P-16 News
New Public Awareness Campaign Aims to Increase Student Achievement
ATLANTA – (January 23, 2006) – A simple equation may be just what's needed to put Georgia on the road to a better future, at least in terms of academic, future career and life success for the state's youth.
"math + science = success" is the new theme adopted by PRISM, Georgia's Partnership for Reform in Science & Mathematics initiative that aims to increase awareness of the significance of these subjects among parents, teachers, business leaders, the community-at-large and students themselves. A comprehensive awareness campaign being rolled out across Georgia will feature the theme on billboards, TV advertising and public service spots, newspaper and magazine ads, bus shelters, in-school posters and banners and public relations outreach.
The public awareness campaign is an important element of PRISM's five-year grant funded by the National Science Foundation and the first such grant to incorporate a public awareness campaign. The grant and the campaign are being administered under the banner of the University System of Georgia with the awareness campaign offering the first "call to action" for parents and the community-at-large.
Made to look like a patch, PRISM's formula for Success appears in the campaign's advertising materials in conjunction with compelling photographs of children from elementary school through high school age that draw the viewer into reading the text. The series of ads and collateral materials uses various taglines and text to support PRISM's research findings that math and science skills are important for students' future whether graduating from high school, advancing to college and doing well in a career or technical field or other life choices. For example, one ad pictures an elementary age girl with the tagline 'She's not afraid of spiders, snakes or science. Especially not science,' with supporting text about how the young girl's parents exposed her to science early in life and how that has helped her to be energized about how the world works, as well as better prepared for her future.
"math + science = success" was developed by Atlanta advertising agency Mindpower, Inc. after a thorough review of PRISM's research of parents and students throughout the state and in conjunction with the initiative's ten strategies to advance awareness of the math and science, to attract and retain teachers and to enhance professional development for teachers of kindergarten through college.
"Getting Georgia students on a better track with mathematics and science achievement is a process that involves the student's community-at-large, not just the educators," said Jan Kettlewell, Chair and Principal Investigator of PRISM and Associate Vice Chancellor for P-16 Initiatives for the University System of Georgia. "We know that parent involvement is most critical to the success of their children and our campaign is aimed primarily toward them."
According to PRISM Public Awareness Director Rosalind Barnes, parents should seek out all available resources to make math and science more enjoyable and more relevant for their children.
"As part of the public awareness campaign, PRISM has a web site offering a parent resource guide, found by logging on to www.mathsciencesuccess.org.," said Barnes. "We also recommend, first and foremost, that parents communicate with their children's teachers frequently to get help and additional resource suggestions."