KDK-Harman Foundation

The KDK-Harman Foundation works to break the cycle of poverty through education in Central Texas. We believe that in the United States, the key to opportunity is education—that education is the great equalizer. We also believe that graduates are made, not born. KDK-Harman Foundation’s long-term desired impact is to close achievement gaps for low-income students in Central Texas, preparing them with 21^st Century skills and access to quality careers, and therefore, breaking the cycle of poverty for them and future generations. We seek to do this by improving student achievement beginning in the primary grades and particularly in math and science, raising graduation rates, and ensuring students are prepared for post-secondary success.
   

The KDK-Harman Foundation believes that if we want Central Texas students to excel academically, explore careers, and develop the 21^st century skills necessary to thrive in today’s global society, we need to start thinking and talking about education differently by re-imagining how, when, and where young people learn. We seek to integrate in-and-out-of-school learning by supporting efforts to re-imagine and expand learning time during the traditional school day and year as well as during the summer months in order to meet students where they are.
 

The Foundation believes that we must give students hands-on experiences in their schools and communities, access to technology, and exposure to a broader range of possibilities in order to re-design student learning.[i] This is a vision for learning that builds on a foundation of core academics by leveraging community resources to incorporate strategies such as hands-on learning, working in teams, and problem-solving. Before, afterschool and summer programs are a few of the places in and out of the classrooms that are already using these learning approaches to engage students and increase their chances for success.
 

As a result, in 2011 the Foundation honed its grantmaking strategy to focus on the following three grantmaking areas:

• Projects that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and integrating technology into teaching and learning;
• Improving the quality of and access to out-of-school time programs;
• Enabling and supporting systems-level change and collaboration to support an excellent education for all Central Texas students.
   

Increasing Focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)

The achievement levels of American students lag behind those of students in the most competitive economies, and the longer American students are in school, the less competitive they become in math and science. Mathematics and science are critically important areas for college and workforce preparation as it fuels a new economy for Central Texas and beyond. A recent National Research Council report emphasized science and math education as a priority area for bolstering U.S. competitiveness. In Central Texas specifically, the economy is not only more diverse than ever before, but is largely driven by occupations that require and build upon a highly educated workforce, with computer and mathematical and architecture and engineering making up the largest concentration of local employment. Moreover, Information Technology ranked highest in high-wage, high-growth jobs projected for 2009-2019 in the region.[ii]

As we project the skills and education needs required for competitive jobs in a global, technologically advanced economy, we find that advances in job requirements are outpacing changes in student outcomes. School reformers and business groups now place greater emphasis on STEM skills, and new public-private partnerships to integrate technology into classrooms are emerging. While Central Texas students are performing generally well in reading/ELA, they are having more difficulty in mathematics and science in general, and dramatically in certain grades, primarily middle school grades. Also, when examining achievement among different groups of students, Hispanic and black students had lower passing rates on TAKS in all grades, with only 65% of black students passing the exit level (11^th grade) mathematics test, compared to 95% of Asian and 91% of white students. The report also found that science achievement gaps by ethnicity are larger than in any other subject. In mathematics, low income students, along with their non-low income peers had lower passing rates at each successive grade level. The greatest disparity was found in eighth grade science, in which only 58% of low-income students passed compared to 88% of non-low income students.[iii]

Knowledge in core subjects, such as mathematics, language arts, and science, is critical for post-secondary success. Research dictates that middle school math, particularly as it relates to Algebra I, is a gateway subject. Mastering algebra highly correlates to success in higher math and to college and job readiness. Failure to master algebra highly correlates to poor results in higher math and less likelihood of progression to higher education. E3 Alliance did a longitudinal study looking at this issue, and Central Texas’ experience is no different. The percentage of students who passed TAKS Math declined as they were promoted annually to a higher grade (from 5^th grade to 9^th grade), from 88% of the 2002-2003 cohort of 5^th graders passing the TAK S Math to 72% passing in grade 9 (2006-2007). School districts across the region continue to be concerned about student performance in middle school math and science.[iv]

Not just in learning, but teaching as well has experienced large gaps in the STEM fields, both nationally and in the Central Texas region. Secondary mathematics, secondary science, bilingual education and ESL remain the areas hardest to hire in. Over 85% of secondary science teachers in our poorest schools are inexperienced, while the rate of inexperienced teachers in the most affluent schools is far below this rate.[v]

At the same time that math and science achievement demonstrates the need for gains, Texas now requires that high school students complete four years of math and four years of science to include Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, and a course beyond Algebra II. In addition to the changes in the course requirements, the rigor of the standardized assessments for high school is increasing, including end-of-course examinations for 12 high school courses. According to high-school transcripts, less than half of high-school graduates nationwide are prepared for college-level math and science.[vi]

Differences among demographic groups are of considerable concern given the shifts toward larger Hispanic populations and larger low-income student populations in large school districts. As these students come to make up larger proportions of school district enrollments, persistently low performance among these groups will create numerous challenges for school districts, institutions of higher education, and employers.
 

