Industry and Educators Team Up

Citing a need to replenish and train their own work force, United States companies are joining academia, government, and communities in the effort to reform science education, as indicated by several recent initiatives. Industry officials and others maintain that their participation can infuse a business perspective, as well as a "sense of urgency" and focus that is lacking in the national dialogue on this issue. Bassam Shakhashiri, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who was assistant director for science and engineering education at the National Science Foundation from 1984 to 1990, contends that industry involvement in this effort is more than a welcome contribution; it is a necessity. "The business community must be involved intimately in the science education reform arena because they have expertise that academic communities can benefit from," he asserts. Shakhashiri says that this expertise ranges from "technical know-how" in science areas to management tools, such as strategic planning, that can be applied to the U.S. educational system. He warns, however, that for any undertaking to be effective, U.S. educators have to be receptive to change and that change must be coordinated among all stakeholders, "not just the participation of the private sector." One such effort in this movement took place last September in a conference entitled "Corporate America's Impact on Elementary Science Education." Hosted by Merck & Co. Inc. at its Whitehouse Station, N.J., facility, the meeting was sponsored by the National Science Resources Center (NSRC), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and the Smithsonian Institution in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. of New York; Dow Chemical Co., headquartered in Midland, Mich.; Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif.; and Pittsburgh-based Miles Inc. Participants in the conference included about 80 delegates--educators, development officers, top-level executives, and researchers--from industry, government, and academia. Biotech, pharmaceutical, chemical, publishing, manufacturing, and computer and electronics firms were all represented. Attendees discussed ways in which corporations are contributing to science education reform and how their current and future efforts could be more effective. In a luncheon address at the meeting, NAS president Bruce Alberts summed up the role he feels corporate representatives should take. "We need advocates in every local region for science. The basic message I have for you is that we need all of you to be involved and to spread the word and to take the scientists and engineers throughout this country who really want to contribute [to science-education reform] and enable them to be effective volunteers." In other high-profile collaborations, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Education, and the 28 largest U.S. aerospace contractors signed the NASA-Industry Education Initiative this month. The agreement created a partnership to work on improving such areas as students' academic performance in science and mathematics and strengthening the teacher work force. And in mid-December, the National Research Council (NRC) is cosponsoring a two-day symposium to explore ways that corporations can contribute to reform efforts. Whereas the focus of the Merck meeting was on elementary science education, the upcoming NRC-sponsored conference will concentrate on K-12 science as well as mathematics education, although some overlap is expected, say NSRC officials. Conferences like these are, in part, outgrowths of the GOALS 2000 Educate America Act signed last March by President Bill Clinton, which authorized $400 million in grant funds to state and local educational agencies to develop and implement reforms. Experts say that the National Science Education Standards--a project started in 1991 to formulate a set of curriculum, teaching, and assessment guidelines (R. Kaufman, The Scientist, July 6, 1992, page 3)--also account for the heightened corporate participation in science education. For example, these specifically articulated goals mirror the mission statements and goals of the education programs of the five collaborating corporations at the Merck conference. Many U.S. firms have been involved in science education in an "ad hoc way," according to one corporate official, for several years, but lately their involvement has been stepped up and formalized. For example, many companies are devoting millions of dollars to create educational institutes and positions within corporations; sponsor programs within schools at the local and regional level; and spearhead national education initiatives through NSRC and other groups. No statistics are available that itemize corporate contributions to K-12 science education. However, according to the Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit business research organization, out of 371 companies surveyed in 1992, the proportion of corporate contributions to precollege education out of total corporate charitable giving was 4.3 percent. "Money is no longer the only thing. It's really the expertise that we can add to the partnership," says Carlo Parravano, director of the Merck Institute for Science Education, based in Rahway, N.J., "We want to go beyond giving away a check." The corporate representatives interviewed for this story concur, noting that their firms' nonmonetary contributions fall into three main categories: facilitating volunteerism for employees, donating equipment to schools, and promoting advocacy activities. "Advocacy, in my opinion, is the most important" of Dow's contributions, asserts Robert Henson, manager of education affairs at Dow. For example, voicing opinions on education reform at school board meetings and writing editorials are ways in which Dow employees take on an advocacy role, he says. According to Sally Goetz Shuler, deputy director for external relations, development, and outreach at NSRC, the new initiatives address systemic reform--the suite of changes in educational methods that reformers espouse--involving all "stakeholders," including children, teachers, administrators, educators at universities, parents, community leaders, and scientists and engineers. Shuler, who spent 15 years as a classroom science teacher and a science specialist for the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, says that overhauling curriculum, establishing professional development programs, creating educational materials and