Advantage Testing Foundation Information

Advantage Testing Foundation Information

The Advantage Testing Foundation Information Booklet

The Advantage Testing Foundation 210 East 86 th Street, Suite 601

New York, NY 10028 www.atfoundation.org

Table of Contents

Section 1: The Advantage Testing Foundation 1. Mission Statement 2. Board of Trustees 3. Initiatives & Partnerships

Section 2: About Advantage Testing 1. A Brief Introduction 2.

Summary of Public Service Initiatives

Section 3: Correspondence and Publicity 1. TRIALS Recruitment Letter 2.

Math Prize for Girls Recruitment Letter

3. 4.

Mayor’s Proclamation

“Girls-only competitions build confidence – and the ranks of women in math” The Christian Science Monitor (October 27, 2017) “For Girls, a Rare Chance to Flex Math Muscles at MIT” The Boston Globe (September 27, 2014) “MIT Hosts Math Prize for Girls” MIT News (September 20, 2011) “Math Women Rock” MIT Admissions Blog (March 8, 2011) “With a little help from Arun Alagappan” India Abroad (October 7, 2011) “TRIALS: Diversifying law schools” Washington Square News (March 6, 2009) “Blakely Native Gets Educational Opportunity of a Lifetime” WTYV.com (August 20, 2013) “Grooming Young Talent for Future Leadership” The Wall Street Journal (July 7, 2011)

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Section 1

The Advantage Testing Foundation

Advantage Testing Foundation Mission Statement

The Advantage Testing Foundation identifies and cultivates future leaders of every background. By forging strategic partnerships with leading universities and other distinguished institutions, we expand the opportunities of our nation’s extraordinary young people.

The Advantage Testing Foundation Board of Trustees Arun Alagappan , President , is the President and Founder of Advantage Testing, Inc. He is a magna cum laude , Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University and a graduate of Harvard Law School. Mr. Alagappan sat on the Board of Editors of the Harvard International Law Journal , served as Law Clerk to Judge Dorothy Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and worked briefly at the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell in New York City. He was a Teaching Fellow in Harvard’s Department of Mathematics and was awarded a Certificate of Distinction for Outstanding Teaching of Harvard Undergraduates from the Dean of the College. Mr. Alagappan serves on the Board of Trustees of Prep for Prep and as Vice President of the Board of Trustees of LEDA (Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America). The goals of these organizations are to nurture the academic and leadership potential of exceptional students of modest means and to increase the socioeconomic diversity of students at leading colleges and universities. Shirley M. Tilghman , Vice President , is the President Emerita of Princeton University. She is a world-renowned scholar of molecular biology who has conducted pioneering research in the field of human genetics. Dr. Tilghman is a member of the National Research Council’s committee that set the blueprint for the Human Genome Project and was a founding member of the National Advisory Council of the Human Genome Project for the NIH. Prior to being named President of Princeton, she served on the university’s faculty for 15 years. She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Science, the Institute of Medicine, and the Royal Society of London and is a recipient of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Developmental Biology, and the Genetics Society of America Medal. Dr. Tilghman formerly served on the Board of Trustees of LEDA. She is a Trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation, and a director of Google, Inc. Dr. Tilghman is a graduate of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Temple University. Martha Minow , Vice President , is the 300 th Anniversary University President and former Dean of Harvard Law School. She is an expert in human rights and advocacy for members of racial and religious minorities and for women, children, and persons with disabilities. Her recent books include Government by Contract (co-edited, 2009) and Just Schools: Pursing Equality in Societies of Difference (co-edited, 2008). Ms. Minow served on the Independent International Commission for Kosovo and helped to launch Imagine Co-existence, a program of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, to promote peaceful development in post-conflict societies. Her honors include the Sacks-Freund Teaching Award, selected by the Harvard Law School Class of 2005, the Holocaust Center Award, 2006, and an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Toronto, 2006. In 2008, she served on advisory committees addressing legal policy and educational policy for the Obama campaign. Ms. Minow received a B.A. from the University of Michigan, an M.Ed. from Harvard and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court.

