For immediate release                                                                                                                                                          Contact: Karen Ahearn

February 14, 2005                                                                                                                                                                 Communications Manager

                                                                                                                                                                                           412-481-7320

                                                                                                                                                                                           kahearn@assetinc.org

ASSET Receives Grant from the Laurel Foundation

PITTSBURGH — (February 14, 2005) — ASSET (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) Inc. has received a $50,000 grant from the Laurel Foundation to support the expansion of ASSET's professional development programs and participation both locally and in a wider geographic area.

ASSET provides K-8 standards-based science and technology materials and teacher professional development programs that directly impact 3,000 teachers and 63,000 students in 45 school districts, charter and private schools. Students in hundreds of ASSET member schools throughout Western Pennsylvania now learn science the same way using standards-based learning materials and are taught by teachers who receive professional development directly connected to a standards-based curriculum.

“ASSET's new central location makes our professional development programs more accessible to teachers throughout the region. It gives them a place to share and learn from other teachers across school districts—using a standards-based approach to improve teaching effectiveness and student learning,” said Dr. Reeny Davison, Executive Director of ASSET Inc.

For more information on ASSET Inc., visit assetinc.org or call 412-481-7320.

About ASSET:

Established by Bayer Corporation and other community partners in 1994, ASSET Inc. is an independent, nonprofit education reform initiative dedicated to continuously improve the abilities of teachers with initial efforts in K-8 science and technology education. The largest program of its kind in the state, ASSET is the only one of 22 educational reform programs originally funded by the National Science Foundation that has achieved operational self-sustaining status.