July 28, 2005

Local teachers spend summer working in high-tech companies

Educators will be able to convey to students how subjects relate to real life

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

A group of Almaden Valley teachers is participating in paid business fellowships this summer to learn first-hand how the subjects they teach are being used in real life so they can better prepare their students for the work world.

Many local companies are participating in the program, including Intel, Lockheed and Applied Materials. The program is serving teachers from 42 different school districts, many who work with a high percentage of educationally disadvantaged students.

Helen Arrington, a math teacher at Leland High School for six years, is on assignment at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara. Photo courtesy of Intel.

Helen Arrington, a math teacher at Leland High School for six years, is on assignment at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara. This is her fourth year participating in the program. She has participated in fellowships with Lockheed and Applied Materials.

“It gives me an appreciation for what the students are going to need to know when they get out into the workforce,” said the 57-year-old Arrington during a break from her 40-hour-a-week summer job as a statistics intern doing data analysis and earning $800 a week.

Arrington, who’s been teaching for 30 years, began the fellowship program June 22 and will end Aug. 12, just in time to get ready for school to begin Aug. 22.

“This is like working in another world. You don’t have a lot of contact with a lot of people. You’re in your cubicle area and you have to venture out to meet people. You have an assignment and you have to execute. It’s a whole different ballgame for a teacher to play,” Arrington said.

Without a degree in statistics, Arrington is learning how to perform difficult principle component analysis. She’s hoping to return to Leland High School this fall to share with her high-achieving students the skills she has learned in the workplace.

“It’s going to be great for them to have that extra skill base,” she added, praising her mentor or coach—a full-time Intel employee—who helps her with assignments. “This is something that more teachers should take advantage of.”

The fellowships are possible through the Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education organization, which was founded in 1985 by a consortium of San Francisco Bay Area companies in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California-Berkeley.

The program helps to address the critical need for a strong, highly skilled workforce in mathematics, science and technological fields. The industry-education partnership focuses on teachers as the primary agents for effecting meaningful change in mathematics and science education.

In 20 years, the program has provided 1,997 summer fellowships to more than 1,100 teachers from private and public schools and community colleges. The program has placed teachers from 415 schools in many powerful companies such as Lockheed, IBM and Intel.

More than 270 companies, foundations, universities and government agencies have invested more than $20 million on the program. About 1,450 engineers, scientists and managers have served as mentors to teachers.

This summer, the program is supporting 173 teachers who are working side-by-side with scientists, engineers and managers in 50 local businesses for eight weeks. Teachers are getting a chance to “practice what they teach” and will return to their classrooms in the fall with new curriculum and real world examples that will help inspire their students to pursue careers in science, math and technology.

Arlene Scallon, a computer and English teacher at Dartmouth Middle School, is on assignment at Philips Semiconductor. Photo courtesy of Arlene Scallon.

Arlene Scallon, a computer and English teacher at Dartmouth Middle School, is on assignment at Philips Semiconductor. It’s her fifth fellowship through the program. “It’s wonderful,” Scallon said. “IISME has given me the opportunity to learn about the working world that my students will be entering, to talk with a wide variety of employees about their jobs and the skills required for success, and to continue educating myself about how best to teach children.”

Scallon’s assignment this year, at Philips Semiconductor, was to develop a plan for employee training through 2009. Scallon will share with students this year how she had to solve many of her own problems just as students should attempt to figure out problems before asking the teacher for help.

She also learned about meeting deadlines just as students do when they finish homework on time. “Showing responsibility is important in school and in real life, and we need those skills to succeed,” Scallon said.

Julie Dunkle, Intel California education manager, said teachers who participate in the fellowship give managers a fresh perspective needed to complete important projects. At the same time teachers gain cutting edge high tech skills, which translate into lesson plans that make learning math and science more engaging for students.

“The IISME fellowship program can help refocus priorities. It has solid, quantifiable results. The proof is in the number of teachers who stay in teaching because of the program and the number of students over the years they’ve shared the excitement of math and science with,” Dunkle said.

For more information on the fellowship program visit www.iisme.org.