Attention: News and Education Editors 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

STEVENS AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES RECEIVE $909,000 GRANT 
FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR K-12 TEACHERS’ 
INTERNET TRAINING IN FLORIDA, OHIO AND ARIZONA 
-- 
New Program is Outgrowth of University’s New Jersey Educational Models 
 Empowering Teachers With Technology 
-- 
Officials Laud Alliance As True Example of President’s “21st Century Teacher” Initiatives 

HOBOKEN, N.J. – Oct. 6, 1997 – The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Stevens Institute of Technology a $909,000 grant to instruct K-12 teachers in several states in integrating the Internet into their lessons plans, it was announced today by the university. 

The three-year program, “Alliance for Training for K-12 Teachers in Instructional Technologies: A National Internet-In-Education Teacher Training Program,” will be implemented by Stevens’ Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) working in partnership with the League for Innovation in the Community College and Thirteen/WNET. The Alliance will assist teachers in Miami, Cleveland and Phoenix to work with their local community colleges on methods of integrating Internet technology into classroom instruction. 
 “We are proud that the U.S. Department of Education has endorsed the strategies that Stevens and its partners have been implementing with educators in New Jersey and elsewhere,” said Harold J. Raveche, president of Stevens. “We see this pilot as a national demonstration of effective partnerships between K-12 and higher education to strengthen teacher preparation and student achievement.” 

The Alliance partners will collaborate with Maricopa Community College in Phoenix, Miami-Dade Community College and Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland.  The colleges will join with neighboring schools in their respective cities to create turnkey trainers for the use and integration of information technologies in K-12 science and other disciplines. 

“These trainers will serve as staff developers in their schools and districts and they will help to increase the number of teachers who can effectively and meaningfully integrate technology into the curriculum, as called for by President Clinton’s ‘21st Century Teachers’ initiative,” added CIESE Director Edward A. Friedman. 
 Project partners and community colleges will provide ongoing support to schools in related areas such as planning and budgeting for technology infrastructure development and pedagogical and assessment changes catalyzed by the integration of technology. 

 The program is modeled in part on several Stevens teacher training programs throughout the Tri-State, including CIESE’s “New Jersey Networking Infrastructure in Education (NJNIE).” The NJNIE project, created by a $2.9 million National Science Foundation grant, brings the Internet to more than 700 K-12 New Jersey schools through training sessions and consultation. The program builds upon the experience of the League of Innovation  in the Community College in promoting projects nationally with two year schools. Thirteen/WNET will provide leadership in the use of video materials as a training resource. 
 The Alliance program will include: 
 

• a comprehensive training package comprised of exemplary, standards-based curriculum materials available on the Internet, selected video documentaries of model lessons and best practice using such curriculum materials and print and electronic support materials to guide users in the implementation of these materials; 
• a network of three locally-based partnerships among community colleges, neighboring K-12 schools and relevant community organizations; 
• a train-the-trainer program to develop turnkey trainers within schools for staff development in the use of Internet-based curriculum resources and other technologically-supported curriculum applications (equivalent to a 30-hour graduate course); 
• training and ongoing support through the League for Innovation in the Community College; 
• support from community colleges for local school systems’ turnkey training activities and the development/expansion of ongoing relationships between colleges and schools. 

 “In addition to the teacher development that occurs through the Alliance, this model strengthens regional resource centers within community colleges upon which schools may continue to draw for necessary support of technology-in-education planning and implementation issues after completion of the project,” said Friedman.  “This program builds upon and expands the linkages which already exist between schools and community colleges and provides additional vehicles for ongoing collaboration to enrich and enhance schools’ use and integration of technology.” 

Friedman noted that cost sharing of nearly $7 million for the three-year program will be contributed by project partners, participating colleges and schools.  The Alliance will provide training and support for teams of three faculty and administrators from each of the three community colleges, who will in turn provide training and support for teams of four turnkey trainers from 10 partner school systems each year.  Each school training team will consist of a minimum of 40 teachers. 

Several corporate partners have expressed interest in augmenting federal funds to bring the Alliance program to other cities. The curricular focus of the program is science; however, the tools and educational models of collaboration are applicable for all grade levels and cover many subject areas. The Alliance program will present materials in a broad interdisciplinary context and seek to meet individual interests and needs of local school systems. 
 
The Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education at Stevens helps educators exploit the power of technology to improve instruction and bolster student achievements in mathematics and science.  Advancements in student learning in these areas will create a more competitive, technological workforce that is better able to analyze and deal with a range of complex issues and problems. 

CIESE’s mission is accomplished through a variety of activities including direct collaboration with teachers and school systems, partnerships with community colleges and local school systems, videoconferences and hands-on workshops on the use of technology in mathematics and statewide projects linking other universities and institutions with schools across New Jersey. 

The League for Innovation in the Community College, as a nonprofit educational consortium of resourceful community colleges, stimulates experimentation and innovation in all areas of community college development and serves as a catalyst, project incubator and experimental laboratory for all community colleges. 

Established in 1870, Stevens offers baccalaureate, master and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, as well as a baccalaureate in the humanities and liberal arts.  The university has a total enrollment of more than 1,400 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students.