Silicon Valley Education Foundation

Muhammed Chaudhry. Muhammed Chaudhry serves as CEO for the Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF). His goal is to help prepare every student in Silicon Valley for completion of post-secondary education. Under his leadership, SVEF has become the leading education foundation serving Silicon Valley to support students, teachers and the community. The foundation achieves this through forging strong relationships with industry and the… See full bio.

Jill Winkelstein Nov 18, 2010

Silicon Valley Education Foundation – Goals & Focus Silicon Valley Education Foundation’s (SVEF) goal is to be the leading advocate for public education in our region. We focus on having all students prepared for college and career. Today, a growing… Read More.

Story: Rachel Hager , who teaches 6th grade Earth Science and 7th grade Life Science at Buchser Middle School in the Santa Clara Unified District won the KBAY Teacher of the Month for August 2010, read about her experiences in her classroom: Rachel used her SVEF Teacher Innovation Grant to purchase digital audio recorders and a FLIP camera to create an Endangered/Extinct Species Video Project and for electronic portfolios. She says, "Students learned about the history of life on Earth. Students researched one endangered or extinct species and wrote a narrative of original work and cited sources. They found electronic images and gave credit to their origins as well. Students then recorded a voice over using the digital audio recorders and imported their images into Windows Movie Maker and added transitions, titles and credits. The top video projects will be hosted at Next Vista for Learning (www.nextvista.org) and were entered into the California Student Multimedia Festival. All projects got uploaded on schooltube.com. Recording on audio recorders enhanced the overall quality of the videos because then students will not have to just have background music and titles. The audio narrative is more informational than titles alone." These projects can be seen at the endangered species project site which Rachel designed for this project at https://sites.google.com/site/survivalorextinction/ and the finished videos can be seen at www.Schooltube.com using the search word: Buchser. "The use of technology in the classroom truly engages students. It also prepares students to become proficient using tools they may need to use someday in the workplace. The grant I received through SVEF helped me to purchase equipment that I needed for students' projects which were being entered in the California Student Multimedia Festival. I was in the Foothill College Merit Teacher program, which is a program designed to promote a synthesis of content, technology, and pedagogy that will have a measurable and positive impact on education in the Silicon Valley and beyond. As a result of being in the Merit program, I designed the Survival or Extinction Video project." Rachel says of her school and program, "Buchser Middle School is located in the heart of Silicon Valley in Santa Clara. We serve approximately 1,000 students in grades 6-8. The cultural makeup is about 1/3 Hispanic, 1/3 Asian and 1/3 Caucasian, with other cultures present as well. I am doing this project with all of my seventh grade science students. I have 155 students of various backgrounds. I have 30% English Language Learners, low socio-economic students, and several mainstreamed special day class students who are autistic." When asked what she liked most about being a teacher, Rachel replied, "I really love teaching Life Science, because it is really about everything! I recently had the class dissect frogs in order to observe the anatomy and draw similarities with human anatomy, but it really left me feeling very sad. I realize that what I like about life science is that it's LIFE science. So next year, I am not sure if we are going to dissect frogs, but I certainly want to raise frogs. What would truly be wonderful is to raise California Red Legged Frogs because that's a way we can make a difference and learn at the same time. I notice when I am enthused about a topic, that's when my students retain what we've learned. It's not book work that they usually remember but the stories about a particular topic. I really feel it's important to spread the word about the present extinction crisis. Humans have never really experienced anything like this before. It's important to find out first that is happening, then second, instead of feeling discouraged, ask, what can we do, it has to be positive and forward-thinking. Beyond teaching Life Science, I really like being with the students. They're at fun age." Speaking of the biggest challenge she faces in her classroom Rachel says, "The biggest challenge is meeting all of the different learning styles embodied in the students that come to my classroom. Everybody learns in different ways. I like to have my classroom arranged so that students can work in cooperative groups. I have students sit in a group of four students which is the way I design my room for managing supplies and labs. This has its pros and cons. When I try to go back to the linear table designs, I lose the table groups which are essential for the way I teach. The down side is that 7th graders, along with everybody else, like to talk. I try to steer the conversation to enhance learning. Sometimes, 7th graders can talk too much. Near the end of the school year, I brought in silk worms for each table group. It was engaging, and we observed the entire life cycle and we are learned about reproduction. Naturally, students can get very enthused in science and I try to harness that energy to maximize learning." (Read more about other teachers of the month at: http://www.svefoundation.org/svefoundation/howwehelp/teacher_2010august.php)

