For 2012, IBM advanced from No. 3 to No. 2 on Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s “100 Best Corporate Citizens” list – a ranking compiled from the Russell 1,000 Index. IBM is the only company that has achieved a Top 5 ranking in each of the last four years. Companies were evaluated based on publicly available information in seven categories: environment, climate change, employee relations, human rights, governance, finance, and philanthropy.
CR Magazine's 100 Best Corporate Citizens Award Winners Ring the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange
Whether you call it Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Citizenship or Socially Responsible Investing, IBM is proud to be recognized for our values-based approach to philanthropy. We back up our use of the phrase “from spare change to real change” with meaningful and effective contributions of our talent and technology to solving critical societal issues around the world.
IBMers are involved in countless ways in helping others overcome challenges related to job creation, education, environmental sustainability, health care, disaster response, and improving the quality of life in our cities. Our Corporate Service Corps – modeled on the Peace Corps – deploys our global top talent to work with local leaders in growth markets. Corporate Service Corps engagements provide a “triple benefit” to communities, participants and IBM. Growth market communities benefit from IBM expertise, participants develop valuable contacts and leadership skills, and IBM welcomes a new generation of global leaders who understand the dynamic of developing economies and serve as ambassadors for the IBM brand.
In the United States, IBM is collaborating with school systems and community colleges to create a new model for American education – one that connects learning directly to jobs.
In New York, our innovative grades nine through 14 Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) incorporates a targeted curriculum, workplace learning, and mentor guidance into a holistic approach to preparing students for industry and continuing education. P-TECH’s inaugural class – inspired by great teaching and the promise of a productive future – is surpassing every notion of what young people from disadvantaged backgrounds can achieve.
Eighty-nine percent of P-TECH students met standards for promotion after only 100 days. Ninety-six percent have attendance rates of 96 percent or higher. Sixty-six percent of students who entered P-TECH with below-average reading ability have improved their scores by at least one grade level – and some have improved by three grade levels or more. P-TECH’s phenomenal success has inspired the City of Chicago to use IBM’s P-TECH Playbook to help develop and open five similar schools this fall, while New York plans to open three more schools based on the P-TECH model.
The tendency may be to think that IBM’s corporate philanthropy programs are helping to improve lives both “locally and globally.” But at IBM, “global” is local. Through each of our programs, we share our values, technology and expertise with the global community of leaders, thinkers and citizens who strive to make our world a better, safer, healthier, more productive, more sustainable, and smarter place.
Stanley S. Litow is IBM’s Vice President for Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs and President of the IBM International Foundation.
Posted by
Julie Arthofer in
In observation of National Engineers Week, IBM mentors reunited with their protégés from New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) for a day of learning and fun. Below, IBM mentor Julie Arthofer writes about her continuing relationship with her P-TECH protégé, and the school’s recent E-Week celebration activities.
It is often hard to filter through hundreds of emails a day, and there is always a fear that one will be missed or accidently deleted. Luckily this was not the case when I received an email about becoming a mentor at New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH). Mentoring is something I have been involved in since high school, and I had been looking for another mentoring opportunity since. I responded instantly and was thrilled when I was selected as a mentor for P-TECH.
IT'S ROCKET SCIENCE: At Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) in Brooklyn, N.Y., student Taylor Clark Jones (left), IBM consultant Ksenia Gutsol (middle) and student Nicole Murray (right) build a balloon rocket as part of a National Engineer’s Week activity on Friday, March 30, 2012. IBM employees volunteer as P-TECH student mentors at the new school, which offers a grades 9 through 14 curriculum focusing on technology and essential workplace skills such as collaboration and communication.
P-TECH is unique in that it offers students the opportunity to graduate with an Associate degree in technology after just six years of schooling. Today, P-TECH serves as a model for similar schools to come, and I am proud to be working for the company that helped make this school a reality.
