Maryland Business Roundtable for Education
2014 Year in Review
A Banner Year for MBRT: Unprecedented Support for Teachers and Students “We must invest our time, energy and resources to support teachers in the classroom and to inspire students to excel in STEM coursework and to pursue STEM careers.” Gloria Flach, President Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems
Nothing is more critical to Maryland’s vibrant future than ensuring that its young people are well educated and prepared to work, lead, innovate, and drive a world class economy in Maryland. Maryland’s business community and employers stepped up in a major way in 2014 to broaden its impact on education and workforce quality by advocating for high academic standards, creating strong partnerships among stakeholders, and providing robust services and resources to teachers and students. Through a federal Race To The Top grant (which ended in September), funding from the State of Maryland, and strong corporate support, Maryland’s STEM Innovation Network – STEMnet platform, people and programs – was fully developed in partnership with MSDE, and implementation is well underway.
“I’ve been waiting my entire career for a resource like this.” High School Teacher Washington County
MBRT was named to receive the 2015 Award of Excellence from the Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber Foundation.
“I am convinced that Dean Ertwine is the right person at the right time to take MBRT to a new level of contribution and accomplishment. His obvious leadership skills and his personal passion for education and ensuring that our students and future workforce are internationally competitive will create a groundswell of support among all stakeholders for the important work MBRT is doing to strengthen STEM teaching and learning.” June Streckfus MBRT Executive Director
Fifty-four Maryland high schools were designated as STEM Innovation Schools, allowing nearly 3,000 teachers and 80,000 students first access to interactions with workplace professionals, STEM instructional resources and challenges, career exploration and workplace exposure opportunities. While this is a great start, there is much work to do in order to reach all of Maryland’s 441,000 secondary students and 328,000 elementary students. 54 STEM Innovation Schools now have access to robust STEMnet programs and resources. 641 teachers at 39 schools in 21 districts have been trained in effective use of STEMnet. 700 volunteers were trained and are delivering classroom instructional support, information, and motivation to students. 100 aligned, relevant lessons created by Master Teachers are available on the STEM Resource Clearinghouse. Teachers now have access to STEM educators and professionals in industry, higher education, and government to obtain/share information and collaborate on projects. Transitions On December 31, 2014, June Streckfus, MBRT’s founding executive director, steps down after 23 years of service to Maryland’s business community, educators and students. During her leadership, MBRT has been recognized nationally as a model for business/education collaboration, created the nation’s most robust statewide STEM Innovation Network, and has impacted the academic and career decisions and actions of more than one million Maryland students. After an extensive search process, in October the MBRT Board of Directors announced the appointment of its next Executive Director, former Brigadier General Dean Ertwine, effective January 1, 2015. Educated at West Point and Lehigh University with degrees in engineering and chemistry, Dr. Ertwine concluded his distinguished military career in 2002. Since then, he served for 12 years as Vice President at Battelle, the world’s largest nonprofit research and development organization.
Maryland Business Roundtable for Education – 5520 Research Park Drive, Suite 150 – Baltimore, MD 21228 – 410-788-0333 www.mbrt.org – www.thestemnet.com
2015-17 MBRT Strategic Plan After a ten-month process of reconnaissance, exploring education and workforce trends, reviewing literature, and discussing MBRT’s past, present and future impact as advocate, convener and service provide, the 2015-17 Strategic Plan is completed. Major areas of focus include: Ensuring effective and efficient implementation of new standards, assessments and accountability measures; and increasing the number of students graduating college-/career-ready. Mobilizing broad business and employer support for educational excellence; and building partnerships to advance aligned goals and produce large-scale outcomes. Expanding STEMnet; providing more students with information and motivation to achieve; and providing more teachers with resources to strengthen STEM teaching and learning.
