Message to All 50 State QZAB Directors re: NEF’s 2017 National QZAB STEM Academy Award Goes to Martins Ferry, Ohio
4/29/2017
Dear State QZAB Director,
FYI. Click on the link above. The Award ceremony is at the Martins Ferry City Schools, Ohio (near Pittsburgh, PA) on May 19, 2017. We will send you an invitation next week. Hope you can attend, to see for yourself how QZAB and QZAB academies, implemented properly, can help our LEAs and most-importantly our students significantly!
Let us hope our QZAB Academies and our NEF-SUNY $100 million national STEM grant initiative will help to “prepare a million disadvantaged U.S. students for 21st century jobs and college, and thus help to make a difference in their lives as well as their families and communities”– (our mission)!
As you know, we are working with Congress on QZAB Extension. To help allay the concerns of Congress, please only approve QZAB applications that meet fully:
- the three QZAB Match mandates by the IRS, namely, documentation showing reasonable fair market value, relevance to the QZAB academy, and no deployment of discounts
- the Federal QZAB Academy law mandate that the QZAB Academy must be new and must “prepare students better for college and the rigors of the complex workforce.” You should include this mandate in your QZAB application, and specifically require that the applicant must provide a detailed QZAB academy plan that states how many students will be in the academy, how the LEA would assess student performance, in which subject areas, using which pre and post tests, how will the academy be implemented (steps), and who will be responsible for the academy implementation.
Many of you have already included the above in your state QZAB applications. We would be glad to assist the others to do so.
NEF’s QZAB Match and QZAB Academy by NEF’s academy partner, the State University of New York (SUNY), the largest university in the U.S., meet the above two mandates fully. We will be glad to assist all your QZAB-eligible LEAs, and will guarantee: 1) Student performance —Most K-8 students can advance a grade level in a subject like math in 25-35 learning hours; 2) 9-12 students can earn SUNY college credits for $60 (vs $680 regular fee) per credit hour, with a 90% subsidy from NEF and SUNY.
Remember, “A” in QZAB stands for ACADEMY. We believe that, if implemented properly, the QZAB Academies can truly help our nation to increase jobs and decrease the outsourcing of millions (currently 8 million) of jobs!
Please feel free to ask any of your LEAs to contact us at 703-823-9999 or qzab@qzab.org for any assistance related to QZAB. Working together, we CAN “make a difference.” – our joint mission!
Best,
Dr. Appu Kuttan
Founder and Chairman
National Education Foundation (NEF), founded in 1989
U.S. Non-profit Leader in Bridging the STEM+ Education and Job Skills Divides