The kick-off event for mentors and protégés not only gave us an opportunity to meet the students and get a feel for their learning environment, but also gave us a chance to meet the teachers who would be helping shape their education. We also were fortunate to meet Principal Rashid Ferrod Davis who demonstrated his commitment to his students and to
P-TECH’s mission with a moving speech.
Following the short presentations, the room became a bit chaotic as we split up to find our protégés. Once I paired up with my protégé, Jenyce, we sat down in a classroom and went through a list of “break the ice” questions to get to know each other better. We did not quite make it through the entire list of questions, as we easily got sidetracked by other topics ranging from our most embarrassing moments to debates over which pop star is better.
As the event wrapped up, Jenyce and I had to cut our meeting short, but we were both very excited for the mentoring program to officially start. Jenyce and I now correspond weekly on the IBM MentorPlace website, where activities are posted to stimulate our conversations and usually relate to what the students are learning in school. There is also a discussion board where we can touch base and check in with one another in a more informal way. Recently, P-TECH students were given an assignment to write a biographical sketch about a social innovator, and mentors were asked to provide feedback. It was extremely rewarding to read Jenyce’s initial draft and see how she incorporated the suggestions I had given her, and to see the immense improvements in her writing and her growth as a student.
I have also become involved with P-TECH outside of the weekly MentorPlace activities.
As part of a NYC Community Service committee that holds monthly events, I was able to organize an event at P-TECH – “Engineering Week (E-Week) that P-Tech got involved with this year. E-Week is a program devoted to promoting engineering at schools around the nation, and organizes hands-on activities related to engineering to get the students involved. For P-TECH’s E-Week activity, the students built a rocket ship using a straw, balloons, and one small cup. The goal was for the students to launch the ship up an eight-foot fishing line carrying the highest number of washers. We also had a speaker with an extensive engineering background attend the event to explain the lessons to be learned from the activity.
I was very excited for this opportunity to see the students at P-TECH once again. In this world of technology and constant communication via the Internet, it is always great to put a face with the name every now and then!
Julie Arthofer is an IBM Global Business Services Strategy and Information Consultant.
Related Articles:
P-TECH Celebrates Engineers Week: One Mentor’s Story
Posted by
Eric Estey in
In observation of National Engineers Week, IBM mentors reunited with their protégés from New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) for a day of learning and fun. Below, IBM Global Business Services consultant (and engineer) Eric Estey reflects on his experience as a P-TECH mentor.
If you read this blog on a regular basis, by now you have probably heard about an IBM partnership with the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program in Brooklyn, NY. As a mentor to one of the students in P-TECH’s inaugural class, I was excited to participate in this revolutionary initiative.
I first met my protégé, Edward, at the school during the kickoff event in October 2011. He and I built upon our initial interactions over the following months via MentorPlace, but the distance imposed by conflicting work and school obligations made it impossible for mentors and students to repeat that first successful in-person meeting.
During that time, I learned of the Engineers Week program. One aspect of the E-Week program involves sending volunteers to local schools to educate students on the engineering profession and its impact on the world around us – while of course having a little fun in the process.
Towards the end of 2011, I heard that initial efforts were underway to organize an E-Week event at the school. I teamed up with Julie Arthofer, another IBM mentor and Consulting by Degrees colleague, and with the help of the P-TECH program managers we were able to spearhead the coordination for this event. Given P-TECH’s stated focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), it seemed like a perfect opportunity for IBM’s mentors to volunteer their time towards a noble cause while also interacting further with their protégés. I had graduated college with a degree in Civil Engineering, which only motivated me more to promote this event. I hope to encourage some of these high school students to choose a field of study that I have found fascinating and extremely relevant to life in our modern society.
Today’s event will bring approximately 35 IBM volunteers, 103 students, and P-TECH teachers and staff together to design, build and test “rocket ships” made of balloons. Nineteen student teams will compete to see whose rocket ship design can carry the most weight up to a certain height. I’m looking forward to watching these students use their imagination to turn tape, straws, paper clips and balloons into an unlimited number of creative designs.
