Service Enterprise Systems (SES)

The SES program supports research on strategic decision making, design, planning, and operation of commercial, nonprofit, and institutional service enterprises with the goal of improving their overall effectiveness and cost reduction. The program has a particular focus on healthcare and other similar public service institutions, and emphasizes research topics leading to more effective systems modeling and analysis as a means to improved planning, resource allocation, and policy development.

Deadline(s): September 1 - October 1, Annually January 15 - February 15, Annually

What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)

Research on Gender & STEM

The Research on Gender in Science and Engineering program supports efforts to understand and address gender-based differences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce participation through research, the diffusion of research-based innovations, and extension services in education that will lead to a larger and more diverse domestic science and engineering workforce. Typical projects will contribute to the knowledge base addressing gender-related differences in learning and in the educational experiences that affect student interest, performance, and choice of careers; how pedagogical approaches and teaching styles, curriculum, student services, and institutional culture contribute to causing or closing gender gaps that persist in certain fields.

Expected Number of Awards:	22
Estimated Total Program Funding:	$5,000,000

Deadline: Feb. 9, 2011

Education Innovation grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Honoring a commitment to people who have pledged to see the new documentary Waiting for "Superman," about the crises facing the nation's public schools, the NewSchools Venture Fund has announced a $5 million investment in innovative education organizations nationwide working to close achievement gaps in low-income communities.

Recipients of the funding, part of a commitment by San Francisco-based NewSchools to provide additional support for education reform efforts after 150,000 people pledged to see the recently-released documentary, will be announced in the coming months. Directed by An Inconvenient Truth filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, the documentary features a number of schools operated by organizations in the NewSchools investment portfolio. The pledge goal was reached on October 8.

Founded in 1998, NewSchools provides funding and management guidance to entrepreneurial organizations working to improve public education for low-income children. NewSchools' investments include organizations that recruit and train teachers, start public charter schools, work to turn around failing schools, and create technology tools for the classroom.

"Waiting for 'Superman' shines a bright light on two important truths," said NewSchools Venture Fund CEO Ted Mitchell. "Excellent schools with outstanding teachers make all the difference in a child's life. But in some places in this country, access to an excellent school is a matter of chance. It's not fair, and we all need to step up to change the odds. NewSchools and its entrepreneurs are demonstrating every day that it can be done."

“NewSchools Announces $5 Million Investment in Entrepreneurial Organizations as 150K People Pledge to See Waiting for 'Superman'.” NewSchools Venture Fund Press Release 10/08/10.

Engineering Education Centers

Expected Number of Awards: 40
Estimated Total Program Funding: $8,000,000
The Division of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) seeks to enable a world-leading system of engineering education, equally open and available to all members of society, that dynamically and rapidly adapts to meet the changing needs of society and the nation's economy. Research areas of interest include, but are not limited to:Increasing our understanding of how engineering students learn and the capacity that supports such discovery. Fundamental research is encouraged on how engineering is learned, including engineering epistemologies and identities; and how to evaluate or operationalize aspects of engineering thinking, doing, and knowing. Understanding how to increase the diffusion and impact of engineering education research. Research projects are sought that discover how to improve the process by which engineering education research is translated into practice; how to accomplish organizational and cultural change in institutions of engineering education that leads to improved learning outcomes; or identifying and overcoming barriers to widespread adoption of engineering education research. Research projects that partner with other engineering education stakeholders (e.g. private companies, NGOs, or professional societies) to measure the value and impact of engineering education research on practice are also sought.Understanding engineering education in broader, organizing frameworks such as innovation, globalization, complex engineered systems, or sustainability.

