Education
Medtronic’s continued success in combating chronic disease requires the development of a new generation of healthcare innovators determined to explore new ideas and challenge old assumptions. So the Medtronic Foundation directs its resources to programs and partnerships that stimulate and sustain students’ natural curiosity in science.
We are particularly interested in closing the achievement gap in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education between underserved and affluent school districts and to regaining ground the United States has lost to other countries in developing scientists. To this end, the Medtronic Foundation supports creative approaches to K-12 education through strategic partnerships with national organizations such as:
- FIRST Robotics a competition that pairs high school teams with professional mentors to build robots that solve a specific problem, and
- Teach For America’s Math and Science Initiative, which brings more teachers with STEM skills to classrooms in America’s most under-supported schools. (See case study below.)
Because we believe that a better educated population is generally a healthier one, our facility-based community councils support local STEM education initiatives through CommunityLink: Education grants. When appropriate, they place special emphasis on science and math programs that serve economically disadvantaged, minority, or female students.
Other core Foundation programs include Medtronic Fellows, which awards scholarships to talented graduate students in science, engineering, and health-related fields who are pursuing their educations at leading U.S. institutions, and Matching Gifts to Education, which matches employee contributions made to U.S. educational institutions dollar for dollar up to $15,000.
Advancing Math, Science Education in Low-income Communities
Ryan Erdmier’s sixth grade students at Northeast Middle School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, are on track to achieve more than a year’s growth in their math abilities, as measured by nationally-normalized tests administered by the Northwest Evaluation Association.
Ryan Erdmier
Erdmier, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota with degrees in Economics and Spanish Studies, became a Teach For America teacher at the recommendation of his university community advisor. “I had considered teaching English abroad, however, I felt the urgency to help close the achievement gap in this nation,” he explains.
The Medtronic Foundation partners with Teach For America to increase the quality and effectiveness of math and science teachers in low-income communities across the United States. Recognizing a need in our own neighborhoods, we were instrumental in bringing the program to the Twin Cities, where Erdmier is part of a charter corps of 43 teachers serving more than 2,500 students in Twin Cities public schools. We also worked with TFA to recruit and place teachers in two other key Medtronic U.S. facility locations: Memphis, Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida.
“Ryan has done an amazing job of building relationships with his students,” notes Daniel Sellers, executive director for Teach For America in the Twin Cities. “They trust him, follow him, and look up to him as a mentor and role-model.”
Erdmier agrees that connecting with students is critical to success. “Many of my students come from tough neighborhoods,” he notes. “Many have never been shown the compassion that breeds confidence. I make it routine to tell each class every day how many great things I have seen from them.”
Nationally, Teach For America placed 2,400 math and science teachers for the 2009-10 school year, reaching nearly 150,000 students in 35 low-income communities.