Bridging the Learning Gap

The first time I aspired to be the apple of someone’s eye was in Mrs. Frazier’s second-grade class. This status was not so much a mark of affection as an accomplishment and a destination. Every week, Mrs. Frazier recognized the best-performing student by setting him or her up in the Apple of My Eye seat: a fine-looking antique desk—at the front of the room near her desk, of course—that came with its own special pencil and notepad. Eventually, doing well in school became its own reward for me, but Mrs. Frazier set the pace with her visible, motivating sign of achievement; we all wanted that distinctive spot.

Now, as a businessman, I realize those rewards must have cost Mrs. Frazier, because it is unlikely that our small-town school district in Louisiana could splurge on such extras. Most likely, she paid for the desk and the rewards out of her own pocket, just as so many public school teachers continue to do today. Each year, they spend more than $400 of their own money to buy school supplies and other classroom materials, a total of $1.8 billion across the U.S. (2014 National School Supply and Equipment Association Retail Market Awareness Study).

In 2000, this underfunding of education inspired Charles Best to launch DonorsChoose.org. As a high school history teacher in the Bronx, he saw that shortages in resources and opportunities were limiting his students’ education. His website, the first example of philanthropic crowd sourcing, allows teachers to post requests for classroom supplies, resources, field trips and guest lecturers. Donors can chip in to fund them. By 2015, more than half of all U.S. public schools had at least one teacher who’d posted a request for funding on DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose.org reports that since its inception, these contributions from more than 1 million people provided more than $200 million to classroom projects that helped 10 million students.

The company I work for, Chevron, is the first and largest corporate funder of DonorsChoose.org, so I have been able to learn about the organization from behind the scenes. I’ve been delighted to learn that one of the most requested items lately has been Design & Build Engineering Centers, kits that let kids create bridges, vehicles and houses to gain experience with engineering principles like load bearing, motion, strength and stability.

About 30 percent of the DonorsChoose.org requests are for such science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects, including aquariums in which students learn about fish life cycles, incubators in which they can hatch eggs to chickens, and community gardens in which they sell what they harvest to continue to fund the garden for future students.

Chevron is especially eager to support opportunities for hands-on learning with STEM projects, because STEM expertise helps build a skilled workforce. According to Brookings’ 2013 report, The Hidden STEM Economy, in 2011, 20 percent of all U.S. jobs – approximately 26 million positions – required knowledge in at least one STEM field. And that number is estimated to grow to 37 percent by 2018, almost double the projected growth for all other fields combined. In a knowledge economy, many of the best jobs go to scientists and engineers. For our country and our population to thrive, we need a workforce skilled in STEM.

My own giving is in support of the Louisiana public education system, where I completed K-12 and undergraduate and graduate degrees. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, there is much to celebrate in Louisiana’s revival. The numerous cranes that crisscross the sky in downtown New Orleans demonstrate renewed economic vigor. The Jefferson Parish school system has gone from being among the worst-performing school districts in the nation to serving as a model of reform for the rest of the country. This district has been rebuilt school by school and led by one of the state’s long-time educators and advocates, Dr. James Meza Jr. But there is still great need, especially in funding the experiential learning that classrooms need.

During the month of October, Chevron supports local classroom projects posted on DonorsChoose.org through its Fuel Your School program. When consumers buy eight or more gallons of fuel in select U.S. communities, $1 is contributed, up to each community’s cap. In 2015 alone, this amounted to more than $8.8 million for K-12 public schools in 21 communities. This program benefited more than 1 million public school students.

Too often, teachers like Mrs. Frazier provide not only day-to-day instruction, motivation and love of learning, but the classroom materials themselves. As nonprofit leaders, businesspeople, government officials, philanthropists, community leaders and average citizens, we constitute an influential crowd that can make the love of learning everyone’s top priority. I would encourage you to start by going to www.DonorsChoose.org and funding a project that speaks to you.

 Brent Tippen is a global public and government affairs advisor and spokesman for Chevron Corp. He also manages Chevron’s Fuel Your School program, which operated in 21 U.S. markets in 2015. Brent was born and raised in West Monroe, Louisiana, and now resides in San Francisco.