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The Gazette

LOCAL NEWS

Friday, April 6, 2012 3A

OKLAHOMA

AT&T announces expansion of education commitment through aspire

As access to skilled workers becomes increasingly vital to the U.S. economy, AT&T is launching a quarter-billion-dollar campaign to help more students graduate from high school ready for careers and college, and to ensure the country is better prepared to meet global competition, Governor Mary Fallin and AT&T Oklahoma State President Bryan Gonterman announced today. AT&T Aspire, already among the most significant U.S. corporate educational initiatives with more than $100 million invested since 2008, will tackle high school success and college/career readiness for students at-risk of dropping out of high school through a much larger, "socially innovative" approach. Social innovation goes beyond traditional philanthropy which typically involves only charitable giving to also engage people and technology to bring different approaches, new solutions and added resources to challenging social problems. The Aspire effort already has impacted more than one million U.S. high school students, helping them prepare for success in the workplace and college. The greatly expanded effort centers on a new, $ 250 million financial commitment planned over 5 years. AT&T Aspire will build on that commitment by using technology to connect with students in new and more effective ways, such as with interactive gamification, Web-based content and social media. The company will also tap the innovation engine of the AT&T Foundry to look for fresh or atypical approaches to educational obstacles. Finally, AT&T Aspire will capitalize on the power of personal connections in the form of mentoring, internships and other voluntary efforts that involve many of AT&T's approximately 260,000 employees. Between now and April 18, 2012, AT&T is also encouraging Oklahoma organizations to submit applications to pre-qualify for funding through the Local High School Impact Initiative Requests for Proposals (RFPs). AT&T is most interested in funding local programs that have strong, evidence-based practices grounded in the What Works Clearinghouse Dropout Prevention: A Practice Guide and data-driven outcomes demonstrated to improve high school graduation rates. More information on the RFP process is available at www.att.com/ education-news (click on the "Aspire Local Impact RFP" option. "AT&T Aspire works toward an America where every student graduates high school equipped with the knowledge and skills to strengthen the nation's workforce," AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said while announcing the extended commitment during a recent keynote address at the second annual Building a Grad Nation Summit. "Having a highly skilled and educated workforce is one of the keys to our state's long-term economic success. Ensuring students graduate high school prepared to begin college or start a career will go a long way to helping us build the workforce we need to be competitive," Governor Mary Fallin said. "I want to thank AT&T for its commitment

Governor Mary Fallin talks about the expansion of the AT&T Aspire program. Fallin is joined by Secretary of Education Phyllis Hudecki, AT&T Oklahoma State President Bryan Gonterman and Chancellor Glen Johnson.
PHOTO PROVIDED

to Oklahoma students through the AT&T Aspire program. We appreciate AT&T's innovative approach to helping students graduate high school so they can reach their full potential in the workplace." Lacking a high school degree is a serious issue in the United States, where one in four students more than 1 million each year drops out, according to a March 19, 2012, report by Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America's Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education. AT&T is the lead sponsor of this report. Education experts believe that the lack of a high school degree significantly worsens job prospects in a rapidly changing, increasingly sophisticated job market. And, if dropouts find jobs, they earn less. On average, a high school dropout earns 25 percent less during the course of his or her lifetime compared with a high school graduate and 57 percent less than a college graduate with a bachelor's degree. The situation poses a serious risk to American competitiveness as corporations struggle to find talent, especially in the math and sciences fields. The dropout rate, along with inadequate training and education, is keeping many high-paying Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) jobs from being filled. And the situation is expected to worsen as STEM jobs grow a projected 17 percent by 2018. Workers in these positions typically earn 26 percent more than those in non-STEM positions.2 Although the problem is serious, there are signs of progress according to the March 19 report: The high school graduation rate increased by 3.5 percentage points nationally from 2001 to 2009. In 2001, the rate was 72.0 percent; by 2009, it had risen to 75.5 percent. From 2002 to 2009, six states experienced large gains in their graduation rates; 14 states made moderate gains; and four states made modest gains (Note: 2002 was the first year that state data became available.) And the number of "dropout factory" high schools (a high school