A strategic opportunity for KDK-Harman to engage more intensely in STEM activities, and that integrates with the aforementioned recommended initiatives of technology and extended learning time, the Foundation seeks to target innovative teaching and learning in STEM, and its evaluation, for educating low-income students as well as preparing providers (i.e. teachers, schools, and nonprofit organizations) on the rigor and successful and sustainable implementation of these programs.
 

Learning Powered By Technology

The new “science of learning” research that draws from many disciplines has changed our understanding of how children learn. Donors are supporting new instruction methods that differ radically from the traditional model of a teacher standing in front of a classroom. Interactive games, open-source textbooks, and online coursework engage students and allow them to learn at their own pace. In agreement with remarks shared by U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan, “Our nation’s schools have yet to unleash technology’s full potential to transform learning,” KDK-Harman believes technology can not only transform teaching and learning, adding to the importance of personalized instruction and in keeping with our nation’s students staying at pace with the 21^st century, but that technology can open up new avenues for accessibility, mobility, and extended learning time.
 

KDK-Harman Foundation recognizes that technology is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and work, and we must leverage it to provide engaging and powerful learning experiences and content. The challenge is to leverage the learning sciences and modern technology to create engaging, relevant, and personalized learning experiences for all learners that mirror students’ daily lives and the reality of their futures. In contract to the traditional classroom instruction, this requires that we put students at the center and empower them to take control of their own learning. Almost one-half of youth who drop out of school do so because they find school unchallenged or less important to them than other options. Many dropouts who return to school through alternative programs say that one reason they are willing to persist in school the second time around is that the program is relevant to them, offering hands-on learning. Much of this re-imagining of how students learn and teachers teach comes in the form of technology.[vii]

Just as leveraging technology can help us improve learning, it also can help us shift to a model of connected teaching. In a connected teaching model, classroom educators are fully connected to learning data and tools for using the data. They are also connected to their students in support of learning both in and out of school. The same connections give them access to resources and expertise that improve their own practices and guide them in becoming facilitators and collaborators in their students’ increasingly self-directed learning. In 2011, KDK-Harman Foundation seeks to find and support innovative best practices in the use of technology in teaching and learning.
 

Optimizing Extended Learning Time:  Building the Field

Out-of-School-Time (OST) programs are in the spotlight more than ever before due to calls for non-school services to address achievement gaps, interest in promoting “21^st century skills” such as critical thinking and technological fluency, and the upcoming reauthorization process for the No Child Left Behind Act, which includes many decisions regarding 21^st Century funding, the primary federal grant that supports OST programs across the nation. Recent research studies have contributed to the growing evidence base about the benefits of OST programs for youth. Broadening our thinking about student learning to include strategies that focus on where children are and what they are doing outside of the classroom, research has shown that high-quality OST programs are associated with improvements in children’s attendance, homework completion, academic achievement, school behavior, and socio-emotional outcomes, and this can be especially true for at-risk youth. It is also true that those who participate more frequently and for longer periods of time are most likely to benefit from OST opportunities. Some research suggests that what students do during the OST hours has as much bearing on their academic success as what they do during the school day. [viii]

The Foundation is particularly interested in summer learning time, since research indicates that, on average, students lose skills over the summer, particularly in mathematics; and that summer learning loss disproportionately affects low-income students. Most disturbing is that it appears that summer learning loss is cumulative and that, over time, these periods of differential learning rates between low-income and higher-income students contribute substantially to the achievement gap in reading.[ix]

Research from an eight state study known as the Promising Afterschool Programs study suggests that disadvantaged elementary and middle school students who regularly attend high quality afterschool for at least two years are academically further ahead of peers who spend more out-of-school time in unsupervised activities. The researchers found, over the course of the three-year project, that the more engaged students were in supervised afterschool activities, the better they did on a range of academic, social, and behavioral outcomes.[x]

According to much of the research, OST can make a difference for students in four ways: (1) improve student learning by addressing the needs of the whole child; (2) Promote family engagement with students and schools by providing families with access to services and opportunities to participate as leaders and learners; (3) Help schools function more efficiently by working together to support learning; and (4) Add vitality to communities through engagement with the schools and resources that works both ways.
 

While out-of-school programs frequently refer to extra-curricular activities, or activities unrelated to in-school learning, more and more out-of-school programs are tied directly to in-school learning and on-going curriculum. There is also a growing movement to extend the learning day, and most of this will happen either through OST programming exclusively or longer school hours where the afternoon curriculum closely mirrors effective OST programs.
 

Finally, OST settings often provide a proving ground for highly innovative ideas, from game-based learning to virtual schools. This is particularly true for STEM OST programming. In fact, afterschool and summer learning programs play a major role in engaging children and youth in STEM topics and careers. This environment by nature offers the kind of project-based and hands-on learning time and venue that sparks their interest and passions – a logical platform to engage them in STEM education. The principles of experimentation and exploration inherent in the scientific process are also found in afterschool and summer programs, where children and youth confront problems, develop solutions and work collaboratively.
 

