Creating College Going Pathways in San Jose, California
Company/Organization: Applied Materials
CEO/Board Chair: James C. Morgan, Chairman of the Board of Directors; Michael R. Splinter, President and CEO, Applied Materials
State: California
Level of Involvement: Regional
City/Community: San Jose Region
Type of Initiative: Philanthropy
Target Education Priority: Prepare All High School Graduates for College and Careers
“When you look at sustainability of the community, (education) is a big issue. In each situation we look at how does education provide greater opportunity? … The end game strategy is to give kids a college opportunity.” – Michael O’Farrell, V.P. of Global Community Affairs at Applied Materials, Inc.
Applied Materials, a global leader in semiconductor technology solutions for the electronics industry, has turned its method of charitable giving on its head. Applied Materials has a long history of partnering with and supporting a wide range of education improvement programs, but after becoming aware that certain student populations in the Silicon Valley, notably low-income students, were simply not achieving at high levels, Applied Materials became dedicated to making a more significant impact. In 2001 Applied Materials commissioned a study on the achievement status of each public school within the region, which further highlighted the achievement gap between high-need and more prosperous communities. Based on this study, Applied Materials re-focused its corporate philanthropy on a key goal and a handful of priorities. The clearly-defined corporate goal with the Applied Materials Education Initiative: Increase the number of students, particularly minority and underserved students in the San Jose region, who graduate from high school eligible – and prepared – for college admission.
Applied Materials’ new mission dovetailed with local education improvement efforts. In 1998, the San Jose Board of Education had voted to raise the district’s graduation requirements, mandating that all students complete California’s A-G college-prep curriculum, a set of course requirements aligned with the entrance requirements of the University of California system. San Jose is a diverse district, with a large proportion of minority and low-income students that has traditionally struggled to graduate students. Despite the overwhelming commitment of educators, parents, and students throughout San Jose to the new graduation requirements, there was still a major role left for the business community to play in providing the support necessary to graduate students ready for college.
Revamping its process and style of grantmaking from reactive and responsive to proactive, data-driven and results-oriented, Applied Materials now funds those education improvement initiatives with the most potential to affect students’ lives positively. The Applied Materials Education Initiative funds dozens of programs that attack problems at critical leverage points along the education pathway, from pre-K to high school and beyond. From the onset, Applied Materials has collaborated with the professional education community, understanding how vital its insight and community roots would be to the success of the Education Initiative. The company even hired a local educator as a consultant to the Initiative.
By focusing on a core mission – investing deliberately and with enough resources to have impact; building sustained and meaningful relationships with schools, educators and local school districts; and measuring the outcomes of its investments – Applied Materials has developed a road map for strategic involvement that other businesses interested in improving education outcomes in their own communities can follow.
The Applied Materials Education Initiative incorporates several philanthropic and advocacy strategies recommended by Business Toolkit for Better Schools in its Education Initiative, including:
- Organize, support and partner with education, civic and political allies
- 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
- Focus on results: help educators and nonprofit groups define what will be accomplished, how new resources will help and what student learning outcomes are expected
- Examine achievement and outcomes data when determining whether to fund a student, school, district or nonprofit education partner
- Fund evaluations in order to fine-tune corporate giving programs and to measure the company’s success in achieving the goals and metrics in the theory of change
- Diversify the philanthropic portfolio
- Be persistent and stick with education grant making for the long haul, as the most important problems in education are often the most intractable
From the perspective of the San Jose Unified School District, Applied Materials has been an invaluable partner. Recognizing that successfully holding all students to a higher set of expectations would require additional resources, Applied Materials offered its support for San Jose’s improvement plans. One of the first programs Applied Materials brought to the district was the Breakthrough Collaborative, a national summer “bridge” program that prepares at-risk middle school students for high school expectations. Now operating on two sites in the district, Applied Materials’ commitment to sustained philanthropy has made them the district’s strongest business partner. According to Linda Murray, the former superintendent of the San Jose Unified District when these reforms were enacted, Applied Materials leaders “just get it.”
More generally, the Applied Materials Education Initiative provides a wide range of philanthropic efforts. The company has supported three charter schools since their inception (including Downtown College Prep, a charter school focused on first generation Latino college enrollees), expanded access to pre-K throughout the region and helped create professional development schools to build the cadre of teachers that can successfully teach disadvantaged students.
In the past few years, there has been a 67 percent increase in the number of children accommodated by early education programs, and 100 percent of students enrolled in the three charter schools are enrolled in the college-prep curriculum. Since adopting the A-G requirements, the district’s graduation rate has increased to 74 percent. And the percentage of Latino students graduating from high school “college-ready” has tripled, from 17 percent in 1998 to 45 percent in 2004. The company conducts an annual public progress report of the Initiative to monitor its results and ensure that it continues to make strategic investments that have lasting impacts.
Applied Materials will continue to engage deeply and strategically, supporting multiple educational programs and organizations to achieve the long-term goal of ensuring all students are prepared to succeed in the knowledge-based economy. Looking beyond the San Jose region, the company also has expanded its philanthropic efforts in Austin, Texas, another community in which it is located. Like its San Jose strategy, the Austin team has focused on high-need schools and high-need student populations to have the greatest impact.
- “Smart Funding: Applied Materials Executive Driving Force Behind Donations to K-12 Education.” San Jose Mercury News. July 30, 2005.
Updated: March 2007
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