Helping to Close the STEM Achievement Gap Through Teacher Training on Mobile Technology

‎04-23-2014

By Rose Stuckey Kirk,

Vice President of Global Corporate Citizenship and President of the Verizon Foundation

There is a math problem in our country, and I am not referring to a hard-to-solve equation. In 2013, just 34% of U.S. 8th graders were rated proficient or higher in a national math assessment, and more than one in four scored below the basic level. Few of these students will end up choosing a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degree in college, despite the fact that three million STEM jobs remain unfilled in the U.S. This is a math problem that will hurt generations of America’s students, unless we address the critical shortage of students pursuing education and careers in STEM fields.

That is why I am excited to announce the evaluation findings of our Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS), an intensive multi-year professional development program to help teachers effectively integrate mobile technology in the classroom and boost student engagement and achievement in STEM. The results are promising for both teachers and students, and indicate that training teachers on an on-going basis to use mobile technology in the classroom may have a positive impact on standardized math test scores.

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