NAPE-EF Receives Grants to Boost Science and Technology Equity
- By Mike Hohenbrink
- 08/22/11
The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation (NAPE-EF) has received grants from two sources that will further the use of educational technology to help achieve equity for groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
NAPE-EF is a national, nonprofit consortium composed of government agencies, businesses and national organizations. The Texas Instruments Foundation has given the organization a $413,000 grant to manage and expand the impact of the High-Tech High Heels (HTHH) program. The Motorola Solutions Foundation has given $50,000 as part of the Innovation Generation grant program.
Since 30 Texas Instruments (TI) women executives founded HTHH in 2001, more than 700 girls have attended the program’s two-week long camps in the Dallas Independent School District and Plano Independent School District. In addition, HTHH has offered gender equity training to 57 educators, with a focus on physics teachers. In addition to enhancing the teacher training curriculum, NAPE-EF plans to provide on-line as well as face-to-face training, and create a virtual learning community that supports teacher collaboration and innovation. Over the next three years, the HTHH grant will also allow NAPE-EF to expand the program to at least two new districts.
In the Midwest, Illinois School District U-46 students will receive help through a STEM equity academy program that will be created with the Motorola Solutions grant. Approximately 40 administrators, counselors and faculty from five high schools will receive professional development to implement research-based practices to increase access, success and post-secondary transition of girls and other underrepresented groups in STEM. Motorola Solutions employee volunteers will also facilitate and provide guidance on STEM careers.
More information on NAPE-EF is available at napequity.org.