Eighteen of the Top 100 Schools Ranked by NEWSWEEK Magazine Implement PLTW’s Rigorous STEM Education Program That is Engaging Students in Innovation and Providing Them With a Proven Path to Academic and Professional Success in STEM fields

Clifton Park, NY – Last week NEWSWEEK magazine released its list of “America’s Best High Schools” and of the 1,623 schools on the list, 333 (20%) offer Project Lead The Way’s (PLTW’s) rigorous science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education program. NEWSWEEK ranks schools based on how hard school staffs “work to challenge students with advanced-placement college-level courses and tests.” Of the top 100 schools on Newsweek’s list, 18 offer students PLTW’s leading STEM education program. To view the list in its entirety, visit http://www.newsweek.com/feature/2010/americas-best-high-schools/list.html.

“We are very proud that PLTW is implemented at so many of the schools on NEWSWEEK’s list of America’s best high schools,” said John Lock, CEO of Project Lead The Way. “Thousands of Project Lead The Way teachers and educators around the country deserve all of the credit. Their passion, training and ability to engage students in a very rigorous and challenging STEM education program is providing students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they need to be successful after they graduate high school. PLTW teachers are igniting the imagination and innovation in students through learning and we congratulate all of them for this well-deserved national recognition.”

Project Lead The Way’s hands-on, project based program engages the hearts and minds of thousands of middle school and high school students through STEM education by helping them connect what they are learning in the classroom to real-life problems. PLTW students use professional design software in the classroom that allows them to imagine, create and build things like robots and cars, applying what they learn in math and science to the world’s grand challenges. Studies have shown that PLTW students are more engaged in learning than their peers and more likely to attend college and major in STEM-related fields than non-PLTW students.

For more information about PLTW schools on the NEWSWEEK “Americas Best High Schools” list, please contact [email protected]

About Project Lead The Way
Project Lead The Way, Inc., is a national, non-profit organization that is the leading provider of rigorous and innovative STEM education curricular programs used in K-12 schools. The PLTW comprehensive curriculum, which is collaboratively developed by PLTW teachers, university educators, engineering and biomedical professionals, and school administrators, emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, innovation and real-world problem solving. The hands-on, project-based program engages students on multiple levels, exposes them to areas of study that they typically do not pursue, and provides them with a foundation and proven path to college and career success. PLTW began in 1998 in 12 high schools in upstate New York as a program designed to address the shortage of engineering students at the college level and has grown to a network of approximately 4,000 middle and high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 350,000 students are enrolled in PLTW courses. For more information, visit www.pltw.org.

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