Statistics & Endorsements

Statistics: Numbers Behind The Need

• Proficiency in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) related subjects decline as students get older. Roughly 29 percent of fourth- and eighth-grade students participating in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reached or exceeded the proficient level in science. Among 12th-graders, only 18 percent reached or exceeded proficient. [U.S. Dept of Education]
• In 2006, 15-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 22nd in math and 19th in science among developed nations. Among these countries, the U.S. has the fourth largest gap between high and low-income students. [2006 PISA Extended Analysis]
• U.S. Students spend up to 4 years less time in school in comparison to other other countries, pre-college. Students in Japan spend 240 days in school each year, while students in South Korea spend 223 days in school.  In comparison, American students spend 180 days in school per year.  As a result, students in the U.S. report year to year retention rates of 54%, versus 92% in Japan. [Gladwell, Malcolm.  Outliers]
• The U.S. Department of Labor is projecting that jobs requiring in STEM related fields will increase by 51%, four times that of overall job growth. [Business-Higher Education Forum]
• Students from overseas are earning a disproportionately large portion of advanced science and engineering degrees – 55% of Engineering doctorates and 43% of doctorates in Math, Computer Sciences, and Agriculture. [IBID]
• The average salary in the technology industry ($79,484) is 87% higher than the average private sector salary ($42,405). [NSF.Gov]

Endorsements

• “Students who excel academically and excel at programs like BlueStamp are the types of students we look for.  We appreciate their willingness to go outside of the classroom to develop their passions.”

-Admissions Director, top 25 national university (as ranked by U.S. News)

• “BlueStamp Engineering Program is an excellent idea.  In the years that I helped coordinate the co-op program at Keithley Instruments, I spent a considerable amount of time recruiting and interviewing students from numerous universities.  I always searched on resumes and targeted interview questions looking for students with some real life engineering experience.  We look for the students to really make an impact on the projects they are involved in.  Students that come to Keithley with electronics experience similar to the projects BlueStamp offers are much more of an asset to the company because they already have the big-picture understanding.  They are thinking more like real engineers and therefore they are able to come away with a much greater knowledge base.  Getting engineering real-world experience as early as high school will really give these students an upper-hand when looking for co-op positions.  The BlueStamp Engineering Program is certainly set up to help students succeed both in their studies at college and in their search for co-op opportunities and post-graduation jobs.”

-John Wadolowski, Lead Engineer at Keithley Instruments (Engineering Co-Op Coordinator ’07-’09)

• “To remain competitive, U.S. Cities need to improve the quality of elementary and high school education — particularly in math and science…our public schools are not generating [enough of] the right kinds of people who can go into engineering and math and compete” [CyberCities, 2008 Report]

• “The tech sector is far more recession proof than non technical, service oriented jobs – an unemployment rate nearly half the national average” [NSF.Gov]

• “The tech sector is not laying people off.  If anything, the industry is having a hard time getting people with the right credentials” [CyberCities, 2008 Report]