Promoting the Value of Science Education in the Global Economy

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Company/Organization: GlaxoSmithKline
CEO/Board Chair: Dr Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO
Level of Involvement: National & State
State: North Carolina & Pennsylvania
Type of Initiative: Advocacy, Expertise & Leadership
Target Education Priority: More Innovation Workers in the Pipeline

“As a company, we want to be able to hire the best and the brightest. We have a lot of talented people, but we’re going to need more. It takes 14 years to get a pharmaceutical drug on the market, which is the amount of time it takes a child to get through high school. But right now, we’re in a crisis with the K-12 education system. We’re living through our own Sputnik moment, a call to arms to improve science and math.” Bill Shore, the Director of Community Relations, GlaxoSmithKline

Overview
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is a global company that understands the value of a strong math and science education for all students. As a research-based pharmaceutical company, GSK employs over 100,000 individuals worldwide, with U.S. base of operations in the Research Triangle area, NC, and Philadelphia, PA. In an industry driven by human capital and reliant on an innovative and highly skilled workforce, GSK has been committed over the past 20 years to leveraging its resources and expertise to promote the value of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and to engage students in the STEM fields as early as possible.

Strategies for Success
GSK’s approach to education involvement is based on the belief that strategic funding, volunteerism and partnership-building are paramount to achieving maximum impact. Because it believes that funding programs blindly is an inefficient strategy, GSK has established a corporate-wide Contributions Committee, composed of top-level executives, which is responsible for evaluating and approving any major funding requests. GSK also works closely with local, state, and national education organizations and policymakers, including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), Just for the Kids, the Durham Public Education Network and the Philadelphia Education Fund. As Bill Shore, the Director of Community Relations puts it, “Our goal in everything we do is to create a movement within a partnership environment to move the U.S. up from 21st in math and science. It’s all about leadership and bringing various organizations to the table to make a difference.”

One of GSK’s notable long-standing local programs is Science in the Summer. This 20-year Pennsylvania-based program provides students with the opportunity to participate in hands-on science experiments that resonate with their daily lives. The goal is to stimulate student interest in science at an early age. GSK has partnered with over 140 local libraries, offering elementary school students free science education materials and building relationships between students and their public libraries.

GSK has left its mark on education reform at the local, state and national levels. Nationally, GSK and Bill Shore played a leading role in the creation of the Business Education Network (BEN), a coalition of businesses, U.S. Chamber of Commerce affiliates, educators and education-focused nonprofits housed within the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce.

GlaxoSmithKline’s Education Initiative lends professional expertise and incorporates leadership and advocacy strategies recommended by Business Toolkit for Better Schools in a variety of ways, including:

Use the bully pulpit to make the case that the global economy demands higher expectations, a renewed commitment to math and science investments and data-driven decision making
Invest corporate resources, including charitable giving programs, dedicated staff positions and employee time, to public education
Lend corporate influence and prestige to key organizations and activities
Serve on local and statewide school boards, committees, strategy groups and task forces
Partner with school districts to upgrade educator professional development, in, for example, mathematics and science
Help school districts choose or improve operational, financial and information systems
Keep the public conversation focused on the vision for the public education system

Indicators of Success
At the state level, GSK’s partnership with the NBPTS, aiming to increase the number of National Board Certified science teachers in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the Research Triangle area, has already yielded $300,000 in scholarships to teachers in the two states to help them get their certifications. In addition, GSK recently awarded a $1 million endowment to the NBPTS for science and math teachers on a national level to become Board Certified.

The Science in the Summer program draws an average of 6,000 students between 2nd and 6th grade from communities throughout Pennsylvania each year; over 80,000 children have participated to date. Between 1987 and 1992, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conducted a survey on Science in the Summer and found that among the surveyed students, there was a 19 percent increase in those that were “very interested” in science after participating. Additionally, 65 percent of students indicated that the program helped prepare them for elementary school science work and 38 percent said it also helped with high school science work.

Next Steps
GSK’s commitment to growing STEM opportunities in Pennsylvania and North Carolina is evidenced by the company’s funding, community involvement and hands-on participation in the planning and execution of local programs. The company will continue with its national leadership role through the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW), which provides a forum to strengthen relationships between the business and education communities.

Related Materials

Web sites

Presentations

Bill Shore’s Testimony to U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce

Updated: March 2008