Because we made a special effort to pair P-TECH mentors with their protégé’s team, I will have the opportunity to work with Edward again. I hope to get updates on his efforts to learn programming, as well as his latest basketball moves. This event will give us the opportunity to catch up on recent events in each other’s lives, and with any luck our team will win too!
Eric Estey is a Strategy & Change Internal Practice consultant with IBM Global Business Services.
Related Articles:
A Continuing Relationship: One Mentor’s Story
Posted by
Stanley S. Litow in
“Can we extract lessons from the for-profit world and apply them to philanthropy?” That’s the question being asked by Harvard Business School and other institutions that are training tomorrow’s global leaders. At the recent Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) Social Enterprise Symposium, I spoke with University of Maryland M.B.A. students to help them understand the evolution of philanthropy, and their roles in creating sustainable value to help build a smarter planet.
Young leaders need to understand that corporate philanthropy is an integral part of a successful and sustainable business strategy. For an organization to survive, its core values must remain consistent in a world where everything else is guaranteed to change.
So when it comes to philanthropy, the phrase “from spare change to real change” must represent a values-based commitment to social responsibility. In IBM’s case, this means deploying our best technology and talent to address critical societal issues around the world.
Watch this video to learn about how programs such as the Corporate Service Corps,
P-TECH, and World Community Grid are raising the effectiveness of public-private partnerships to new levels. Read what city mayors and volunteer experts are saying
about improving the quality of life in cities – where 70 percent of the world’s population
lives. Find out how nonprofit leaders are using private-sector management skills to deliver social services more efficiently.
In the world’s most forward-thinking academic, civic, and corporate environments, tomorrow’s leaders are learning from Day One to work together to help manage global challenges. Organizations that seek to lead will attract, motivate and retain top talent by giving them opportunities for service. Meanwhile, the world’s leading enterprises will continue to adapt to change while maintaining their core values of innovation, service,
and citizenship.
Stanley S. Litow is IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs
and President of the IBM International Foundation.
Related Resources:
Download “Corporate Social Responsibility: An Integrated Approach” (presentation)
Harvard Business Review: “IBM Corporate Citizenship Efforts ‘Enrich the Ecosystem’”
2010 IBM Corporate Responsibility Report
Many companies value the importance of skills development, education and training.
Yet, few companies have made the type of commitment that IBM has.
Instead of nibbling around the edge, IBM is working to restructure the education system to better align education, work-based learning experiences and career pathways. Through the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) model – a grades nine through 14 school where students earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree – IBM is preparing students to succeed in the global economy.
By joining with Skills for America’s Future – a public-private initiative connecting businesses with community colleges to train students with the skills they need to get and keep good jobs – IBM can provide the blueprint for a replicable and impactful partnership between employers and schools.
At Skills forAmerica’s Future, we know that aligning education with employer-driven training is a surefire way to build a solid workforce pipeline. Public-private partnerships between employers and educational institutions represent a strategy to accomplish this goal. Community colleges are a key partner, since these institutions currently educate 44 percent ofAmerica’s undergraduates.
But there is also the need to bridge the gap between high school, community college and employment. This gap has been a topic of concern in the education world for some time, and continues to be an important focus for improving workforce development.
It’s no wonder that IBM’s P-TECH model has created such buzz around the country.
P-TECH confers not only a high school diploma, but a two-year associate’s degree as well. Upon graduation, students will have the academic skills and workplace experience either to enter the workforce directly or pursue a four-year degree. Most notably, students graduate with specific skills that employers value, and for which they hire. For that reason alone, the grades nine through 14 model that IBM has developed is clearly an idea worth spreading.
After witnessing the success of a P-TECH school in New York, the City of Chicago has announced plans to integrate the grades nine through 14 model into select parts of its education system. With the leadership of IBM and other key business partners, students will be trained for jobs in Chicago’s growth industries – all through one program that connects high school, community college, and employment.