Evidence of Impact Summary:

Experts say Silicon Valley Education Foundation helped raise algebra readiness rates in Alum Rock, and they expanded the number of individuals and organizations that are engaged in education improvement discussions.
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Experts agree SVEF has very well defined and focused giving criteria and a smart and capable leader.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Some experts felt SVEF places too much emphasis on fundraising at all events.
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Muhammed Chaudhry serves as CEO for the Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF). His goal is to help prepare every student in Silicon Valley for completion of post-secondary education. Under his leadership, SVEF has become the leading education foundation serving Silicon Valley to support students, teachers and the community. The foundation achieves this through forging strong relationships with industry and the education community to develop traditional and non-traditional programs to support education. SVEF's latest initiative is STEM - a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math initiative targeted to significantly increase the number of students completing algebra 1 and 2 as gateway subjects to academic success. Prior to SVEF, Muhammed held management positions in brand marketing with The Clorox Company and Dazzle Multimedia. He serves as Vice President of MKA USA, which is a youth development organization. He is a Board Member of the California Consortium of Education Foundation, the Hispanic Foundation Silicon Valley, Humanity First USA and an active member of San Jose Rotary Club. His personal interests include golf, long distance running, and volunteering with various philanthropic causes. Muhammed holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from San Jose State University and is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Leadership Program. He resides in San Jose with his wife, Rabia, who is chief of staff for Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese.

Jill Winkelstein Nov 18, 2010

Silicon Valley Education Foundation – Goals & Focus Silicon Valley Education Foundation’s (SVEF) goal is to be the leading advocate for public education in our region. We focus on having all students prepared for college and career. Today, a growing number of Santa Clara County’s (SCC) students are not graduating from high school and almost half that do go on to college need remedial courses. SVEF is committed to raising student performance in math and science, in particular, across all 33 SCC school districts. More than 40% of Santa Clara County’s students are underserved minorities. Sadly, only 19% of our minority 8th graders are proficient in algebra and almost 40% score poorly in science. This is unacceptable and will eventually impact our workforce skills and economic vitality --- unless organizations such as SVEF, the business community and other committed parties work together (now) to turn this situation around. 21st century jobs require strong STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills and better critical thinking. We must ensure our future workforce is prepared to take on the technological and business challenges that lie ahead. With an increasing gap of qualified workers to take over Silicon Valley jobs, our future as the heart of U.S. innovation is at risk. What We Do SVEF’s expectations are high: Silicon Valley will be the #1 area in California in the percentage of high school graduates who are academically prepared to complete post secondary education. Today, we are fifth in terms of high school graduates that are prepared to go to a UC college (as determined by percentage of graduates meeting the A – G course requirements). We can only improve through focused student and community efforts. SVEF delivers programs that have large impact: STEM Education – Our $3 million dollar STEM Initiative includes our “Stepping up to Algebra” and “Stepping up to Science” programs that improve middle school algebra and biology preparedness and performance. More than 1,500 students have completed what NBC-TV calls our “algebra boot camp”. This coming year, another 1,000 eighth graders will be helped, along with 120 students who are “at risk” in biology. On average, student proficiency scores improve by 20%+. Education Forums – Each year, SVEF sponsors 6+ thought-provoking discussions around vital topics relevant to educators, corporate executives and community leaders. One upcoming topic is how to encourage more females to pursue STEM studies and careers. Lessonopoly.org – Almost 8,000 teachers now use our Lessonopoly database of 10,000+ lesson plans that aid classroom instruction. Partnerships with NBC and NASA have added valuable video content to engage students in learning. Teacher Innovation Grants – Last year, SVEF awarded almost 200 grants of $500-$1,000 to help teachers with classroom equipment and materials. Nationwide, teachers spend $485 of their own funds annually for classroom aids. This is money that they can ill-afford. National Teacher Certification – The 3-year National Board Certification process is the most arduous and effective teacher development program in the U.S. California lags other states in the number of teachers who have completed the program --- only 1.2% in Santa Clara County versus 6% in North Carolina. SVEF helps teachers with modest financial support to offset part of the $2,600 tuition cost. Unlike other states, California offers no teacher assistance.