chief of Naval Research; Larry Prior, Executive Vice President of BAE Systems, a major supporter of the Initiative for Military Families; Gregg Fleisher, NMSI National APTIP Director; Dr. Patricia I. Wright, Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Commonwealth of Virginia; and Paul Nichols, President of Virginia Advanced Study Strategies (VASS). Lt. Col. Rodney D. Lewis also will attend as the Joining Forces representative from the Office of the First Lady.
NMSI is implementing its highly successful Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program (APTIP) in the IMF schools so students from military families can benefit from rigorous AP* courses in math, science and English. The APTIP already is producing results in IMF schools: In the first year in the first four schools, the AP math, science and English passing scores increased 45 percent - almost six times the national average. AP math and science passing scores increased 57 percent - over seven times the national average.
“APTIP is equipping our students from military families to better compete on the global stage, which is essential to the future of our country,” said Dr. Mary Ann Rankin, CEO of NMSI. She pointed out that research indicates that students passing AP courses in high school are three times more likely to complete a college degree. Further, AP students are among the few American students who compare favorably with their counterparts in other countries on internationally ranked math and science exams.
Almost two million young people in America have a parent serving in the military today. More than 220,000 of those young people have at least one parent deployed overseas. The separation, concerns about safety, and frequent transfers can be particularly hard on the children whose parents protect our country. NMSI is concentrating on bringing APTIP to their schools.
“This seven-fold expansion of the IMF schools will ensure that more children in military families have access to consistent, rigorous and high-quality AP math and science coursework,” said Gregg Fleisher, NMSI National APTIP Director.
Because the AP curriculum is uniform across the country, the NMSI program provides excellence and continuity for students whenever and wherever their families are transferred. While the IMF focus is on schools near military installations, all the students in the participating schools can benefit from the program.
Generous inaugural funding to launch the IMF program in 2010 was provided by Lockheed Martin Corporation. Major funding to add additional high schools is being provided by the Army Education Outreach Program, BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), the Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and Northrop Grumman, with additional support from Modern Technology Solutions and the O’Donnell Foundation.
With additional funding, it is anticipated the Initiative for Military Families can be expanded to 150 public high schools, ensuring that a very high percentage of military families will be served.
About APTIP: APTIP dramatically increases the performance of high school students in rigorous AP courses in math, science and English. The comprehensive approach includes intensive teacher training, support from master teachers, increased time on task for students in special study sessions, open enrollment, and incentives for teachers and students. Passing AP exam scores are almost universally accepted for course credit by the nation’s colleges and universities, which see success in AP courses as reliable indicators of students’ subject-area knowledge and capacity for college-level thinking.
About NMSI: NMSI is an agent of change that was launched in 2007 by top leaders in business, education and science to improve student achievement in math and science across the American public school system. NMSI’s mission is to bring best practices to the education sector by replicating proven programs on a national scale that have more than 10 years of proven results. NMSI has received major funding support for its groundbreaking national initiatives from Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, with additional support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Contact: Rena Pederson, NMSI communications director, at (214) 665-2523 rpederson@nationalmathandscience.org. For more information, visit www.nationalmathandscience.org. *AP and Advanced Placement Program are registered trademarks of the College Board.