Change the Equation

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The White House has announced the launch of Change the Equation (CTEq), a public-private partnership designed to cultivate widespread literacy in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

An offshoot of the $250 million public-private Educate to Innovate initiative, CTEq has received commitments from more than a hundred companies and several foundations that are dedicated to preparing U.S. students for STEM-related careers as an investment in business, the economy, and the country's future. In collaboration with the Obama administration, state houses nationwide, and the education and foundation communities, CTEq aims to improve STEM teaching at all grade levels with a larger and more racially, ethnically, and gender-diverse pool of highly capable STEM teachers; deepen student appreciation and excitement for STEM programs and careers, especially among women and students of color; and achieve a sustained commitment to the STEM movement through communication, collaboration, and data-based decision making.

In its first year, CTEq will work to establish a set of criteria to help guide the initiative and its member companies in defining program success, create a state-by-state scorecard to assess the condition of STEM education across the country, and launch a core set of programs at a hundred sites across the country. The initiative's board is made up of executives from ExxonMobil, which has committed $120 million to the initiative; Intel, which invests $100 million in education annually; Time Warner Cable; the Eastman Kodak Company; Sally Ride Science; and Xerox. Additional corporate and foundation partners include Texas Instruments, Bayer, JPMorgan Chase, Oracle, Boeing, Samsung, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Bill & Melinda Gates and S.D. Bechtel, Jr. foundations.

According to a Center on Education and the Workforce report, there will be eight million job openings in STEM-related fields by 2018, although the next generation of U.S. workers will be unprepared and unqualified to take advantage of many of those positions. Meanwhile, a CTEq-funded survey found that nearly three-in-ten adults believe they are not good at math, an attitude especially prevalent among younger Americans.

Target donates to reading programs

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Minneapolis-based Target Corporation has announced that it will donate more than $500 million in support of education by 2015, doubling its support for education-related activities and organizations to date.

The commitment is part of a new reading initiative, Target Read With Me, that aims to help more U.S. children become proficient in reading by the end of third grade. Through the initiative, Target will work to encourage parents and caring adults to commit to a reading schedule with a child, provide up to two million books to children in need, and create an innovative reading center that will reach communities across the country using both physical and virtual locations.

According to the most recent data available, one out of four young people in the U.S. fails to graduate from high school, while nearly 40 percent of African-American and Hispanic students do not earn a diploma. By launching the initiative and increasing its focus on helping young children read more proficiently, Target hopes to build greater awareness of the education crisis in America, reinforce the importance of the role reading plays in shaping a child's future, and provide access to the tools and resources needed to help children beat the odds and stay on the path to graduation.

"When more than a million students a year fail to graduate with their class, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said Gen. Colin L. Powell, founding chair of America's Promise Alliance. "Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to educate the leaders and the workforce of the future. No single organization or entity can solve this issue on its own. We have a responsibility to unite across sectors to address this crisis on its own. We have a responsibility to unite across sectors to address this crisis because we cannot afford to let our kids fail."

“Target Announces Plans to Reach $1 Billion in Support of Education.” Target Press Release 9/27/10.

Kresge Foundation Announces New Education Grantmaking Strategy

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Kresge Foundation in Troy, Michigan, has announced a new education grantmaking strategy designed to increase the number of low-income and underserved individuals earning two- or four-year college degrees.

The three-part effort will focus on supporting pathways to and through college, building the capacity of postsecondary institutions, and promoting systems and technology that increase productivity and foster innovation in higher education.

To that end, the Pathways for Students initiative will support national, regional, and state- or consortium-based efforts that assist large numbers of low-income, first-generation African-American, Latino, and Native-American students entering and graduating from community colleges and four-year institutions. Through the Strengthening Institutions initiative, the foundation will work to build the capacity of community colleges and minority-serving and special-mission institutions — historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and Title III and Title V institutions — with a primary mission to educate low-income, underrepresented, and first-generation college students. And through the Higher Education Productivity initiative, the foundation will fund networks and systems that operate at the cutting edge of academic and/or administrative productivity, employing new and proven uses of technology for educating students and creating back-office cost savings and efficiencies.

“Kresge Foundation Announces New Grantmaking Strategy to Increase the Number of College Graduates in the U.S..” Kresge Foundation Press Release 9/17/10.