Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recently accepted a $25,000 contribution from Chevron Energy Technology Company, a Chevron Corporation subsidiary, to the LANL Foundation to support the Northern New Mexico Math and Science Academy, a professional development program for K-12 teachers. The program is conducted by LANL in cooperation with its regional education, business, and government partners.
Now in its ninth year, the Academy has engaged nearly 300 K-12 rural New Mexico teachers in an intensive three-year professional development program that is demonstrating significant improvements in math proficiency scores among the more than 5,000 students taught by Academy-trained teachers.
Duncan McBranch, Los Alamos Deputy Principal Associate Director for Science, Technology, and Engineering, accepted Chevron's donation on October 24, 2009, in Houston.
"The Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory are committed to regional science education outreach and K-12 education," said McBranch. "Chevron's generous contribution will help sustain engagement by students and teachers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It will also encourage students to pursue careers that feed directly into our future technical workforce 'pipeline' and help create a better future for the students of northern New Mexico."
"Since 2004, Chevron has been engaged in a technology alliance with the Laboratory for collaborations on a broad variety of energy projects," said Melody Meyer, president, Chevron Energy Technology Company. "Our goal in making this investment is to assist the Laboratory and the northern New Mexico regional leadership with their outstanding efforts to improve K-12 math and science teacher professional development in the communities surrounding the Lab."
The Academy's aim is to improve math and science education significantly as part of a systemic change initiative across northern New Mexico, according to Dave Foster, program manager for the Laboratory's Education and Postdoc Office, which oversees the program. "The contribution by Chevron's Energy Technology Company will support continuation of two key programs: our reform mathematics initiative, as well as the Master of Arts degree that the Academy offers in teaching math and science," said Foster. "It will also provide the additional funding needed for the recent launch of a major reform science curriculum, an extension of the core program based on the highly effective model established by the Smithsonian Institution's National Science Resources Center in Washington, D.C."
In 2008, the Academy received the Secretary of Energy's Equal Opportunity and Diversity Best Practices Award and is considered a national "best practice" model for rural (high poverty and minority) K-12 teacher professional development as recommended by the America COMPETES Act of 2007.
