State Farm® supports K-12 public education in many ways and believes that our partnership with the education community is a workforce issue. As State Farm plans for future growth and continued economic stability, it requires talent that can meet the needs of a global economy. The Company believes that the health of our public schools helps define the quality and vitality of our communities. As a company proud of its “good neighbor” relationships, State Farm also values its role in working collaboratively with community partners to better assure that the communities where its customers, associates and agents live and work continue to prosper. Like other members of the greater business community, State Farm relies on its school systems to help develop the future workforce it requires. To do this well, classrooms must be staffed with high quality teachers who are continually provided meaningful continuing education to enhance their skill levels, help them adapt their teaching strategies to diverse and changing school populations and allowed professional growth and development. Unfortunately, many teachers are not afforded these opportunities. Without them, teachers find it more difficult to meet the increased demands placed upon them to help all of their students reach higher levels of academic achievement. History of SLATE How SLATE is executed CEO and top management commitment HISTORY OF SLATE During the summer of 2001, State Farm partnered with the Illinois Governor’s office to host a series of forums on the challenges to recruiting, developing and retaining quality teachers in communities around the state. The forums were held as facilitated conversations around Investing in Teaching, a study produced by the National Alliance of Business in partnership with The Business Roundtable, The Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. At these forums, teachers, administrators, business leaders and legislators identified ongoing professional development as a key to classroom teachers’ ability to develop best practices, to mentor new or struggling teachers, to further enrich their content knowledge and to better develop standards literacy. These findings were reinforced in discussions with educational leaders at conferences around the country. Educators consistently identified a need for ongoing professional development and indicated that two major hurdles often impacted their ability to participate in developmental opportunities. Those hurdles were identified as the lack of adequate numbers of substitute-teachers and the funds to pay for substitutes when they were available. State Farm’s response was to design and create the State Farm Learning and Teaching Exchange (SLATE) program as a response to these needs identified by educators. SLATE is a volunteer program where partnering State Farm employees substitute teach in classrooms when the teacher is involved in a professional development opportunity. By doing so, SLATE volunteers help remove the two hurdles to professional development previously identified by educators; cost and availability of substitute teachers. This program also allows State Farm employees, as community citizens and taxpayers, the chance to better understand the environment and challenges of today’s schools. By experiencing a day in the classroom as a teacher, SLATE volunteers find issues surrounding education become more “real” than anecdotal. They also have an opportunity to further their own development by maximizing their organizational, presentation and leadership skills and to apply their own content knowledge in a different environment. In the spring of 2002, a pilot program was inaugurated in three counties in Illinois located near State Farm’s corporate headquarters. Over 500 State Farm associates began the process to become certified substitute teachers. In the first year of the program, partnering schools within these counties benefited from over 240 SLATE substitute teachers in classrooms providing coverage for teachers involved in prearranged professional development. The program saved the school districts the expenditure of substantial resources by providing adequate numbers of substitute-teachers so that schools can increase the number of teachers who are offered professional development. Since 2002, SLATE programs have been instituted at State Farm facilities in 12 states. The corporate program has now grown to close to 600 state substitute teacher certified associates with an additional 400 in the pipeline. There are 185schools representing 54 school districts in 7 counties now involved in the corporate program. The program has expanded to include State Farm retirees and the company has reached out to the greater business community to join the program as well. By the end of 2003, 370 classroom teachers have benefited from having a SLATE substitute teacher in their classroom from the corporate location. HOW SLATE IS EXECUTED All full-time State Farm employees are provided an Education Support (ES) day benefit. In many cases, this day is used to chaperone field trips or attend events at school. Through SLATE, employees instead may choose to use their ES day to substitute teach. All employees involved in this program must meet state substitute teaching certification requirements. In addition, through a partnership with a Regional Office of Public School Education, associates must attend a workshop paid for by the company on school policy and strategy prior to their involvement. By volunteering as a S.L.A.T.E substitute teacher, State Farm employees can have a long-term systemic impact on the school by allowing teachers time for meaningful professional development. In addition, approximately 100 of the corporate SLATE volunteers have chosen to use personal time, vacation time or time allocated through alternative work hour arrangements to substitute as a SLATE volunteer. By limiting the use of SLATE volunteers to prearranged professional development opportunities for teachers, the program does not compete with those who earn a living as substitute-teachers. The schools and teachers define what qualifies as professional development. A State Farm associate serves as a coordinator/scheduler between the districts requesting volunteer substitute-teachers and the Company. CEO AND TOP MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT Choosing to use their Education Support day benefit is generally the first entrée point for State Farm associates into the SLATE program. However, State Farm’s Vice President for Learning and Development has designated SLATE as an appropriate developmental experience for associates as part of State Farm’s ongoing internal professional development. Presentation and organizational skill development are impacted by this experience as well as further development of leadership skills and addressing the company’s strong emphasis on diversity awareness and training. As a result, associates have the opportunity to participate as a SLATE volunteer in excess of their one day ES day. Chairman and CEO, Edward B. Rust Jr. has also chosen to highlight SLATE as an effective example of business-education partnerships in various speeches around the country. As an example, in November 2002, Rust used SLATE as a example of an effective business response to educational needs during his acceptance speech for the Distinguished Performance award for Company of the Year at the National Alliance of Business education conference. This model can easily be implemented in any community because it is a low tech, low cost direct answer to a problem impacting most states and communities. In its simplest form, SLATE is an example of how to match existing community resources with an identified area of need. It has a direct economic impact on schools by freeing up resources that might have been allocated to hire substitute teachers for professional development experiences for application to other requests. As importantly, it allows community citizens a better opportunity to understand the challenges of today’s classrooms and helps them become “better educated consumers of education.” The success of the program can easily be measured by the response of both the education community and the company’s participating associates. If the program did not address the school’s needs, schools wouldn’t participate. Instead, requests for SLATE substitutes continue to increase. From the company’s point of view, “word of mouth” has been the best method for increasing participation. As associates return to work from their SLATE experience, they are sharing their sense of the value of SLATE and encouraging their co-workers to participate. Throughout the entire process, associates and participating school teachers and administrators are surveyed to help assure that the program is refined and continues to meet the needs of both business and education. Throughout the survey process, it has become clear that there is perceived value in this partnership and that the impact extends far beyond the one-day experience. Associates are returning to the workplace more attentive to issues involving public education and more willing to become involved as community citizens. Teachers are afforded the professional development opportunity that in many cases would have been denied due to resource issues. It’s a win-win for all.