The expansion of IBM’s P-TECH model is not only evidence that this works, but that it’s easy to reproduce in the hands of other willing participants. That’s why this model has the potential to be replicated around the country.
To provide information about the successful elements of the model, IBM has developed a playbook that can pave the way for other companies to coalesce around this model and partner with high schools and community colleges. This playbook can help guide other companies develop strategies to bridge the gap between education and job opportunities, and invest in their communities to create similar substantial connections.
As a national network of employers and community colleges dedicated to reforming skills training and workforce development, Skills forAmerica’s Future is an ideal partner to help IBM share this information with the stakeholders who need it most.
In this economy, it is clear that we need smart, forward-thinking solutions to meet our nation’s skills challenges. IBM’s P-TECH model provides one such a solution. That’s why at Skills for America’s Future we look forward to highlighting what works and sharing the best practices with other committed employers across the country.
Karen Elzey is Director of Skills for America’s Future, a policy initiative at the Aspen Institute.
Related Resources:
Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide
Posted by
Stanley S. Litow in
Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.
– John Dewey
In my latest op-ed in U.S. News & World Report, I write that only since the end of the Second World War has high school attendance been mandatory. Back in 1945, we understood that while college could be important, finishing high school wasn’t optional – it was essential. But in 2012, the stakes and requirements are much higher. To gain access to 21st Century careers, workers must be significantly better educated than in generations past. And to prepare our children to participate in the global economy, our schools must do a better job of connecting education to employment.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has just announced his city’s intention to do just that. Following the Roadmap for Career and Technical Education developed in collaboration with an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge team — and working out of IBM’s playbook, the STEM Pathways to College and Careers School Guide — Chicago plans to open five grades 9 through 14 schools this fall. Each school will be a public-private partnership among the Chicago Public Schools, the City Colleges of Chicago, and a corporate sponsor. Their mission: to connect education to jobs.
Read my full article in U.S. News & World Report. Then follow the links below to read a variety of perspectives on how civic leaders, educators, parents, students and private industry are working together to improve American public education.
Related Resources:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Building the Pipeline to Tomorrow’s Jobs: Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago
Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago: Contributing Expertise to Build Sustainable Value
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook
Download the Grades 9-14 Chicago and IBM School Partnership fact sheet
8:10
IBM Enterprise Content Management Brand Specialist and Chicagoan Donna Mueller
was part of the seven-member Smarter Cities Challenge team that worked with the
City of Chicago’s civic and education leaders to develop a strategic plan to connect public education to employment. Below, Donna shares her thoughts about contributing her expertise to help improve Chicago’s schools.
My time on the Smarter Cities Chicago project was probably the most enriching experience I’ve had during my 32 years with IBM. It was unbelievably gratifying to use my background as an educator and my IBM expertise to learn about and potentially improve a school system in my own backyard.
One of the most interesting aspects to the project was learning about the vast network of organizations and agencies that independently support career and technical learning in the city. From the mind-bending activities offered to kids at the Chicago Public Library’s You Media (my personal favorite); to the much loved After School Matters program; to the passion and drive of the educators at Chicago Career Tech, who help people develop the technical skills they need for new careers; the number and quality of these organizations was hugely positive “new news” me.
The Smarter Cities team was able to interview the leadership at many of these organizations, and quickly recognized the value of the offerings and the reach they provided in support of our mutually-held objective of improving career and technical education. Chicago has a rich ecosystem of career and technical education services – some of it being capitalized on, some not enough. One of our team’s recommendations was for the city to reach across its diverse portfolio of services to help these various entities work together better.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the level of effort the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has dedicated to the wide swath of students formerly pigeonholed into “Vocational Ed.” CPS is now tracking these students into Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs designed to prepare them for 21st Century careers.