where 12th-grade enrollment is 6o percent or less than the 9th-grade enrollment three years previously) dropped from 2,007 to 1,550 from 2002 to 2010 a 23 percent decrease. The new and expanded AT&T commitment builds on the work AT&T Aspire has completed in the last four years. AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have invested more than $100 million in Aspire since 2008 and more than $923 million since 1984 in education. In Oklahoma, Ft. Gibson High School is a previous Aspire grant recipient. The high school partnered with Northeastern State University in Tahlequah to create the Community Outreach Recruitment Effort (CORE), with a goal of increasing ACT testing rates within the Ft. Gibson school system, ultimately leading to an increase in students continuing their education at the collegiate level. The program has resulted in a 5o percent increase in ACT test takers at Ft. Gibson High School, organizers report. "Schools rarely have the funds or support to truly be innovative in preparing students for career and college," said Derald Glover, superintendent for Ft. Gibson Public Schools. "Our partnership with AT&T and NSU has given Fort Gibson students the opportunity to utilize the ACT Compass tests to better analyze their strengths and weaknesses on the ACT exam. Data is showing that it attributed to increased scores and more awareness by parents and students of their higher education opportunities. It is exciting to see how collaboration between public education, higher education, and business can yield true benefits for

kids!" "NSU is extremely proud of our partnership with Ft. Gibson Public Schools in our "CORE" Community Outreach Recruitment Effort and excited to see significant positive information being generated from early analysis," said Jerry Cook, Interim Executive Director of University Relations for NSU. "Through the generosity of the AT&T Foundation, the ACT organization and with support of our NSU administration we have taken a creative and innovative approach to supporting increased high school graduation rates, higher career and college preparation and ultimately higher ACT scores for admission and awarding of student scholarship awards and grants. AT&T Aspire will build on that success by focusing on: Technology Collaborating with innovators, educators and other companies at the AT&T Foundry (www.att. com/foundry) to blaze new ground in developing solutions to improve education. For example, the company will sponsor challenges or contests for mobile application developers to create cutting-edge solutions to complex problems in our educational system. A June "hackathon" in Palo Alto, Calif., is the first scheduled education/ technology development event. Expanding strategic alliances with organizations that specialize in developing and marketing new interactive learning tools which better engage today's students. Incorporating gamification, the Internet, video and social media into educational programs.

Enabling students in underserved communities to explore careers before graduation through internships in areas related to 21st-century skills. Collaborating on a revolutionary nationwide initiative with GameDesk (http://www.gamedesk. org/), pioneers in gamebased and digital learning, aimed at transforming traditional instruction and equalizing education for all students. People Because AT&T employees have asked for more opportunities to engage with students and contribute to their success, AT&T will launch the Aspire Mentoring Academy later this year. The academy will enable employees to help students at risk of dropping out of school succeed in the classroom and in life. Building on the success of AT&T's first Job Shadow initiative (http://www. att.com/gen/corporatecitizenship?pid=11547) with Junior Achievement (http://www.ja.org/), the next evolution for Job Shadow will create a program in which employeestudent teams learn work/life skills, explore real business problems and form lasting relationships. The initial Job Shadow initiative already has involved 100,00o U.S.

students. AT&T employees will provide skills-based mentoring, which pairs them with students based on shared interests to encourage and support career path development. Inspiring more AT&T customers, companies and stakeholders to step up to the challenge of addressing the education crisis. Communities Deepening the financial commitment to local education-focused groups that deliver results. Especially groups that embrace social innovation, focus on 21st-century skills, or focus on STEM disciplines for students in underserved communities. Making local contributions to community organizations that specialize in helping students and improving the quality of education. "It will take all of us working together and supporting the hard work of the education community to continue to improve graduation rates and preparedness for careers and college," AT&T Oklahoma State President Bryan Gonterman said. "American business has an enormous stake in the success of our students. It's time to commit more innovation and resources to the task."

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