Incorporate Data and Best Practices in Corporate Philanthropy

While corporate America has been instrumental in advocating for higher standards and greater investments in education to ensure all kids meet those standards and also in providing technical expertise, sometimes companies are accused of “leaving their business hat” at the school door when they partner with schools. While their corporate culture is shaped by results, business leaders who are giving time, resources and money sometimes fail to define or ask for the results they seek when partnering with education leaders.

In the past, schools weren’t able to provide results in term of academic achievement and many business partners didn’t ask the schools to provide such results. Therefore, corporate philanthropy’s success, when it was evaluated, was judged most often by input measures such as participation and anecdotal information.

Now, with the development of rich longitudinal data systems, technology that allows stakeholders to access data on a timely basis, and an education sector that is hungry for best practices worthy of replication as well as data to identify challenges, there is an opportunity for companies to apply a “business approach” to their philanthropy in the schools. In fact, business owes it to schools to ask for results of their investments. Anything less than that “cheapens the gift.”

The Broad Prize for Urban Education provides a strong example of how corporate donors can both use data to inform philanthropy and encourage districts to use quality data to raise achievement. An annual $1 million award created to honor urban school districts making the greatest overall improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps across income and ethnic groups, the Broad Prize was developed in collaboration with National Center for Educational Accountability, the managing organization of Just for the Kids and the Data Quality Campaign.

Competing districts are evaluated based on both extensive quantitative data – including performance and improvement results on state mandated tests and the NAEP; reductions in the achievement gap; graduation rates; and participation in and scores on Advanced Placement and college admissions tests – and qualitative data – including curriculum and academic goals; monitoring, analysis and use of data; and recognition, interventions and adjustments. An overarching theme for Broad finalists is that they each have incorporated data analysis into their improvement strategies.

State Examples: California & Texas

In 2001 Applied Materials commissioned a study on the achievement status of each public school within the Silicon Valley region of California, which further highlighted the achievement gap between high-need and more prosperous communities. Based on this data-driven analysis, Applied Materials re-focused its previously very diverse corporate philanthropy on a key goal and a handful of priorities. The clearly-defined corporate goal of the Applied Materials Education Initiative is to increase the number of students, particularly minority and underserved students in the San Jose region, who graduate from high school eligible – and prepared – for college admission.

Revamping its process and style of grant-making from reactive and responsive to proactive, data-driven and results-oriented, Applied Materials now funds those education improvement initiatives with the most potential to affect students’ lives positively. The Applied Materials Education Initiative funds dozens of programs that attack problems at critical leverage points along the education pathway, from pre-K to high school and beyond.  By focusing on a core mission – investing deliberately and with enough resources to have impact; building sustained and meaningful relationships with schools, educators and local school districts; and continually measuring the outcomes of its investments – Applied Materials has developed a road map for strategic involvement that other businesses interested in improving education outcomes in their own communities can follow. (click here for more on Applied Materials Education Initiative)

Additionally, some companies are more likely to fund or participate in a program if it has already been tested and proven effective. ExxonMobil, for example, has pledged $125 million to the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), a non-profit entity created to raise funds for the improvement of math and science education in the U.S. The first goal of NMSI is to scale-up and replicate two proven programs in ten new sites: training and incentive programs for Advanced Placement and pre-Advanced Placement courses and UTeach.

The training and incentive programs include extensive training of teachers, identification and cultivation of lead teachers, additional time on task for students and financial incentives based on academic results.  UTeach is a program that encourages college math and science majors to enter the teaching profession by offering an integrated degree plan, financial assistance, and early teaching experiences for undergraduates. Both programs have demonstrated considerable success, the training and incentive programs in more than 60 Texas schools and UTeach at its founding site at the U of Texas at Austin. NMSI will use its initial funding to award grants in up to 10 states and up to 10 colleges and universities for the replication of UTeach in fall 2007.