John Manning, Vice President , is the Dean of Harvard Law School. He is also the Morgan and Helen Chu Professor of Law. He served as the law school’s Deputy Dean from 2013 – 2017, and from 2007 – 2017, Dean Manning was the Bruce Bromley Professor of Law. He serves on the Harvard University Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging and on the HarvardX faculty committee. Dean Manning is a prolific scholar of public law, focusing on statutory interpretation and structural constitutional law. He is a co-editor of Hart & Wechsler’s Federal Courts and the Federal System (6th ed., 2009) and Legislation and Regulation (2d ed., 2013). Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, he was the Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Dean Manning was a law clerk to the Honorable Robert Bork on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dean Manning is a summa cum laude , Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. John Edward Sexton , Vice President , is the President Emeritus of New York University, as well as the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law and NYU Law School’s Dean Emeritus. Dr. Sexton is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of both the Association of American University Presidents and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the Boards of the New York State Commission on Higher Education, the American Council on Education, the Institute of International Education and the Association for a Better New York. While Dean of the Law School he was President of the Association of American Law Schools. Dr. Sexton received a B.A. in History from Fordham College, an M.A. in Comparative Religion and a Ph.D. in History of American Religion from Fordham University, and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Before joining NYU, he served as Law Clerk to Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United States Supreme Court, and to Judges David Bazelon and Harold Leventhal of the United States Court of Appeals. J. Tomilson Hill , Treasurer , is a private investor whose five-decade career has spanned both investment banking and the asset management business. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone’s Hedge Fund Solutions Group and Vice Chairman of The Blackstone Group, where he was also on the Board of Directors. Mr. Hill is also the founder of the Hill Art Foundation, a public exhibition and education space in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. He is a graduate of Harvard College and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Mr. Hill is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where he chairs the Investment Committee, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Center Theater, where he serves as Vice Chairman. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and as a Trustee of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. In addition, Mr. Hill is a member of the Investment Committee of the Smithsonian Institution’s endowment. He formerly served on the Board of Trustees of Milton Academy and The Nightingale-Bamford School.

Lauren Frank is Director of Marketing and Investor Relations at Value Insight Partners, a fund that invests in value-oriented hedge funds. Prior to joining Value Insight Partners, Ms. Frank served as Director of Business Development and Strategy for the WPP Group. Ms. Frank is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. A young leader in education philanthropy, Ms. Frank serves on the Board of Trustees of Girls Prep Lower East Side and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Girls Prep Bronx. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Harvard College Fund and on the Steering Committee of New York Presbyterian Hospital’s New Leaders Group. Beth Nash has a longstanding record of promoting positive social change through scholarly work and philanthropic pursuits. She is particularly interested in championing leadership roles for traditionally underrepresented groups including women and girls. Ms. Nash was a founding board member of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project. In 2015, A Better Balance presented her with a “Distinguished Leadership Award” in recognition of her founding the NYU School of Law’s Carr Center for Reproductive Justice. Ms. Nash co-founded and served as principal of her own investment firm. She had previously worked at Goldman Sachs and, subsequently, at CREF. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds graduate degrees from Columbia Business School and NYU. Former Board Member U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan served as Vice President of the Advantage Testing Foundation’s original Board of Trustees from 2007–2009, a position she resigned upon her nomination for Solicitor General by President Barack Obama. Prior to her nomination, she was the Dean of Harvard Law School and the Charles Hamilton Houston Professor of Law at Harvard University. In addition to her service as a Trustee of the Foundation, Justice Kagan was an original partner of the Advantage Testing Foundation’s Trials law school preparation program. Her contributions in shaping that program will continue to benefit outstanding scholars of underrepresented backgrounds for many years to come. Justice Kagan is a summa cum laude , Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University and a graduate of Harvard Law School.