The reinvention underway at the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) – which is revamping its information technology (IT) curriculum – also is impressive. However, the Smarter Cities team’s observation was that CCC was revising its curriculum in parallel with efforts by CPS, rather than in collaboration with them. One of our recommendations to the city was that CCC and CPS coordinate resources to develop an integrated and more broadly-based approach to IT skills training. I felt that the CPS leadership was very open to the suggestions of the Smarter Cities team, and that some dramatic changes may be on the horizon.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel clearly has put a lot of thought into strengthening the city’s economy by attracting new employers in search of a highly-skilled workforce. I applaud the Mayor’s efforts to maintain the vibrancy and competitiveness of the wonderful city where I was born and raised. I’m proud to have played a very small part in helping to make that happen, and I’m proud to work for a company that has given me the opportunity to contribute.
Finally, the single greatest part of my experience was working on this real world social problem with an incomparable team of dedicated IBM experts. I learned so much from each member of the team. And for someone with a penchant for lifelong learning, that is the most important takeaway from the experience.
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook.
Download the Grades 9-14 Chicago and IBM School Partnership fact sheet.
Related Resources:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Building the Pipeline to Tomorrow’s Jobs: Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
Posted by
Rashid Ferrod Davis in
When I look back at the first 100 days of P-TECH – the Pathways in Technology Early College High School – it becomes clear that rigor, roadmaps, and role models have been essential to our success. The P-TECH grades nine through 14 model is a forward-thinking example of what can happen when public educators and the private sector work together toward our children’s success. P-TECH also represents new paradigms in American education – a public-private partnership that blazes a pathway from high school through college to careers, a hybrid of high school and college that enables the creation of that pathway, and a repeatable model that any community can follow to connect education to employment. Following our example, Chicago will open five grades nine through 14 schools this fall, and Mayor Bloomberg recently announced plans for three more schools in New York.
P-TECH students – a self-selected group from acrossNew York’s five boroughs – will earn both the high school diploma and an associate degree in technology following a rigorous, six-year program. To accomplish this, our students (and their parents) have had to accept the challenges posed by 90-minute classes and a longer school day. They have had to be ready to tackle Workplace Learning in addition to their core academic curriculum. With help from a dedicated faculty and from the IBM mentors assigned to each pupil, our students have had to rise to the challenge of pushing themselves academically while acquiring the cultural orientation of industry professionals.
P-TECH students come from several cohorts with historically low high school attendance and graduation rates. Sixteen percent of our entering students have Individualized Education Plans, 15 percent are two years older than the average ninth grader, 14 percent are present or former English Language Learners, and 67 percent are non-white males. But as of this writing, they are succeeding brilliantly.
- Of the 35 students whose Lexile Scores were in the bottom third of their class, 23 have increased their scores by at least one grade level. Twelve students have increased their scores by two grade levels, and seven students have increased their scores by three grade levels or more – all after just one term at P-TECH.
- Prior to entering P-TECH, 21 percent of our students had yearly attendance rates of less than 90 percent. But over our first 100 days, 94 percent of our students have maintained an attendance rate of 90 percent or higher.
- Black Males represent P-TECH’s largest subgroup, and throughout America’s high schools, young men of color have the lowest promotion rates and highest drop-out rates. Prior to matriculation at P-TECH, 16 percent of these young men had yearly attendance rates below 90 percent. But after the first 100 days, 96 percent of these students have an attendance rate of 96 percent or higher.
- Finally, after only one term of high school, 89 percent of P-TECH students already meet New York City standards for promotion to 10th grade.
How has this happened? For starters, P-TECH faculty and staff serve as role models for their students. In what I call the “angel adoption program,” each teacher and guidance counselor works with a group of fewer than 10 students to ensure their successful transition to high school. And in addition to learning about industry from their IBM mentors, students have access to college role models from the Black Male Initiative and Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) – two New York City College of Technology groups that work closely with P-TECH.
