Addressing Educational Inequities through Corporate Philanthropy

Case Study: Addressing Educational Inequities through Corporate Philanthropy

Problem:

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, low-income schools struggled to provide adequate electronic devices and career exploration resources for their students. With the onset of the pandemic, low-income students, primarily Black and Hispanic, are once again disproportionately affected. These students lack the funds to purchase the electronic devices needed at home to complete online assignments and attend lectures. It is crucial to address this need because an educational gap already exists within lower-income communities due to pre-existing economic and racial issues. 

Method:

We chose 3M as our corporate philanthropist because of their unique expertise, resources, and charitable background. Students need to have electronic devices at home to access their online lectures and assignments. 3M possesses the resources to develop a branded tablet that is easy to set up and designed to support distance learning. The tablet will also contain a pre-programmed 3M app. The purpose of the 3M app is to expose low-income students to the STEM field while allowing 3M employees to give back by interacting with students through the app. Alongside the tablet and the app, students will be provided with a supplemental learning opportunity to help mend the existing educational gap. We propose that 3M partner with IXL, an educational learning site. Through IXL, students will be able to remediate the gaps in their understanding.

Results:

Implementation of IXL in low-income schools have shown an average 7.5% increase in standardized test scores and saw a significant increase in student performance on their coursework. Exposure to STEM career paths early on has also been shown to significantly impact students pursuing a STEM career in the future. 

Conclusion:

The results suggest that increasing student access to supplemental education resources and increasing their exposure to the STEM field at an early age can positively affect a student's academic performance and career path. Based on these findings, 3M and companies alike have the resources and reach to help diminish the educational gap within underserved and underrepresented communities and aid in diversifying the STEM field.