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BHEF is an organization of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college and university presidents, and foundation leaders working to advance innovative solutions to our nation's education challenges in order to enhance U.S. competitiveness.

January 2007 Membership Meeting

La Jolla, California
January 11-12, 2007

Meeting Overview

Building on BHEF’s leadership in strengthening America’s competitiveness, this meeting focused on what business and higher education can do to boost K-12 student achievement and attract more American students to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines and careers.

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Keynote Address

The opening address by Dr. Irwin Jacobs, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of QUALCOMM, demonstrated the positive impact that corporate philanthropy can have on education. QUALCOMM’s impressive educational philanthropy includes roughly $60 million in contributions to more than 770 schools and educational organizations, including as one of the founding donors of High Tech High. Begun as a single charter high school in 2000, High Tech High has evolved into a school development organization with a growing portfolio of innovative charter schools spanning grades K-12 throughout the United States.

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The Role of Businesses and Universities in K-12 Turnarounds: Lessons from the Past Decade

This session featured educational leaders who have been instrumental in implementing school district-wide improvement efforts and in supporting efforts to improve student achievement and college readiness at the program level. Panelists Robert Schwartz, currently Academic Dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and former Executive Director of the Boston Compact; Tom Payzant, former superintendent of the Boston Public Schools and currently a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Jim Shelton, a Program Director for Education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, discussed strategic corporate and higher education investments in K-12 education.

Several themes emerged from these presentations:

  1. Businesses and universities have the greatest impact on student achievement and college readiness when they partner with school districts, rather than individual schools, and align their philanthropy with district-wide improvement plans. This partnering enables them to maximize their political influence, assist in leadership and capacity development within districts, and to sponsor initiatives that complement
    district efforts.
  2. Businesses and universities can help create visible, real-world opportunities for students that will enable them to envision the benefits of persisting and excelling in school. They can help students recognize in tangible ways the value of a K-12 education and support a structure where work and learning are compatible, not competing, goals.
  3. Strategic investments to improve college readiness must focus on all aspects of college readiness, including: student/parental expectations, academic preparation, information, affordability, and access.

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Ensuring College Readiness for All: What Businesses and Universities Can Do

Panelists in this session focused on the important roles businesses and universities can play in improving college readiness for all students. Panelists Sandy Kress, Partner with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld; Michael Cohen, President of Achieve, Inc.; Herbert Fischer, Superintendent of the San Bernardino County Schools; and Lea Ybarra, Executive Director of the Center for Talented Youth, addressed key challenges and successful strategies for ensuring that all students graduate from high school prepared for college.

Among the key themes of these presentations were:

  1. Business and university leaders should focus on ensuring that high school standards and curricula are aligned with the demands of college and the workplace. Particularly, institutions of higher education must reach consensus on the definition of college readiness, and work to articulate this definition to K-12 education leaders at the local level.
  2. Business and university leaders are well-positioned to become active in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. The next six to eight months are critical to this effort, as the reauthorization may be deferred for several years if not accomplished this year. Business and higher education leaders should advocate for legislative initiatives that will impact teacher preparation, college access, and the P-16 pipeline.
  3. Business and university leaders should partner with state and local officials, as well as K-12 education leaders, to develop P-16 councils and other collaborative opportunities to address the challenges facing K-12 education at the state and local levels.

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Growing the STEM Pipeline: Successful Strategies for Increasing Enrollment and Persistence in the STEM Majors

BHEF’s Securing America’s Leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) initiative advocates doubling the number of U.S. graduates in STEM disciplines by 2015. This session focused on the postsecondary STEM pipeline, including strategies to ensure that more students earn degrees in STEM disciplines and successfully transition to careers in STEM occupations. The panelists were Gary Bloom, former Vice Chairman and President, Symantec Corporation; George Boggs of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and Shirley Malcom of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Several themes emerged:

  1. Business and higher education leaders need to help dispel misperceptions about the viability and desirability of STEM occupations in order to increase student interest in STEM majors and careers.
  2. A systemic approach is needed to align and coordinate efforts of all stakeholders, so that students can better understand the “value proposition” of STEM majors and careers.
  3. Business and four-year institutions need to actively partner with community colleges to strengthen the large pipeline of STEM professionals who begin their postsecondary education at two-year institutions. Priority should be given to increasing access to
    financial aid and streamlining the transfer process among two- and four-year institutions.
  4. There are many and complex reasons why students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, do not persist in STEM disciplines through graduation. To address these, institutions should work to improve the quality of introductory STEM undergraduate courses and instruction, and sponsoring bridge programs. The business community can help by working with universities to help shape curricula and by providing real-world learning opportunities through co-op programs, internships and fellowships.

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BHEF 2007 Action Agendas

Against this backdrop, members engaged in a wide-ranging discussion of what BHEF’s agenda should be in the areas of K-12 student achievement/college readiness and STEM. The outcome of those deliberations is reflected in the following action agendas:

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