The Advantage Testing Foundation Initiatives & Partnerships

Advantage Testing Foundation Math Prize for Girls

“The country’s preeminent math competition for young women” —MIT Office of Admissions

Each year since 2009, the Advantage Testing Foundation has offered the largest math prize for girls in the world. Nearly 300 young mathematicians annually take our exceptionally challenging examination of mathematical analysis and creative problem solving and compete for more than $55,000 in prizes, including a first prize of $25,000. o Past ceremony speakers include: o Susan Hockfield, former President of MIT o MacArthur Genius Award Recipients Dina Katabi, Esther Duflo and Stephen Wolfram o Yale Professor of Astronomy Priya Natarajan o MIT Professors Shafi Goldwasser and Nancy Hopkins o Princeton Professor Corina Tarnita o MIT Math Department Chairman Tomasz Mrowka o Harvard Professor Radhika Nagpal o Board of Advisors includes: o Michael Sipser, the Dean of the School of Science at MIT o Maria Klawe, the President of Harvey Mudd College & the former Dean of the School of Engineering at Princeton o Leading mathematicians on the faculties of MIT, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, and Harvard

o Contest Supporters :

o The Akamai Foundation o Wolfram Research

For more information: http://mathprize.atfoundation.org

Advantage Testing Foundation TRIALS Program (The Training and Recruitment Initiative for Admission to Leading Law Schools)

In 2009, the Advantage Testing Foundation launched Trials in partnership with Harvard Law School and NYU School of Law. Trials is the nation’s most selective full-scholarship pre-law program, preparing students of underrepresented socioeconomic backgrounds for admission to leading law schools. Trials students are selected on the basis of their compelling personal narratives, ability to overcome adversity, commitment to public service, and academic achievements. o Twenty full-scholarship five - week residencies at Harvard Law School or the NYU School of Law to study logical reasoning, argumentation, critical reading, and essay writing with Advantage Testing instructors o Trials Scholars vital statistics: o Median starting diagnostic LSAT score at the 40 th percentile o 6 selected as NYU Root-Tilden Scholars o 2 selected as NYU An-Bryce Scholars o Alumni include 1 Rhodes Scholar, 1 Rhodes Finalist, 4 Fulbright Scholars, 2 Soros Fellows, and 2 Marshall Scholars o Past lecturers include: o Martha Minow, former Dean of Harvard Law School o Richard Revesz, former Dean of NYU School of Law o John Sexton, former President of NYU and Dean of NYU School of Law o Ronald Sullivan, HLS Criminal Justice Institute Director o Robert Bordone, Director of the Harvard Negotiation Clinic o Randall Kennedy, HLS Michael R. Klein Professor of Law o Median official LSAT score at the 88 th percentile o Multiple admissions to all top 10 U.S. law schools o 57 admitted to Harvard Law School o John Manning, Dean of Harvard Law School o Trevor Morrison, Dean of NYU School of Law

For more information: http://trials.atfoundation.org

LEDA—Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America

Each summer, the Advantage Testing Foundation and Princeton University pool their resources to provide institutional, academic, and financial support to LEDA, an academic intervention program widely recognized as the most successful in the nation. LEDA’s goal is to help primarily rural public high school students of modest means earn acceptance to and succeed at the nation’s leading colleges and universities. o median household income of ~$30,000. o more than 35% of the last five LEDA cohorts were admitted to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or Stanford o 57% of the most recent LEDA cohort will attend Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or Stanford o 71% of the most recent LEDA cohort was admitted to an Ivy League college, MIT, or Stanford o LEDA Scholar vital statistics: o 92% of all LEDA graduates currently enrolled in “Ivy League/Most Competitive,” “Highly Competitive,” or “Very Competitive” institutions (ranked by Barron’s ) o In 2014, LEDA participated in President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s first White House Summit on College Opportunities for Low Income Students. o Advantage Testing Associate Director John Roberts served as President of LEDA’s Board of Trustees from 2010–2015. o In April of 2019, Advantage Testing Foundation President Arun Alagappan was recognized as Guest of Honor at LEDA’s 15 th Annual Gala and awarded the first-ever LEDA Hero Award for his “relentless support of LEDA and our Scholars.”