equipment, conducting performance evaluations, and devising ways to involve community leaders all fall under suggested reform measures. NSRC's official involvement with corporations began about four years ago with Dow and Hewlett-Packard, she says. The Merck meeting was spawned by a less formal gathering sponsored by Hewlett-Packard in 1992. "Both of these meetings had similar goals: These corporations wanted to share what they were learning about reform with other corporations in order to get more communities involved and to engage more corporations in the whole process," she reports. Participants in the Merck meeting say, for the most part, that it did accomplish its goal of increasing awareness, but that the meeting should be viewed only as a beginning. Dow's Henson adds that organizers "needed to close the deal. Part of the meeting could have been [dedicated] to gaining some commitment in the form of coalitions and alliances." In the two months since the conference, however, Shuler notes that about 10 corporations have contacted her for more information on ways to participate. "I'd like to see us have at least 10 or 15 corporations involved at the same level [as the five sponsoring corporations at the conference] in the next five years," she says. "Right now these five corporations are working with 97 communities, representing about 700,000 children in 18 states and two Canadian provinces." Corporate representatives cite "big-picture" reasons to explain why they are devoting more and more resources to educational reform. They say that developing an informed and diverse work force for the future is a wise business investment in people and communities. "It's a work-force issue," maintains Sande Deitch, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Miles Inc. Foundation. "Getting involved will help develop [a company's] own qualified pool of talented people." Merck's Parravano agrees, adding: "Another payoff is having a work force that is well trained" in the skills that firms anticipate will be needed in the future. Corporate executives list some general examples of these desired abilities: problem-solving, assessing data, working in teams, having subject-matter expertise, and possessing knowledge of and a high comfort level with technology. Parravano and others also view their involvement as "an investment" in the communities in which they are located. "Having a strong school system spills over into the entire community," he contends. Corporate officials emphasize that another long-term payoff for society is improved science literacy. "I think in today's global economy, whether you're tossing hamburgers on a grill or whether you're running a process-control system within a plant, more and more jobs are going to require some deeper level of knowledge of technology," contends Henson. Industry representatives assert that businesses can contribute to education reform in a way that is different from the involvement of others. "One of the things that really impresses me about working in a corporation such as Merck is [industry's] ability to focus on a problem," says Parravano, who, before coming to Merck in 1993, was a professor of chemistry and chairman of the division of natural sciences at the State University of New York, Purchase. "I spent 20 years in academia and I rarely if ever saw that [ability to focus]. Business is good at sitting back and asking: 'What did we learn from this? How does this improve our next step?' I think that that's a perspective that corporations can bring to the educational environment." Dow's Henson also notes that corporations can contribute "a sense of urgency" to promoting changes in science education. "If you talk to educators, they don't [seem to] have a sense of urgency. They take your ideas, and say: 'Well, we do need to do that, but it's going to take further research.'" And Miles' Deitch says that, as far as students are concerned, corporate America can bring a "business point of view" to discussions on reform. "[We can show] these kids what they are going to have to know when they get out of school. I think it's very important because kids have to have some idea about why they're learning something." Corporate and NSRC brochures and representatives circulating at the meeting offered numerous examples of how researchers can contribute to science education in their communities. Some scientists conduct tours of the plants where they work, participate in student science and math clubs, and serve on school district curriculum-review committees. Others mentor students, give classroom presentations, and build demonstration equipment for teachers. Still others serve on school boards and judge science fairs. "The most important thing is to mentor teachers," Parravano stresses. "If a teacher has a question on a specific topic or is having trouble with some material, they have somebody [with subject-matter expertise] that they can call." He adds that this arrangement is especially important for teachers who have less experience with hands-on science. And at Hewlett-Packard, Bess Stephens, manager of K-12 education relations, says that at the local level, company technical staff and researchers are assigned to school districts in communities where the firm has plants. "That scientist is the primary conduit" between Hewlett-Packard and the students, she explains. But how do scientists make time in their busy research schedules to help out in schools? Most firms have an informal arrangement with employees who volunteer, while some others have a more formalized mechanism to facilitate volunteering. According to Stephens, Hewlett-Packard has a policy that allows scientists to use company time to volunteer in schools. "It's not at all uncommon for some of these individuals to [also] contribute some of their personal time," she adds. One of the first things Stephens did when she assumed the newly established post at Hewlett-Packard was to "create an environment that encouraged people to volunteer." The standard is roughly four hours per month, distributed in many possible combinations. She maintains that it is important for any company that wants to engage in educational reform to set up formal policies because it sends a strong message to employees that management is serious about their efforts to become involved.

Industry and Educators Team Up

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Karen Kreeger

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November 1994

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