CSR News Title Teach For America Receives $500,000 Grant from ExxonMobil Detailed Content IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE1)--The ExxonMobil Foundation2 announced today it will contribute $500,000 to Teach For America3 to recruit and train math and science teachers for public schools in low-income communities in Dallas, Houston, southern Louisiana and Washington, D.C. “Improving the quality of math and science education in America’s classrooms is a primary focus for ExxonMobil because we believe that education is the key to progress, development and economic growth” The ExxonMobil grant will be used to recruit more than 1,500 top college graduates from across the United States to teach middle-school math and science. The funds will also support Teach For America’s rigorous program of pre-service training, ongoing professional development and mentoring for these teachers. “Improving the quality of math and science education in America’s classrooms is a primary focus for ExxonMobil because we believe that education is the key to progress, development and economic growth,” said Gerald McElvy, president of the ExxonMobil Foundation. “Recruiting and training math and science teachers with strong content knowledge is a critical step to addressing underperformance in these subjects. Teach For America has a proven model that attracts our best and brightest college graduates, and ExxonMobil actively supports their mission to address the math and science achievement gap.” In 2004, Teach For America launched an initiative to expand its corps of math and science teachers to 4,000 by 2015 in order to serve more than 240,000 students annually. Teach For America recruits on more than 350 college campuses nationwide. “ExxonMobil’s longstanding partnership with Teach For America helps improve educational outcomes in our nation’s highest-need schools,” said Wendy Kopp, chief executive officer and founder of Teach For America. “We are grateful for this support which enables us to bring thousands of talented and committed math and science teachers to schools where they have a profound impact of inspiring the next generation of math, science, and engineering professionals.” ExxonMobil has supported Teach For America for 16 years. ExxonMobil is a long-standing supporter of math and science education4, which includes a $125 million commitment to launch the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) in the United States. NMSI’s UTeach program has been praised as a model for increasing the supply of qualified math and science teachers through rigorous undergraduate education programs at colleges and universities across the country. In 2009, ExxonMobil invested more than $90 million in education initiatives worldwide. Other initiatives include the ExxonMobil Reasoning Mind Teacher Qualification Program, partnerships with former astronauts Bernard Harris and Sally Ride to encourage students to study math and science, and the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy, a partnership with PGA golfer Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy, which has equipped more than 2,000 teachers with innovative tools to inspire students in math and science. Education is the largest program area for ExxonMobil’s contributions. Date of News 1/6/2010 12:00:00 AM Company Name Exxon Mobil Issue Type Philanthropy Issue Education Country United States