News Article - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

For Immediate Release
Monday, October 28, 2002
Contact:	Alan Safran 617-501-9401

Boston MATCH Public Charter High School Receives More than $300,000 From Area Business And Charitable Foundations

BOSTON - The Media and Technology Charter High (MATCH) School, a 3rd-year small public charter high school that prepares urban Boston students to excel in college and beyond, announced on Friday that it has received more than $300,000 in funding major donations to help fund its math, science and student support programs. The announcement was made during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held Friday for the MATCH School to formally open its new facility at the former “Ellis the Rim Man” building at 1001 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. The MATCH School Funders include: - The CVS Charitable Trust, the private foundation of CVS Corporation, which has made a $150,000 donation to fund the school’s new CVS Science Classroom; - The Akamai Foundation, which contributed $100,000 to fund the school’s Akamai Math Classroom; - The Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, of which Fleet Bank serves as Trustee, which contributed $60,000 for school operating expenses and academic support programs. Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll joined the 160 students, 25 faculty and staff of the school, and representatives from Akamai, Balfour and CVS. Commissioner Driscoll noted, “This is a remarkable success story and a model for what can happen when adults committed to the needs of students are not deterred by challenges. The MATCH School - the facility, the inner city student body, the committed faculty and administration - is exactly what state political leaders had in mind when they initiated the Charter School initiative in Massachusetts. We now have a first rate facility and personnel to make a difference in the lives of urban students and prove that if you have a vision and stick to it and do the hard work to make it a reality - you will truly leave no child behind.” The CVS Science Classroom will provide extensive traditional and state-of-the-art science education programs to help prepare inner-city Boston teenagers to succeed in college. In addition to a core of physics, chemistry, and biology, the MATCH School partners with universities including Boston University, Boston College, Harvard and MIT. The universities provide tutors, science fair and robotics team coaches, and student teachers. The Akamai Math Classroom is the home to an innovative curriculum that emphasizes math as absolutely critical – 9th and 10th grade students take twice as many math classes as most of their regular Boston school district peers. The Balfour Foundation was established in 1973, and Fleet Bank serves as its Trustee. As Trustee, Fleet has focused much of its discretionary funding on education, especially creative programs that provide educational opportunities for under-served communities. “The CVS Charitable Trust was established to support education and health care programs that are making a positive difference in our community,” said Jack Kramer, Senior Vice President at CVS. “The MATCH School is making a difference by preparing their students to not just succeed in college, but to succeed in life beyond school. Our contribution will provide a long-term investment for the children and families who will benefit from the MATCH School in the years to come.” “Mathematical innovation has always been, and continues to be, at the heart of Akamai's mission. This gift will help promote mathematics education and excellence among the next generation of technology innovators, inspiring young people to embrace math,” said Wendy Ziner, President of the Akamai Foundation. “We’ve been pleased to support the US Math Olympiad and International Math Olympiad – competitions of the best students in the US and the world. We’re now pleased to be giving locally – proving that minority teenagers can, and must, succeed at math at the highest levels.” Kerry Herlihy Sullivan, director of Foundations and Philanthropic Services representing Fleet Bank and the Balfour Foundation, added, “On behalf of the Balfour Foundation, Fleet is pleased to present the MATCH School with much-needed funding. The Balfour Foundation focuses much of its discretionary funding on specially creative programs that provide educational opportunities for under-served communities, and the MATCH School will surely become a model in providing students with the skills and support they need to succeed in the 21st century.” Alan Safran, MATCH’s Executive Director, stated, “We are ecstatic about the support these three foundations have made today. There is a pressing need for more science, math, and technology majors at the college level, especially among women and minorities. Only through a focus on great teaching and individualized attention to students, and with business and university partnerships with our schools, can we meet this Boston and national need. This investment in public education will not only help MATCH provide top-notch science and mathematics education to our 160 students from every Boston neighborhood – Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, Hyde Park, Allston – but will allow us to collaborate with graduate and undergraduate students from M.I.T., Harvard, and Boston University to create cutting-edge science programs that can be replicated across the nation.” After just two years of operation, the MATCH School – which serves students from families living in some of the most acute poverty in the state – scored number one on the Grade 10 math MCAS of the 22 non-exam public schools in Boston which serve grades 9-12. Of all the majority African-American high schools in Massachusetts, MATCH School had the highest pass rate on both the math and English MCAS. Before arriving at MATCH, these students had passed the 8th grade math MCAS at just an 18% rate. After two years, these same students passed the 10th grade math MCAS at an 80% rate – double the statewide rate for minority teenagers, and 11 points higher than the statewide pass rate for all students.

Last Updated: October 28, 2002