Study Highlights Leaders in Corporate Education Initiatives

New white paper explores how companies can develop a strategic plan that goes beyond the checkbook.

By Danielle Lee

Referencing Bill Gates’ designation of American high schools as “obsolete” during the 2005 National Education Summit on the first page of their new white paper “Best in Class: How Top Corporations Can Help Transform Public Education,” the FSG Social Impact Advisors begin their analysis of the U.S. education system with statistics of an equally dire outlook. The study, prepared for Ernst & Young, offers ways for corporations to help change these numbers by getting involved in public education reform. It also includes case studies of companies that have already begun education initiatives.

Among the statistics listed is the United States’ ranking of 24 out of 29 in math scores among developed countries and a 30 percent rate of students that do not finish high school.

Discussing the study in Ernst & Young’s May 2 thought center webcast “How Top Corporations Can Help Transform Public Education,” General Electric Foundation President Bob Corcoran quoted another famous line when he referenced the movie Network’s “I’m mad as hell” idiom being an appropriate response to these statistics. “There is a broken supply chain of knowledge workers,” Corcoran said.

IBM’s Vice President of Global Community Initiatives Robin Willner, also featured on the webcast along with FSG Managing Director John Kania and moderator and Ernst & Young’s Global Vice Chair of Strategy and Regulatory Affairs Beth Brooke, echoed the need for action, stressing a collaborative effort with individual corporations playing to their strengths. One example is IBM’s Transition to Teaching Program, which utilizes workforce expertise and offers incentives to employees to pursue a second career as teachers.

IBM and GE have implemented other programs to help address the national education problem, with IBM’s Reinventing Education and GE’s district-level reforms cited as “ahead of the curve” in the study. Also mentioned in this forward-thinking group are State Farm’s advocacy work, BellSouth’s virtual learning initiative and Intel’s Teach for the Future.

In the area of curriculum, despite the study quoting ExxonMobil’s Truman Bell as stating, “‘I have never seen so many brick walls around curriculum,’” a few companies have managed to make a dent. ExxonMobil brings its scientists into the classroom with their Science Ambassadors Program, Texas Instruments gives money to students and the teachers that help them take and pass Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and Citigroup partners with Junior Achievement to provide education about finance.

The study stresses six components of designing and implementing corporate education initiatives. These include:

• Starting at the top
• Leading with your strengths
• Scaling appropriately
• Adapting and not prescribing
• Being in it for the long haul
• Measuring and managing

For corporations that aren’t as large as Intel or GE, the webcast panelists suggested getting involved at a local level, within neighborhood districts. By the same token, they urged large companies to exercise their political muscle to bring about policy change, a situation in which they said such companies have the most opportunity, but are doing the least.

“At the end of the day, kids and teachers want to do better,” FSG’s John Kania said. “We’re asking them to raise their expectations, but we need to raise the expectations of the corporate world to turn this around.”

You can read the full white paper and view the webcast online here.