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Media Release
President Obama Touts Expansion of Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship in Key States to Include Ohio
Fellowship Prepares Math and Science Teachers for Hard-to-Staff Schools
For Immediate Release | January 6, 2010
COLUMBUS—At a White House event today, President Barack Obama announced new partnerships as part of the "Educate to Innovate" campaign, including the expansion of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation's state-based Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships to two additional states – Ohio and Michigan. Chancellor Fingerhut has been asked to select four Ohio universities to participate in the program.
"Americas leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today, especially in science, math and engineering," said President Obama. "That's why I'm pleased to announce the expansion of our "Educate to Innovate" campaign today and applaud the several new partnerships launched that will help meet our goal of moving American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade."
"The expansion of the 'Educate to Innovate' campaign will further our efforts to recruit and retain more talented Ohioans for jobs as educators. It's no surprise that dedicated, quality teachers are critical to prepare our children for 21st century jobs," said Governor Strickland. "We look forward to our partnership with the Woodrow Wilson National Foundation as we strengthen the teaching profession and STEM disciplines in Ohio."
The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship program was launched in Indiana in 2007 to develop a model for states to revamp their teacher education programs and bring new talent into classrooms to address significant shortages of mathematics and science teachers. The fellowship educates STEM graduates for teaching roles in rural and urban public schools.
Chancellor Fingerhut is launching the Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowship as part of the Choose Ohio First scholarship program – the state's premier model for recruiting and retaining talented Ohio residents as students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEM) and STEM education fields. Woodrow Wilson Foundation staff are currently reviewing eleven universities as potential partners and will make their recommendations to the Chancellor soon. An announcement of the final selection of four universities is anticipated in late January. The four selected partner institutions will host 80 Fellows each year. Ohio's program is supported through the state's Choose Ohio First funds, with additional funding from five Ohio foundations.
"Ohio is excited and honored to be one of the three states chosen to participate in the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship," said Chancellor Fingerhut. "This program further strengthens Ohio's efforts to reconstruct our economy by focusing particularly on educating our students in STEM fields for the jobs of the future.'
The fellowships provide $30,000 stipends to prospective teachers who agree to spend a year in exemplary teacher education programs and teach for three years in low-income rural and urban secondary schools. They also offer additional funding to the participating campuses to fundamentally rethink their approach to teacher preparation.
In Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, over the course of their three-year programs, the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship will prepare more than 700 math and science teachers at 14 institutions, with a total of nearly $40 million in public and private funding and a lifelong impact on the math and science achievement of an estimated 87,500 students who will learn from the Fellows every year.
"The Woodrow Wilson STEM Teaching Fellowship works at the state level because, state by state, small numbers of teachers make big differences," said Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. "In Indiana, where the Fellowships were launched last year, Fellows will supply more than 20 percent of the state's needed math and science teachers. This means real impact for strengthening math and science teaching."
The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships attract talented people—career changers as well as new graduates—to careers in teaching and also seek to transform teacher preparation. Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows hold baccalaureate degrees in math or science and are high achievers, academically and professionally. They complete an intensive, field-based master's program in teacher education at a participating university, overseen by both the university's STEM faculty and its education faculty in cooperation with partner school districts.
Contact: Michael Chaney, Chief Communications Officer, Ohio Board of Regents
Office: (614) 752-9480 Cell: (614) 633-5909
E-mail: mchaney@regents.state.oh.us
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