Oct. 2, 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TO THE POINT: AT&T grant to Rutgers to provide help for parents in understanding new statewide mathematics and science standards

NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Parents throughout New Jersey will benefit from a $200,000 AT&T Foundation grant presented to Rutgers University today to support Families Achieving the New Standards (FANS) in mathematics, science and technology education. The grant, which is the largest donation AT&T has ever made to Rutgers, will enable FANS to help more than 300,000 parents learn more about the new mathematics and science standards being implemented in the Garden States's K-12 schools.

The check was presented at a ceremony in Winants Hall on Rutgers' New Brunswick campus. Following the presentation, 15 AT&T employees participated in a FANS parent workshop to learn first-hand about new standards to be implemented in their children's schools.

"This parent outreach project is designed to inform parents of the standards, to encourage them to support the local implementation, and to provide tools for them to help their children achieve the standards," said Joseph Rosenstein, Rutgers professor of mathematics and director of the New Jersey Mathematics Coalition, based at Rutgers.

FANS, which is sponsored by the coalition, was started in 1997 with a $1.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Rosenstein and Warren Crown, professor of mathematics education at Rutgers' Graduate School of Education, were instrumental in securing both grants.

Parents who attend FANS workshops participate in hands-on activities similar to those their children will be doing in classrooms implementing the new standards. In addition, parents receive the FANS Family Kit, which outlines: what changes they will see in their children's classroom; what children will now be learning in mathematics and science; what parents can do to help their children achieve the standards; and what resources are available for families who want to encourage and help their children in the study of mathematics and science. Parents also receive activities they can do at home with their children.

"To successfully implement educational change, we have to prepare parents for the change and solicit their support for its implementation," said Crown, who is associate director of the coalition. More than 500 volunteers have already been trained to serve as leaders for approximately 10,000 FANS workshops scheduled to take place throughout the state within the next two years. The AT&T grant will be used for the preparation of a Spanish version of the printed materials and videotapes, publication and distribution of the family kits, and the overall coordination of the FANS workshops.

"We are committed to working with educators to provide the highest level of training, especially in mathematics and technology, for our children who will be the skilled workforce of tomorrow," said Jack McMaster, AT&T President-Atlantic States. "It is because of our dedication to supporting these efforts that we encouraged our employees who are parents to participate in the FANS workshop at Rutgers." AT&T plans to schedule other FANS workshops for employees at its corporate sites throughout the state during the next few months.

Other organizations providing funding for FANS include New Jersey's Statewide Systemic Initiative, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Eisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education, and Merck Institute for Science Education.

For more information or to schedule interviews, call Ruby Keise, Rutgers Office of Media Relations and Communications, at (732) 932-7084, extension 610.