Investing in Maryland’s Future Maryland’s public-private partnership led by MBRT is a true blended funding model supported by employers, federal and state government, and foundations to support Maryland’s STEM Innovation Network – STEMnet. Northrop Grumman and IBM provided initial funding and technical expertise (valued at $250,000) to build the STEMnet platform. The federal Race To The Top grant ($2 million over 4 years) provided funding to conduct needs assessment, design technology systems, develop and test programs, and launch STEMnet components to a limited audience. In 2013, the Governor included $300,000 in his supplemental budget to accelerate expansion of STEMnet to more schools, teachers and students – doubling STEMnet’s reach. MBRT member companies and federal and state agencies contributed resources, funding, expertise and/or volunteers to support STEMnet and its programs.
Maryland Business Roundtable for Education – 5520 Research Park Drive, Suite 150 – Baltimore, MD 21228 – 410-788-0333 www.mbrt.org – www.thestemnet.com
How You Can Help Volunteer – and encourage your colleagues to volunteer – to make presentations that motivate and inspire 8th/9th grade students through MBRT’s Speakers Bureau. Sign on at www.mbrt.org/speak Volunteer – and encourage your colleagues to volunteer – to co-teach a biology, chemistry, physics or algebra class through MBRT’s STEM Specialists in the Classroom. Sign on at www.thestemnet.com Partner with MBRT to develop STEM Challenges for students.
Email nona@mbrt.org
Join MBRT as a member company/organization
Email brian@mbrt.org
Provide funding to support MBRT and to accelerate expansion of STEMnet resources and services to more schools, teachers and students ($15,000 per school). Email brian@mbrt.org Identify potential funders or include MBRT in joint grant proposals.
Email brian@mbrt.org
MBRT Leadership BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gloria A. Flach, Chair Northrop Grumman Corporation Nicole Funk Booz Allen Hamilton Kevin M. Hall KPMG Stephanie C. Hill Lockheed Martin Freeman A. Hrabowski, III UMBC William E. Kirwan University System of Maryland Sandra Kurtinitis Community College of Baltimore County MEMBERS Adventist HealthCare, Inc. American Trading & Production Corp. Anne Arundel County Economic Development Baltimore Gas & Electric Bank of America Battelle BD Diagnostics Booz Allen Hamilton Calvert Investments Clark Construction Group, LLC Community College of Baltimore Co. Corporate Office Properties Trust DLA Piper Earth Networks, Inc. Eastern Savings Bank Frostburg State University IBM Corporation Greater Baltimore Medical Center Johns Hopkins Health System Johns Hopkins University
Ellen M. Lord Textron Systems Kevin J. Manning Stevenson University Robert S. Marshall Earth Networks, Inc. Ronald R. Peterson Johns Hopkins Health System Regina Schofield Battelle Janet Smith OneMain Financial Gary Rosen Leidos Corporation
KPMG Laureate Education, Inc. Legg Mason, Inc. Leidos Lockheed Martin Corporation Lord Baltimore Capital Corporation Loyola University Maryland M&T Bank Maryland Chamber of Commerce Maryland Public Television McCormick & Company, Inc. National Security Agency Northrop Grumman Corporation Notre Dame of Maryland University Pepco Holdings, Inc. PNC Bank PricewaterhouseCoopers Regional Management, Inc. Rosemore, Inc. Salisbury University Space Telescope Science Institute
Marsha Trant IBM Corporation David M. Velazquez Pepco Holdings, Inc. Alan Wilson McCormick & Company, Inc. Chairmen Emeritus Norman R. Augustine Edward F. Mitchell Raymond A. “Chip” Mason James F. Pitts
Stevenson University Sun Trust Bank Textron Defense Systems Towson University University of Baltimore University of Maryland, Baltimore University of Maryland, Baltimore Co. University of Maryland Medical System University System of Maryland Whiting-Turner Contracting Company Association/Agency Members Governor’s Workforce Investment Board Greater Baltimore Committee Maryland Independent College & University Association
Maryland Business Roundtable for Education – 5520 Research Park Drive, Suite 150 – Baltimore, MD 21228 – 410-788-0333 www.mbrt.org – www.thestemnet.com