For more information: http://www.ledascholars.org

Prep for Prep

The Advantage Testing Foundation provides pro bono intensive SAT and SAT Subject Test instruction to high school juniors in Prep for Prep, a highly regarded and extremely successful leadership development program founded in 1978. Students enter Prep for Prep in the fifth, sixth or seventh grade and complete a rigorous 14-month course of study to prepare for the transition from New York City public schools to leading independent schools. Prep for Prep supports student success in high school and college by providing participants with leadership opportunities, college and career counseling, and access to a deep alumni network. o more than 270 Prep for Prep students prepared for college admission tests o 40.5% of Prep for Prep students tutored by Advantage Testing attend or have graduated from an Ivy League institution

For more information: http://www.prepforprep.org

Section 2

About Advantage Testing

Advantage Testing A Brief Introduction

Advantage Testing is widely regarded as America’s preeminent private tutorial and test preparation service. We specialize in academic tutoring from grade school through graduate school and in preparing students for standardized tests. Educational philosophy We believe that sound long-term preparation enables students to develop the tools necessary for success. Whether mastering academic course materials or studying for standardized tests, our students develop the skills and motivation to maintain a rigorous, individually tailored approach to learning that ultimately instills education’s most enduring rewards: • self-confidence • academic growth • joy in learning • intellectual curiosity We adapt traditional methods of study and practice for the individual, teaching our students to study not just intensively, but effectively. We do not believe in “tricks” or short cuts. Instead, we teach the core content and strategies relevant to every subject, test, or assignment, an approach that is consistently and rigorously educational. Approach to learning • Long-term : Cognition involves phases of comprehension, application, and repetition that take time, both during and between teaching sessions. The benefits of such productive work, of course, become long-term as well. • Rigorous : Advantage Testing students work hard. We teach the efficiencies of skill, knowledge, and sound reasoning rather than short cuts or tricks. Assignments, memorization, drills, and practice tests are crucial components of our programs. • Comprehensive : For more than thirty years, we have continually refined and expanded our teaching materials and approaches. Our curricula and instruction reflect a depth and breadth born of experience and thorough analysis. • Practical : We design and implement concrete strategies with specific steps toward attainable goals. Practice itself is the backbone of our structured test preparation. • Creative : Tutors adapt their distinctive styles of teaching to each individual student, while the student in turn is encouraged to contribute to the process.

Our instructors Advantage Testing comprises a group of professional instructors who value educational achievement. Our faculty consists primarily of high honors graduates of leading colleges who hold graduate or professional degrees. All our instructors must be: • …able to motivate students of whatever background or ability to achieve their highest possible scores. • …experienced, dedicated teachers who have received uniformly outstanding reviews from their students inside and outside our program. • …energetic, informal, and approachable so as to be able to establish productive relationships with our students. • …top performers required to score in the 99.5 th percentile on any standardized test they teach for us. • …students themselves of the continuously evolving science of standardized test construction. Sensitivity Advantage Testing has experience achieving outstanding results with students of every ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural background. Our instructors are responsive not only to their students’ individual learning styles and academic needs, but also to their personal stories, unique self-identifications, and individual perspectives. Student evaluations 93% of students have said that Advantage Testing tutors are “better or much better” compared with most of the teachers they’ve had. On a scale of 1 to 10, Advantage Testing tutors average a 9.6 rating for “overall quality,” 9.7 for “concern for students,” 9.7 for “instructor’s encouragement,” and 9.3 for “clarity of presentation.” Furthermore, 97% of Advantage Testing’s students assess their work to be “educational.” Results Our internal >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37

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