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Agilent has invested millions of dollars and volunteer
hours in U.S. science and math education reform. Our investments have targeted
reform at the national, state and community level and we believe have made
a significant difference, particularly at the elementary grade levels. Agilent
has supported the development of exemplary Hands-On-Science curriculum material
and assisted premier national organizations in working with school districts
across the country to reform elementary science education.
Our communities engaged directly in the reform effort
by leveraging our elementary Hands-on-Science grant support into much larger
programs, growing the number of children impacted by reform. Our grants also
seeded additional funding. Agilent-supported communities have successfully
competed for multi-million dollar NSF systemic reform grants. Other
communities launched initiatives with our support that were chosen as statewide
models for reform.
A few years ago, Agilent communities began to direct reform
efforts to the middle and high school grades with mixed results and voiced
a common concern. The instructional quality available to many U.S. school
districts is not sufficient for the more advanced science and math concepts.
School districts are having increasing difficulty finding content-trained
teachers who are skilled in conveying the more advanced technical subjects.
Technology companies are facing difficulties in hiring sufficient technically
skilled employees to keep pace with growth. These same dynamics, exacerbated
by low pay and other teaching-specific issues, are negatively impacting the
critical supply of science and math teachers. This supply is essential for
the development of tomorrow's scientists and engineers.
Agilent Technologies' U.S. K-12 Education Goal
Agilent is committed to improving U.S. K-12 science and
math instructional quality. We believe that middle and high-school science
and math classrooms should have content and pedagogy trained teachers and
that each elementary school teacher should have the skills needed to successfully
teach science and math. We support policy and programs at the national,
state and local level promoting:
- High standards that define learning goals for student achievement.
- Rigorous assessments that measure progress vs. standards.
- Strict accountability for students and schools.
- High standards for teacher skills and achievement.
- Effective programs to increase teacher availability.
- Increased presence of underrepresented groups in the teaching profession.
U.S. Education Corporate Contributions Goals
Agilent and the Agilent Technologies Foundation work together
to strengthen instructional quality in the U.S. Our grant programs support
policy and programs at the national, state and local level that primarily
address the need for high-quality middle and high school science and math
instruction. Our specific goals include:
- Promoting and addressing the need for high quality instruction.
- Improving teachers' ability to teach above minimum standards. Funded programs include the development of solid standards to gauge academic performance, research into factors that cause instructional gaps, program development to improve instructional performance and the implementation of new programs in school districts. Our interest is in successfully developing a culture
of improvement in the teaching profession, based on successful use of available academic data.
- Seeking to increase the number of qualified teachers available to teach science and math and the willingness of teachers to stay in the profession. We are especially interested in solutions that increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the teaching of math and science.
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