McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation Awards $180,000 in Grants and Scholarships for the 2010/2011 Academic Year

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Professor Sarah J. McCarthey, President of the McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation, has announced the 2010/2011 academic year recipients of the Foundation’s Academic Enrichment Grants, Teacher Development Grants and Scholarships.

“Improving the Quality of Teaching & Learning”

The Foundation funded four Academic Enrichment Grants at two high schools and two middle schools with disadvantaged, predominantly minority students; four Teacher Development Grants at a middle school, a rural school and two charter schools; and four student teacher scholarships.

Professor McCarthey remarked, “The projects are noteworthy for their conceptual sophistication, their significance within and beyond the classroom, their collaborative focus and creative incorporation of technology as a learning and communication tool. Technology plays a major role across a spectrum of subjects from music, the arts and writing to math and science and provides a means to connect, share, and exchange ideas and results with other teachers, students, family and communities in the U.S. and abroad.”

Academic Enrichment Grantees: Douglas Edwards, Riverdale, Georgia; Tabitha Hargrove, Bronx, New York; Bethany Kirkpatrick, Westbrook, Maine; Benjamin Vazquez, Santa Ana, California.

Teacher Development Grantees: Paul Bailey, Hemet, California; Libby Duggan, Indianapolis, Indiana; Sabrina Flamoe, Portland, Oregon; Connie Walser, Burlington, Washington.

Scholarship Recipients: Laura Beatty, West Virginia University; Helen Bolen, New Mexico State University; Nicole Sophia Ochoa, New Mexico State University; Son Tran, University of Texas, Austin.

“Academic Enrichment Grants integrated hands-on learning with a focus on real issues and problems into their overall objective of improving individual academic performance,” noted McCarthey. “Of significance is the development of collaborative efforts that bring students from different backgrounds in a single school together, and in leveraging both local and global alliances.” In the “Science for the Community” program at a Bronx Middle School, for example, students will interface with the GLOBE Program, a worldwide network of students, teachers and scientists working together to study and understand the environment.

In addition to the Bronx science project which turns students into community change agents by putting them in the role of researchers, innovators, advocates and entrepreneurs working to solve problems in their communities, Academic Enrichment Grants were awarded to a “Solar Power Computer Lab” to be developed at a high school in Georgia and then sent to a student laptop computer lab in rural Tanzania; “See My Song. Hear My Voice,” a complete music education program using the iPad; and a “Holistic Approach to Research and Writing” in Chicano studies.

McCarthey also applauded the innovative applications of technology in the Teacher Development Grants as well as their commitment to provide integrated educational environments in which teachers are not separated by academic content and students no longer compartmentalize learning. “The teamwork among teachers of different levels of experience, expertise and specialization who will model and learn from each other will significantly contribute to the quality of teaching and learning,” commented McCarthey.

Teacher Development Grants include the development of an iPad curriculum for use in a charter middle school in core subject areas as well as in field ecology, paleontology, archaeology, biology, environmental science, Latin and engineering; “Teachers as Writing Mentors,” a K-8 collaborative teaching/learning curriculum; Project Go! based on the project lab classroom model; and “Improving the Quality of Teaching & Learning” in a rural school by creating a paradigm shift through intensive teacher collaboration, team teaching and an inclusive curriculum that integrates social studies content with reading and writing.

THE McCARTHEY DRESSMAN EDUCATION FOUNDATION is dedicated to serving students and teachers in developing interests, strategies and skills needed to enhance society. The Foundation recognizes the struggle educators too often face in bringing exceptional teaching to their students. Ever-tightening budgets and skyrocketing technology and supply costs now make it more difficult than ever for educators in all areas -- k-12, after school, and advanced study -- to introduce new programs and projects to children who need them most. To that end, the Foundation awards grants and scholarships to those projects and/or initiatives with significant potential to enrich the educational experiences for all children. Application deadline for grants and scholarships is May 1 of each year: www.mccartheydressman.org.