The annual program was enacted in 1994 by Congress and funded by the Department of Energy - Office of Science, with participation from NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Selected teachers spend up to one year in a Congressional office or a federal agency.
The Fellows provide their educational expertise, years of experience, and personal insights to these offices. The Triangle Coalition assists the Department of Energy in the administration of the Einstein Fellowship program. The Triangle Coalition, in coordination with the Office of Science, handles the recruitment of teachers, the application process, the selection process, and the placement and orientation of the Fellows. All students, regardless of their prior mathematical skills, benefit from taking algebra, a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison concludes. That finding, published in the fall issue of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, a journal of the American Educational Research Association, should add weight to the recent push to encourage all students to take the course, one of the researchers said.