$15M Grant from GE Foundation Helps Erie Schools Make the Grade in STEM

In 2007, the Erie School District received a big grant ($15 million) from a big corporation (GE).

Also big were the goals behind the GE Foundation Developing Futures (TM) in Education Grant, which now enters the fourth of its five-year timeline.

"Our goal is to form a partnership with the Erie School District to identify and to help the District overcome challenges and to create and implement a seamless K-12 math and science curricula that meets the demands of a changing economy," says Ashley Biletnikoff, GE Foundation Community Relations Manager.

Erie, along with six other school districts across the country, received the grant based on the community’s GE presence (GE Transportation is headquartered there) and because one inner city high school succeeded in increasing its graduation rate 135.8 percent after implementing a smaller grant in 2000.

The Developing Futures (TM) in Education Grant is now setting the bar even higher for many more schools. It not only provides the District’s 1,089 K-12 teachers new teaching tools, but also by helping them and District administrators become more effective educators and leaders.

"Better education will help the US labor force remain competitive in a global economy," says Biletnikoff. "Locally, GE Transportation has spent more than 100 years building a successful business here because of the talent pipeline that comes out of the education system. In order to maintain our competitive edge, we need the local school system to educate students who excel in math and science. Our commitment to corporate citizenship is about economic development for both the community at large and our business."

At the cornerstone of the new tools provided by the grant money are the self-contained science modules that contain lesson plans and hands-on tools to help students better grasp what they’re learning. For instance, fourth-grade animals studies modules include an African frog, a millipede and a fiddler crab. It may sound like pure fun, but it is serious step forward for the District’s K-5 science program. And that’s because the modules make science classes for those grades, which were once taught at the discretion of individual teachers, a mandatory 40-minute class three times per week.

This new curriculum also presents a ripe opportunity to introduce new ways of teaching, which is why the GE Foundation ensures each teacher undergoes special training prior to receiving a module.

"We are moving teachers away from a textbook-driven curriculum to a more balanced approach," says Biletnikoff. This method, known as inquiry-based learning, encourages students to ask questions, engage in problem solving and use critical thinking. It also asks them to make connections between what they learn in the classroom and what happens in real life.

Take math, for example: with the GE Foundation grant, Erie School District teachers are being trained in Everyday Mathematics, a curriculum that encourages students to work with concrete mathematical examples, communicate verbally and in writing, and to play math games at home.

Dr. Tammy Baumann, Coordinator of Mathematics for the Erie School District, has lavished praise on what she refers to this "student-centered learning."

"It’s changed the way students learn and revolutionized the way teachers think about education," she says.

With professional development for teachers being central to the success of the grant, the GE Foundation assembled a team of 10 coaches to work with teachers in their classrooms. These coaches, culled from the most accomplished educators and administrators within the District, provide content training, share best practices and even co-teach with teachers.  

In addition to coaches, the GE Foundation also put teachers in contact with respected education experts and sponsors workshops at places like the Kennedy Space Center.

"It’s been phenomenal," says Dr. Baumann, who regularly works with a leadership consultant. "We meet some of the biggest names in education and have the opportunity to work with so many outside consultants."

Teachers are eager to take advantage of these opportunities (during the 2009-2010 school year, they participated in 21,000 hours of professional development) in large part because the effort has been a true collaboration between the GE Foundation and the District. From the get-go, over 200 school district employees served on committees that had a say in decision-making processes. “It is absolutely critical to our shared success to involved stakeholders from across the entire district,” says Biletnikoff.

GE Transportation employees also got behind the effort by volunteering for the company’s For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) program that pairs volunteer mentors with K-12 students. Last year, 125 GE Transportation employees volunteered their time while executives devoted over 200 hours of pro bono support.

GE employees gave the District another boost when they tackled the District’s IT system. There have been many notable achievements over the past three years: teachers save 75 minutes each week courtesy of an online attendance program, the District website has been completely revamped and each District school has wireless Internet access. Another initiative that will soon launch is a Parent Portal that will allow families to access their children’s grades, check assignments and review District reports.

Test results show that the grant is making a marked difference in a school district in which 75 percent of its 12,510 students receive free or reduced-price lunches. Sixth- to eighth-grade students who completed the new mathematics curriculum scored an average of 14 percent higher on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests while fourth-grade students who use the Electric Circuits module scored an average of 25 percent higher on post-assessment tests.

When asked if the GE Foundation will stay involved with the Erie School District after the grant expires in two years, Biletnikoff, who says the District is "a joy to work with," responds in the affirmative: “GE Transportation has enjoyed a long history with the Erie School District, and looks forward to continuing our partnership.”

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Amanda Prischak is an Erie-based freelance writer and part-time cheesemonger. She encourages everyone to visit the Gem City, so long as lake-effect snow's not doing its thing. Send feedback here.

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Photos:

Ashley Biletnikoff, GE Foundation Community Relations Program Manager, with stacks of science and math kits that were purchased as part of a $15 million grant to the School District of Erie to improve students' learning in those subjects.

Contents of one of the science kits made available to Erie elementary school children.

Biletnikoff in an Erie classroom.

All photographs by Rob Engelhardt