"Every dollar invested in today's children is a down-payment on a brighter future for the commonwealth" - Governor Ed Rendell

In today's society, it isn't often you find a job that doesn't require math and science training at least at a minimum. Every job in today's constantly changing workforce will require you to think critically and have strong problem-solving skills. Students in Pennsylvania need to start building these skills at an early age so that they when they are ready to enter the real world they will be well-prepared for the fast paced 21st century.

Students in forty-eight school districts across southwest Pennsylvania, while partnering up with the Bayer Foundation-funded ASSET, Inc., have outperformed kids all over the world by simply changing the way elementary school teachers teach science in their classrooms.

In the 2006-07 school year, Governor Rendell invested $10 million dollars in order to take those teaching mechanisms statewide by launching Science: It's Elementary. The grant was created in hopes of one day all students being more knowledgeable, like a little scientist, in the classroom. Science: It's Elementary provides students in grades K-6 with hands-on science instruction through intensive teacher training, coaching, professional development, and fully stocked science kits so every child can have a better understanding of what is being taught.

In the current school year of 2007-08, Rendell has expanded the access to this grant with another $15million, which made it possible to add another 85 schools, East Side Elementary being one of them, to the 74 already involved with Science: It's Elementary. Another 1,660 teachers including teachers from grades K-5 at East Side were trained, which benefited an additional 49,800 elementary school students.