Press Releases

CISCO’S  GRANT HELPS RAFT INCREASE ITS REACH TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS NATIONWIDE

San Jose, CA (Feb 07, 2012) – Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT), a pioneer in hands-on teaching methods, has received $100,000 from Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking technology, to develop an education web platform that will enable RAFT to extend the benefits of hands-on teaching to more children nationwide.

Today, 10,000 educators use the organization’s hands-on tools to teach more than 800,000 students in Silicon Valley, Sacramento and Denver each year. Through the new platform, RAFT hopes to reach over 1,000,000 pupils nationally by helping educators communicate and collaborate on the best practices of hands-on teaching methods online.

“Teachers deserve the latest in technology tools to help them educate with lessons aligned to science, math and other education standards,” says Ricardo Benavidez, community relations manager, Cisco. “We’re pleased to be able to expand the reach of RAFT’s innovative work through the future education platform. This new online presence will harness the power of the network to bring RAFT’s lessons to more teachers, ultimately helping students achieve their full potential.”

RAFT’s Executive Director & Founder, Mary Simon says, “Cisco transforms how people communicate and collaborate, and we’re excited about accessing the company’s expertise and other resources to improve collaboration among educators. Through implementing and integrating the Internet and other technologies into the new platform, we will optimize the value of RAFT’s offerings and operations to serve teachers nationwide. This will further our aim to ensure that all students receive a hands-on education that ignites their interest, nurtures their natural curiosity and helps them maintain a lifelong love for learning.”

RAFT receives over 500,000 page views from educators seeking hands-on, curriculum aligned teaching ideas. RAFT will leverage this interest by sharing its resources in an online community where educators can access the Idea Sheets, tip sheets, and the mentoring historically offered only via RAFT’s physical centers. Teachers will be able to share their opinions and experiences with peers and other professionals, and in school and out-of-school educators may buy RAFT Activity Kits that include required materials to carry out those activities.