Our school prepares students for meaningful careers in the growing field of information technology, but similar grades nine through 14 schools will prepare graduates for careers in health care, transportation & logistics, advanced manufacturing, hospitality, and other growth areas. In each instance and in each locale, the school system, the community college system, and industry partners will work together to ensure that students learn marketable skills that lead to sustainable careers. As we can see from the remarkable commitments (and remarkable progress!) made by P-TECH’s students and their families, our communities are hungry for these opportunities and anxious to succeed. It’s only been 100 days, but our future looks bright.
Rashid Ferrod Davis is the founding principal of New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School.
Additional Resources:
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Chicago’s Plans to Open Five Grades 9-14 Schools
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook
Posted by
Kirsten Schroeder in
Through years of consulting on education issues for state departments of education and local school districts, I’ve witnessed the challenges of implementing educational programs designed to connect high school graduates to college and career. Today’s economic environment – coupled with evolving global competition for jobs – has intensified the pressure on cities and states hoping to grow and sustain their economies by developing a sustainable pipeline of qualified workers.
To build a robust pipeline of in-demand workers, educators and city leaders must work together to deliver affordable, quality education. In turn, the presence of a well-trained workforce strengthens local economies by attracting and retaining competitive employers. Chicago’s leaders understand this challenge, and embarked on a bold examination of their own educational systems – the Chicago Public Schools, the City Colleges of Chicago, and other education and training providers. Their goal was to develop a strategy to realign educational resources, develop a more educated workforce, and attract more jobs to the city.
Enabled by an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant, the City of Chicago pursued its core strategic initiative to forge public-private partnerships between employers and educational institutions. Such partnerships would be essential to identifying needed workforce skills, targeting school curricula to address those needs, and connecting the city’s graduates to meaningful careers. Chicago’s leaders were particularly inspired by IBM’s partnership with the New York City Department of Education and The City University of New York to develop a grades nine through 14 schools model to connect education to industry.
This innovative model – implemented last September at the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) – was designed specifically to create a pipeline from high school to college to employment. Working together to ensure the success of P-TECH graduates, the public and private sectors developed a rigorous and relevant STEM-focused curriculum (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) that culminates with the associate degree; reinforced learning with mentor/protégé relationships for all students and faculty; and will make sure that P-TECH graduates are first in line for job consideration at IBM.
Chicago used its Smarter Cities Challenge grant to pursue two goals:
- Develop a strategic plan to integrate career and technical education
- Create a guide – the Roadmap for Career and Technical Education – to opening grades nine through 14 schools
The city is moving ahead with its plan to open five new P-TECH-model schools, each in partnership with a private-sector sponsor.
My six team members and I collaborated with civic and education leaders for three months to develop Chicago’s strategic plan. Starting in October 2011, we conducted a series of interviews to develop an understanding of the existing career and technical education service providers and the needs of the communities they served. We wanted to learn about existing programs, any projected changes, and the challenges that stood between the schools and their goal to deliver quality educational services to students.
To supplement our interviews, we conducted a high-level data analysis of the city’s workforce skills and projected demands. This analysis was critical to determining the industry focus areas of the five new schools – information technology, health care, transportation & logistics, advanced manufacturing, and hospitality. Our analysis confirmed those industries as the most high potential forChicago’s workforce, and mapped the connection between anticipated industry needs and current degree and certificate programs in the city’s education system.
The new playbook that we developed jointly with city and education leaders will serve as the template for deploying the grades nine through 14 schools model. Based on our work, Chicago is now able to develop the five schools to focus specifically on employers’ anticipated needs for a skilled workforce. This model of affordable, quality education will help meet the city’s need for economic growth, and will serve as a blueprint for other cities and communities that need to build a pipeline from education to jobs.
Kirsten Schroeder is a Partner in the K-12 National Practice component of IBM’s Global Services Division. Ms. Schroeder specializes in the development and implementation of business systems as well as business process redesign for public sector clients.
