Ensuring a Highly-Skilled Workforce for the Future of Texas
Company/Organization: Texas Instruments
CEO/Board Chair: Richard K. Templeton, President and CEO, Texas Instruments
Level of Involvement: District/State/National
State: Texas
Community: Dallas
Type of Initiative: Expertise & Philanthropy
Target Education Priority: Getting More Innovation Workers in the Pipeline
“America is at a crossroads, both in terms of how it responds to the competitive pressures of a worldwide economy and in terms of the focus and priority it gives to ensuring that all students are prepared with the math, science and literacy skills needed to succeed in that economy. Business, government, and academic establishments need to work together, now more than ever, to ensure that we are achieving the right goals and that we are equipping our children with the world-class education they need.” – Torrence Robinson, Director of Public Affairs, Texas Instruments
Overview
Texas Instruments (TI), a global semiconductor company and designer and supplier of digital signal processing and analog technologies, has a long and successful track record of strategic corporate philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy in the area of public education. TI recognizes the need to prepare students for careers that require proficiency and competency in math and science skills to ensure a workforce that can continue to move technological research and development forward in the U.S. Texas Instruments strongly believes that strengthening the education pipeline is not only in the best interest of students, but also of the company and the wider high-tech community.
Strategies to Success
In 1999, TI partnered with the Institute for Engineering Education at Southern Methodist University, the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation to create the Infinity Project, a program that integrates advanced technology and engineering skills into classroom instruction. The year-long program endeavors to make learning meaningful and relevant to students by connecting everyday products, such as MP3 players and cell phones, with technology solutions in an attempt to expose students to engineering principles and to spark early interest in careers in the math and science fields. Educators are provided with 40 hours of professional development designed to demonstrate ways of integrating technology tools into the curriculum.
Another notable program TI is piloting now with the Dallas Independent School District is the Algebra Initiative. This program seeks to improve students’ ability to complete Algebra by 9th grade in the high school by targeting students in the high school with the lowest scores in the district on the state math assessment. TI quickly realized that for the Initiative to help 9th-graders, it needed to include the two elementary and one middle schools that feed into the low performing high school. Teachers from the four participating schools come together for vertical team training to bring their math instruction and strategies into alignment and strengthen the math pipeline from elementary school up to high school. The Initiative also includes teacher incentives that reward both quality instruction and increases in the quantity of students completing Algebra, and provides student-level supports. TI has hired Group Excellence, a private company, to provide college-age mentors and tutors who can act as both teachers and role models to struggling students.
Texas Instruments provides business expertise and aligns its philanthropy with education needs in several ways recommended by Business Toolkit for Better Schools, including,
- Define the skills and knowledge graduates need to get and keep well-paying, family-supporting jobs
- Develop a clear and specific “theory of change” that sets priorities for corporate giving efforts in education and align all grants and sponsorships with this theory of change
- Advise on subject-matter issues, such as academic standards, curriculum and assessments, especially in mathematics and science
- Partner with school districts to upgrade educator professional development, in, for example, mathematics and science
- Focus on results, not inputs: Help educators and nonprofit groups achieve improved student learning outcomes, rather than just execute nice programs
- Focus on groups of low-performing schools, entire school districts and state-level organizations as the unit of change, rather than individual schools
- Define what will be accomplished and how new resources will help
Indicators of Success
In striving to be efficient and leverage limited resources, TI has focused its efforts on measuring the results of programs, and in turn, working to replicate the effort in order to maximize the return on investment. Project Infinity is now utilized by over 230 high schools in 33 states and the District of Columbia, and although no longitudinal studies have yet to be completed, short-term survey results reveal that more than 60 percent of Infinity graduates plan to pursue engineering in college, 95 percent learned new math concepts, and nearly 100 percent would “recommend the course to friend.”
The Algebra Initiative is still only a pilot program focusing on one cohort of students. However, two years into the program, the rate of improvement on state math tests in nearly all of the participating schools has surpassed the rate of improvement for the district. Beyond quantitative indicators of success, the development of relationships between math teachers in elementary, middle and high schools is undoubtedly a positive step towards aligned instruction and cross-school collaboration to the ultimate benefit of students in this education pipeline.
Next Steps
It has always been a goal of Texas Instruments and its Project Infinity partners in Texas for its curriculum to satisfy one of the state’s high school graduation requirements, which would recognize both the value of promoting scientific literacy and provide a strong incentive for students to enroll in such a course. TI worked with the Texas Education Agency and Texas State Board of Education to gain approval for this course because its advocates believe that the curriculum will help the state reach its college readiness goals. In 2006, the Texas State Board of Education voted to include the engineering course as an option for the state’s science requirements.
States with Participating Schools in Project Infinity
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Wisconsin.
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Updated: March 2007
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