For immediate release                                                                                                                                                     Contact: Karen Ahearn

March 9, 2005                                                                                                                                                                              Communications Manager

                                                                                                                                                                                                   412-481-7320

                                                                                                                                                                                                   kahearn@assetinc.org

ASSET Receives EITC Funding from Duquesne Light

PITTSBURGH — ( March 9, 2005 ) — ASSET (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) Inc. has received a $20,000 contribution from Duquesne Light Company as part of the Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. The grant represents $80,000 in cumulative funding from Duquesne Light, which is in its fourth year of supporting ASSET's programs to encourage outstanding achievement in science and technology education in the region's schools.

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.

“By improving the quality of teaching, we increase the opportunity for students to acquire life-long learning habits, such as problem-solving skills,” said Dr. Reeny Davison, executive director of ASSET Inc. “This funding by Duquesne Light strengthens ASSET's teacher professional development program by providing resource teachers and content and evaluation consultants who help keep the program on the cutting edge.”

“Duquesne Light cares about the Pittsburgh region. As a community partner, we are helping to build a better region by supporting the design of innovative programs that enhance the academic environment of our public schools,” said Pamela Coates, Duquesne Light's manager of community relations. “To ensure that our students are ready to join the workforce of tomorrow, we have to support programs now that help prepare them for the future.”

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 improving 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.