The GE Foundation College Bound District Program's $25 million Grant Working To Improve Jefferson County Students' Science And Math Skills and College Readiness

"The world becomes more competitive, every day. The need to strengthen education has never been more urgent, especially for disadvantaged and under-represented youth. The College Bound District Program is designed to help fill that need-using research to identify challenges, empower teachers, enrich curricula and elevate solutions."

GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt

If you have children in the Jefferson County Public System (JCPS) grades K through 8, you may have noticed they have a keener interest in science this year, and perhaps you've even seen a marked improvement in their grades.

If so, you can thank in large part GE for the $25 million grant presented to the school system in 2005, when it launched its College Bound District Program. The program, created by the GE Foundation, is a comprehensive initiative designed to strengthen the college-readiness skills of elementary and middle school students by improving their math and science skills. "We want to help increase the number of JCPS graduates enrolling in college," says Lindsey Miller, Program Manager for GE's College Bound District Program. "Of course, we understand not everyone will go to college, but our goal is to provide everyone with a strong foundation, so they have the choice."

New science curriculum funded
Last year, JCPS used part of the grant money to fund a common science curriculum in all K through 8 schools. "The science modules are inquiry-based learning," says Lindsey. "They are based on hands-on and minds-on participation, and they make science fun." The science modules were already being used in 57 Jefferson County Public Schools, and the District asked GE to fund the balance of the schools (approximately another 63 schools). Lindsey says it's too soon to know the impact on the CAT (Commonwealth Accountability Testing System) scores, the standards-based test given to all Kentucky school children, "but we're confident the science scores will show an improvement over time."

Math next
A large portion of the remaining $25 million grant will be used to improve math proficiency. The goal of the school district is to offer world-class standards in math, similar to the math that is taught in countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore and the Netherlands. "These countries are far ahead of the U.S. in math," says Lindsey. "One of the reasons is because we are teaching a large number of math concepts each year, and thus all are taught at a minimal depth. The current curriculum is said to be a mile wide and an inch deep. As a result, at the beginning of each year, the teachers spend a lot of time reviewing and re-teaching what was taught during previous school years."

In countries high in math proficiency, they teach Math to Mastery, by introducing fewer concepts each year and they go deep into each concept. This is called a stair-step approach as opposed to what the U.S. uses that is referred to as a spiral approach.

Lindsey says the new math curriculum will be rolled out thoughtfully. "We need to engage the teachers in the process. Teachers are evaluating different textbooks and deciding which one best meets our needs in elementary schools and middle schools and is aligned to the World-Class Standards. And, good Professional Development (teacher training) is key. Good textbooks are an integral part, but what is really important in attaining high student achievement is the Professional Development. Teachers have to have excellent content knowledge to teach to mastery and good instructional strategies, as well to keep everyone engaged. They need to ensure that math students are able to explain their answers thoroughly, make justifications and understand the connections. JCPS and the Teachers' Association have been working diligently to that end."

Components of College Bound Program
In addition to the curriculum and Professional Development components of the grant, the College Bound District program has several other components to strengthen school districts. They include:

• Constituency Engagement. Forming a common vision through facilitating collaboration among education leaders and administrators, teachers' organizations, parents, GE leaders, students, community leaders and organizations. In other words, getting everyone in the community on board.
• Management Capacity. Developing system-wide capacity to improve functional and financial efficiency and effectiveness within district central offices. For example, we are sharing our Six Sigma methodology and CAP tools with the District, as well as lots of other Best Practice sharing.
• GE Engagement. Leveraging the professional capacity and skills of GE executives and GE volunteers to support the district improvement and student success, and
• Evaluation. Tracking key metrics of change to support implementation of the initiative and document success.

College Bound grants to other cities
Besides the $25 million awarded to Louisville in 2005, a $15 million grant has been awarded to Stamford, Connecticut public schools, a $15 million grant to Erie, Pennsylvania public schools, and a $20 million grant to the Cincinnati, Ohio public schools. The Foundation has also awarded a $550,000 grant to the Atlanta, Georgia public schools to assist them in developing a plan for implementing the College Bound District Program. During the next five years, the Foundation expects to invest a total of $100 million in five to seven school districts.

"These grants are awarded to GE headquarter cities, for good reason," says Lindsey. "We have a number of employees living and working in these cities. We want these cities to be economically viable and have a strong skilled workforce. The GE College Bound District Program is an investment in the future of GE, in our communities and in our nation. Our students need to graduate with good math and science skills able to compete in the global marketplace."