Silicon Valley Education Foundation

Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF), a non-profit organization, has been serving students and teachers since 1999. SVEF is located in San Jose, California, USA. In February, 2008, two education foundations – the San Jose Education Foundation and the Santa Clara County Education Foundation, merged to become Silicon Valley Education Foundation.

The merged education foundation serves the needs of the county’s 31 K-12 public school districts and one adult education district by delivering school readiness and academic achievement programs to students, as well as programs that encourage teaching innovation. SVEF raises money publicly to deliver programs, largely among foundations and Silicon Valley businesses and other corporations it partners with, such as Flextronics, Oracle, SAP, Applied Materials, EY, Chevron, SanDisk, Adobe, PwC, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Intuit, General Atlantic, Target and PG&E. Other partnerships with organizations that share the same educational mission include San Jose’s Tech Museum, The Children’s Discovery Museum, The Krause Center for Innovation and Silicon Valley Leadership Group. SVEF acts as a clearinghouse for businesses and individuals interested in giving to public schools. SVEF itself is not a grant maker of general grants to the community, but offers grants of $500 to teachers for innovative classroom projects.

SVEF has 14 employees. It’s president and CEO is Muhammed Chaudhry. There are 18 board members, whose backgrounds range from educators and community leaders to heads of Silicon Valley corporations.

Board Members

Ray Bingham, partner, General Atlantic; Muhammed Chaudhry, president & CEO, SVEF; Van T. Dang, vice pres., Cisco; Joseph Head, pres., Summerhill Land; David House, chairman, Brocade Communications Systems; Paul Humphries, pres., High Reliability Solutions, Flextronics; Michael Kirst, professor, Stanford University & pres., California State Board of Education; Tarkan Maner, chairman & CEO Nexenta; Kay Matthews, managing partner, EY; D. John Miller, founder & CEO DJM Capital Partners, Inc.; David Neale, president, The Core Companies; Jeff Rademann, pres., Santa Clara Valley Market, Wells Fargo; Marshall (Mike) S. Smith, visiting scholar, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Faysal Sohail, managing director, CMEA Ventures; Pat Splinter, COO & CleanTech Co-Leader, VantagePoint Capital Partners; Cora Tomalinas, community activist, FIRST 5; Kenneth E. Washington, vice pres., Advanced Technology Center (ATC), Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.; Tom Zazueta, CEO & pres., Coakley Heagerty.

Mission

SVEF’s mission is to advocate for the needs of children in all 31 school districts across Silicon Valley. The foundation is the only organization dedicated solely to improving pre-kindergarten to 12th grade public education in Silicon Valley through delivery of programs that assist children with school readiness from before they enter school to enrichment programs throughout the K-12 experience. SVEF presents these programs through partnerships with the business, civic and education communities that offer their sponsorship. The goal is to inspire tomorrow’s innovators by bringing resources and expertise to schools. SVEF focuses on the needs of its constituents: students, families, teachers, community and education leaders. It listens to their needs and seek answers to their challenges through innovative solutions. SVEF brings a Silicon Valley business approach to improving education, which focuses on achieving results.

Key Programs

SVEF’s key focus is creating and delivering academic programs that address closing the achievement gap in math and science – the academic chasm that separates black and Latino students from white and Asian peers. The achievement gap is one of the most significant challenges facing schools today. SVEF in 2008 launched the centerpiece of its achievement initiative (the STEM Initiative) – a summer algebra enhancement program called “Stepping Up to Algebra” to prepare middle school students for tomorrow’s economy and its highly skilled jobs in engineering and technology. The program focuses on middle school students, offering them new strategies to master algebra so they can pass Algebra I before entering high school. About 5,000 students have participated in the algebra program and have shown a proficiency increase of more than 20% after taking the class. SVEF in 2011 launched another summer STEM program - "Stepping Up to Science" - that prepares entering 9th graders for the rigors of high school biology and physics.

SVEF also developed an open-source software tool for teachers called “Lessonopoly.” It allows teachers to load lesson plans and other academic materials on the Lessonopoly site to share and collaborate with other educators.

SVEF offers Teacher Innovation Grants of $500 to Santa Clara County teachers who submit unique classroom projects.

SVEF presents interactive Education Forums that bring together top business, education and civic leaders to discuss vital education topics.

Links to SVEF

Log on to www.svefoundation.org

References

1. Article, Philanthropy News Digest, February 10, 2008 Silicon Valley Education Foundation Launched

2. Article, San Jose Mercury News, October 9, 2008, by Dana Hull Silicon Valley Education Foundation Hosts Algebra Summit

3. Article, The Knight Foundation, August 19, 2008 Silicon Valley Education Foundation Launches $3 Million Initiative to Boost Student Achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics