This change in quality of education is due to the Cupertino Educational Endowment Found- ation, a nonprofit organization that takes the high expectations of the district's parents and helps turn them into results. CEEF is a rare entity in public school districts, but one that has been accomplishing its goals since its start in 1984—providing funding for new programs to help get them off the ground and training teachers in their use.

On June 4, CEEF will celebrate 20 years at its "Silk Road" Banquet at the opening of the Dynasty Seafood Restaurant at Vallco and its annual golf tournament on May 26.

"Without their fundraising, we wouldn't have gotten started," says Mary Fay-Zenk, the math resource teacher for the school district. "They've been great visionaries—the leaven for adopting new programs." Fay-Zenk is one of about five resource teachers in the district, and her position likely wouldn't exist without the endowment's funding.

"We really feel that we can influence the quality of education through the quality of the teachers in the classroom," says Eleanor Watanabe, CEEF's executive director. For instance, many district science teachers were not using hands-on, "kit-based" science materials in the classroom in the early 1990s because they weren't trained in their use.

According to science resource teacher Rebecca Carino, the endowment helped set up training for such teachers around 1997 when the science resource teacher position was created. "CEEF was the catalyst," Carino says. "You get so much more out of the kids now instead of them just filling in the lines on a worksheet. The depth and the richness of the program wouldn't be there otherwise." Now, basic science concepts are taught as early as kindergarten throughout the district.

Similar results have come out of the math resource program, which began around 1993. Because of the endowment, Fay-Zenk developed a series of courses for teachers called "Thinking Mathematics," and funds also helped bring nationally renowned speakers such as Marilyn Burns, a well-known mathematics instructor, to speak to teachers in the district. All training is done on the timetable of the district teachers, such as during the summer, to yield maximum attendance and results. "Teachers themselves are good learners, and they're doing it right along with the students," Fay-Zenk says. "You have to reach out to them, because they can't do a thousand things at once."

The endowment provided the funding to get both resource programs off the ground, though both are now fully funded by the district. This nourishing approach also applies to bringing all schools in the district to the same level of instruction in the funded areas, including the future fifth middle school. "We don't want to have one school be super strong in a certain area," Watanabe says.

Watanabe says that the now-$9 million endowment kicked off in 1984 with a lucrative real estate transaction, but fundraising necessary to achieve viability took a number of years to build. At that point, the endowment asked the district for a wish list and initially focused on math and science areas. That focus was partially due to donations from local tech companies looking to encourage science careers in the potential workforce and to also supplement the backgrounds of educators.

The endowment also provides for music teachers in the district.

"Art and music wouldn't exist without CEEF. When the state makes cuts, those are the first things to go," says Steve Andrews, an endowment board member and the current campaign chairman. Over the past four years, Andrews and his committee have raised nearly $6 million for and arts/music information resources endowment. Donations have ranged from $50 to a half-million dollars, with 90 percent of the contributions coming from individuals, many of whom don't even have children in the district. "It's just like with board members—none of them have kids in the grammar schools anymore," Andrews says. "This is just a way of paying back."

The campaign still has about $300,000 left to go before it reaches its goal, which it hopes to attain through a number of upcoming events.

For more information on CEEF's 20th anniversary events or to donate, visit www.ceefcares.org.