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook.
Download the Grades 9-14 Chicago and IBM School Partnership fact sheet.
Related Resources:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago: Contributing Expertise to Build Sustainable Value
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
Posted by
Rahm Emanuel in
The City of Chicago has just announced its intention to open five grades nine through 14 schools that will confer both the high school diploma and an associate degree in technology – creating a direct connection from high school to college to careers. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel comments below about the important roles these Early College STEM Schools will play in the city’s economic development and jobs strategy.
How will these new grades 9-14 schools play into Chicago’s economic development and jobs strategy?
Mayor Emanuel: Chicago’s new STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Schools (grades 9-14) will represent an important step toward strengthening both our education system and Chicago’s skilled workforce. There are 100,000 jobs in Chicago right now that are going unfilled because companies are not finding workers with the appropriate skills. In order to keep and attract businesses in Chicago, we need to provide top employers with the country’s best-trained workforce. STEM schools will help address this gap in skills between employers and applicants.
What are some of the ways you hope the IBM experience in NYC and the Playbook will help Chicago implement this new grades 9-14 education model?
Mayor Emanuel: We worked closely with IBM to develop the Roadmap for Career and Technical Education, which we’ll use together with the STEM Pathways to College and Careers School Guide – the IBM Playbook. One of the major benefits of the grades 9-14 schools model is that it can be repeated successfully for other industries and in any school district. The IBM Playbook will give Chicago a recipe that we can adapt to our unique needs as we connect our educational offerings to jobs.
How has Chicago coordinated the partnerships across secondary and post-secondary schools and with corporate sponsors to create these new schools?
Mayor Emanuel: Public-private partnerships among educators, city leaders, parents, students and corporate sponsors are essential to creating these schools and making them work. Everybody has to contribute, and no single group can do it alone.
Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago and IBM are working together on one of the first grades 9-14 schools. An IBM Smarter Cities Challenge team reviewed the Chicago labor market and found that the largest area for job growth over the next six years is in information technology. IBM will work with the school system and CCC to develop the curriculum for the IT-focused school, and will provide mentors for the school’s students and teachers. Graduates will then be first in line for jobs at IBM – a model that all of our corporate partners will follow.
Part of the grades 9-14 school model is to have an extended school day which you also just implemented across the school system. How do you see this helping train our students?
Mayor Emanuel: For far too long, our children have been shortchanged. With the full school day, our students will have the time to dedicate to core subjects like reading and math. Studies have shown that preparing students for 21st century jobs requires more time. Students need the additional learning time and personalized attention to master today’s curriculum – especially in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects. A key component of ensuring that students are prepared for college-level work is bolstering their STEM skills so they will not require remediation in these areas. Students requiring remediation in STEM subjects have a very high post-secondary failure rate.
Which industries, in addition to technology, are expected to provide the greatest opportunities to Chicago’s grades 9-14 graduates with STEM careers?
Mayor Emanuel: After an analysis of Chicago’s labor force, the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge team of experts determined that healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing will provide the greatest opportunities to Chicago’s grades 9-14 graduates. We’re looking at IT jobs in these industries, and not just preparing students to work at an IT company like IBM. Our goal with these grades 9-14 schools is to attract and retain a diversity of top-paying jobs to Chicago by providing a well-trained workforce to employers.
The Honorable Rahm Emanuel was elected the 55th mayor of Chicago on February 22nd, 2011 and was sworn in on May 16th, 2011. A native of Chicago with three terms representing his North Side district in Congress, Rahm Emanuel is deeply rooted in the life of the city.
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook.
Download the Grades 9-14 Chicago and IBM School Partnership fact sheet.
Related Resources:
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Building the Pipeline to Tomorrow’s Jobs: Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago
Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago: Contributing Expertise to Build Sustainable Value
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