Unfortunately, the OST systems that provide such programs can suffer from fragmentation and lack of coordination, sometimes resulting in poor access and quality, especially for those most in need of these services. In our five years of grantmaking in this arena, we have found these limitations coincide at the local and state level of OST programming in Texas. In recent years, close study of the afterschool field has begun to define what is needed for a young person to have a quality experience during the OST program hours. Research and evaluation investments over the past several years has moved researchers and practitioners beyond the question of whether OST programs matter for youth to questions about why, how and for whom these programs matter and matter most.  Stakeholders of all backgrounds now acknowledge that youth need access to not just any program, but to well-designed, high-quality programs.
 

KDK-Harman Foundation seeks to focus on the identification of what makes a quality academic OST program that is proven to reduce achievement gaps. At the same time, we also hope to fortify this field’s infrastructure and collaboration of extended learning time networks at the regional and state level. Specifically, KDK-Harman can be catalytic in building capacity in the field by facilitating and strengthening the development of partnerships, networks and models that exemplify what works for engaging and retaining students in OST programs. We can also work to support continuous program evaluation of progress and effectiveness in OST programs, an area that is lacking in the OST space to a large degree. Guidelines for establishing quality and measurement tools to assess program effectiveness do exist, such as the quality standards developed in 1998 by the National Afterschool Association, but many OST programs in Central Texas are not familiar with these standards or do not fully utilize them. There also needs to be more attention given to other characteristics of high-quality programs, such as positive staff-youth relationships, opportunities for skill-building and mastery, opportunities for youth engagement, voice and decision-making, and positive peer relationships.[xi]

Just as schools cannot do it alone, OST programs are necessary but not solely sufficient to support learning and development. Rather, they are one integral part of families’ lives, of communities, and of education. We feel that OST programs play a critical role in redesigning a new learning system, and offer a promising breeding ground for best practices in re-imagining how, when, and where students learn.
 

Capacity Building, Systems-Level Change and Collaboration

This third grantmaking initiative works to connect individuals and organizations to share ideas and pursue joint action, for example, through convening groups and collaborations to craft joint strategies. The Foundation will continue to make grants to collaborations of nonprofits, schools and districts that use a collective impact approach to make meaningful improvements to education in our region. The KDK-Harman Foundation also seeks to influence education policy (government and policymakers), for example, through advocacy or public will building, through its grantmaking.
 

Beyond direct financial investment, the Foundation reaffirms its commitment to support our investments in the areas of capacity building of our grantee portfolio, including board development, leadership and talent development, evaluation assistance, communications/marketing, and fundraising. This underscores our belief to help our grantee partners sustain their operations over the long term and become enduring “institutions of change”. We continue to look for new and successful ways to provide such support and though it is highly individualized and determined by grantee needs, we look forward to prioritizing the following two areas of capacity building in 2011:

• Collaborative Learning Experiences: Building upon the Foundation’s strength as a convener and facilitator, KDK-Harman will continue its efforts to support peer learning activities. Based on requests from our grantee partners, plans are underway in 2011 to address effective strategies for communications and media relations and active engagement in public policy.
• Evaluation Support: Given the importance KDK-Harman Foundation places on evaluation of its grantee partners and itself, we are working with area universities to compile a list of expert external evaluators to help strengthen and improve the effectiveness of education-focused organizations and delivery of their programs. We are also keenly interested in supporting the evaluation capacity of OST programs in order to ensure these OST programs can deliver the highest quality services possible.
   

Underlying all of these areas of interest are the following overarching beliefs/principles that inform and drive our grantmaking:

• Programs must include student-centric learning that keeps students interested and is relevant to their lives.
• Programs should integrate 21^st century technology into the classroom and after school learning.
• Academic interventions should include “the three R’s”: Rigor, Relevance, Relationships. High achieving schools teach all students a rigorous academic core (rigor), show students the relationship between school studies and future life success (relevance), and provide students with personal support and guidance for successful learning (relationships).
• Programs must be able to track, measure, and demonstrate strong student academic outcomes, as evidenced by a common set of indicators (standardized tests, course completion, grade point averages, graduation rates, etc.)
• Programs should demonstrate the ability to be replicated and brought to scale in order to reach large numbers of students.
• Programs should be culturally appropriate in that their program planning reflects the diverse cultures, languages, and underlying belief systems of students and their families in order to have maximum effectiveness in meeting students where they are.
• Programs should integrate student voices into program planning in order to provide continuous feedback to program staff about what interventions are effective and how they can be improved.
• Programs should encourage giving back to the community through community service opportunities and highly qualified volunteers.
   

Conclusion

Ultimately, as we strive to achieve a more coordinated and integrated grantmaking strategy that incorporates technology in teaching and learning and the optimization of expanded learning time—all with a priority focus on programs that specifically address STEM—we look to connect our work at the local and state levels and elevate the voices and priorities of grantee partners committed to accessible, quality education for all students. In this effort, we hope to serve as a catalyst for transformative change of the education system, its delivery and support to produce economically, self-sufficient life-long learners.