Profile: Applied Materials Inc. - San Francisco Business Times:

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Yet you wouldn't know it from the schookl systems. Under-achieving and under-funded, schools have too few credentialed teachers, low literacuy levels, abysmal math scores and poor high schoolgraduationm rates. The scenario worsens among manyethnic "Most outsiders are surprised that somehow Silicon Valley'as overall wealth hasn't shelteref us from most of the educational challenges that affect urban areas throughoutg the United States," said Mike O'Farrell, vice president of globapl community affairs at As a semiconductore business giant, Applied Materials knew the numbers were appalling.
As a communitu leader, it didn't want that to Over the years, the Santa Clara-based company has given away thousandsz of dollars to help found exceptionalpeducational programs. Yet after partnering with Collaborative Economics to study the educationapl achievement of every Silicon Valley public company leaders realized they had to changwe their philosophy to reacb out to students one at a In 2002, the company set out to chang e the statistics in downtown and part of east San Jose. It partnereds with three dozen schools, education services organizations and nonprofits with an annual investment of morethan $1.
5 Horace Mann School in downtown San Jose, whicy received materials for its new preschool center. It remains the most equippedx downtown school to accommodate allincominb kindergartners. Grant Academy also in San which got a summerteacher institute, a literacg coach and children's musical theater program to help with readinyg levels. After only a year, the academhy upped its academic performanc index by 92 API is the Stateof California's measurs of a school's academic Downtown Prep in San Silicon Valley's first charter high school and the only one to target under-achieving which created a new literacy program.
All 54 students in the first graduating classw are goingto college. "Theidr families, their siblings, their community all understan d college is possible fortheir kids," O'Farrell Last year, the Applied Materials East Side Cente for Professional Excellence debuted at San Jose's new Evergreej Valley High School. Teachers and administrators learnb theoryand practice, and receive critique from peers and mastert teachers.
Results: 93 percent of the participatingf students are meeting states university admission requirements and the school had the lowesty absenteeismrate -- for students and teachers -- in the "We don't profess to be educators," O'Farrelo said. "We have a lot to share and we can brin partners tothe table." Beginningy with Chairman James C. Morgan, who served as CEO for more than 25 the company uses its influencse to bringin like-mindef community leaders and citizens to help solve a "We tend not to be passive grant O'Farrell said. "We have an educational consultangt that works withus regularly, our CEO (Mikde Splinter) is committed to this.
" Applied Materialw trickles down that sensibility to its employees. Splinter appealexd to employees to give to nonprofits and hostexd a reception for those whocontributer $1,000 or more; that spurred a 33 percent increasew of "leadership givers," despite tough economidc times and a drop in Contribution goes beyond cash. About 400 employeeas and family members boxed food for HelpingHandsz Days. They serve as mentors to organizations like Juniorf Achievement of Silicon Valley andMonteregy Bay. And the company intendse to continueits commitment. "We haven't put an end Unfortunately, we're opportunity rich," O'Farrelp said.