For immediate release                                                                                                                                                          Contact: Karen Ahearn

January 17, 2005                                                                                                                                                                 Communications Manager

                                                                                                                                                                                          412-481-7320

                                                                                                                                                                                          kahearn@assetinc.org

ASSET Receives Grant from the Frick Fund of the Buhl Foundation

PITTSBURGH — ( January 17, 2005 ) — ASSET (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) Inc. has received a $25,000 grant from the Henry C. Frick Educational Fund of the Buhl Foundation. The grant will support the development and implementation of a customer feedback process called Measuring ASSET Program Effectiveness (MAPE). MAPE will provide an annual feedback loop for ASSET members on customer satisfaction, teacher effectiveness and student learning.

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 about 180 ASSET member schools throughout Western Pennsylvania now experience the same standards-based learning materials in their classrooms and are taught by teachers who receive professional development directly linked to the curriculum.

“The MAPE research and development project is an important initiative for school districts in that it will provide vital data to help guide their decisions to improve 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.