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Gretchen Cook-Anderson
Headquarters, Washington            June 30, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-0836)

RELEASE: 03-220

NASA EXPLORER SCHOOLS PROGRAM TAKES OFF IN SEATTLE

     NASA launched a major new education initiative today. 
The NASA Explorer Schools Program premiered at the 2003 
National Educating Computer Conference in Seattle. 

The multimedia event kicked-off an innovative program that 
will invite science and mathematics teachers "back to 
school" during the summer at NASA Centers. NASA experts, 
materials, and other resources will be available to help 
educators acquire new teaching tools to make science, 
mathematics, and technology more appealing to students. 

The new initiative is sponsored by NASA's Education 
Enterprise in collaboration with the National Science 
Teachers Association (NSTA). It establishes a three-year 
partnership between the agency and 50 NASA Explorer Schools' 
teams, consisting of teachers and education administrators 
from diverse communities across the country.  

The 50 selected school teams represent 30 states. Eighty 
percent of the schools are located in high poverty areas, 
with 75 percent representing predominantly minority 
communities. Of the 50 competitively selected school teams, 
58 percent are located in both high poverty and high 
minority districts. 

"NASA's mission is to inspire the next generation of 
explorers by helping to make learning science and math more 
fun," said Dr. Adena Williams Loston, NASA's Associate 
Administrator for Education. "The NASA Explorer Schools 
Program will provide us with yet another promising avenue to 
positively and uniquely impact science and math instruction 
in the Nation's classrooms as only NASA can," she said. 

For more information about NASA on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

For the list of NASA's first 50 Explorer Schools, visit:

http://explorerschools.nasa.gov

For information about other NASA Education programs on the 
Internet, visit:

http://education.nasa.gov

For more information about NSTA on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nsta.org/

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