During this discussion, Bill Gates focused on his lesser known Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program.  GMS selects 1,000 talented students each year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice.  Gates Millennium Scholars receive personal and professional development through leadership programs, along with academic support throughout their college career.  The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence opportunities for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to reach their highest potential by:

• Reducing financial barriers for African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American and Hispanic American students with high academic and leadership promise who have significant financial need;
• Increasing the representation of these target groups in the disciplines of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health and the sciences, where these groups are severely underrepresented;
• Developing a diversified cadre of future leaders for America by facilitating successful completion of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees; and
• Providing seamless support from undergraduate through doctoral programs, for students selected as Gates Millennium Scholars entering target disciplines.

Bill Gates:  In my 40’s I started to look around at the schools to see what was not being done and was shocked to see the inequities, that’s when I decided to tackle education.  My friend Warren Buffet told me; “If you’re lucky enough to develop a lot of wealth then giving it all to your children is not the best for them or society – especially when you can help solve the issues of inequity.”  Education is the pivotal tool to solve inequity. As a philanthropist we look for what is working well and those who started the Charter school movement are doing something magical.  When you go spend a day at one of the Charter schools to see what’s going on and you understand that Charter schools are spending a lot less money per child than public schools, then you understand something magic is happening.  However, it’s very clear that the real magic is in the choices they make.  Charter schools are careful about the teachers they pick and parents sign contracts to make sure their kids understand the commitment is to get the child into college. 

Skip Gates:  Math and science are so important and our kids are failing these.  Many of our kids think it’s easier to get into the NBA than to be a cardiologist.  Statistically that’s impossible – there are only 350 Black NBA players verses 670 Black cardiologists. 

Bill Gates:  The Gates Millennium Scholars are examples of successes as role models for those coming behind.  The most talented kids are usually the most disruptive – we’ve got to harness that energy into areas of academic leadership.  We have GMS pilot districts where many interesting things are going on.  We video tape the programs to capture best practices and to look at diagnostic practices to be better and to make a science of quality teaching.  Some teachers are able to get students quieted easily where they quickly get kids engaged.  Others have a hard time working with kids and don’t know the answers.  The understanding of what needs to be measured and how to improve is not a part of the status quo in teaching.  There are no standards in 99% of K-12 classrooms that measure teaching ability. 

One of the most interesting studies was the tracking of two sets of urban and suburban kids.  During the school year – both sets of kids were tracked at the same learning level.  However during the summer, suburban kids had accelerated learning programs that allowed them to surpass urban kids and that’s where the gaps began.  Urban kids not only need accelerated reading programs, they need mentoring, longer school hours and extra curriculum opportunities to stay ahead.  Unemployment is higher in communities of color and I believe it’s based within the communities' abilities to educate their children.  It must be disheartening to see the negative statistics. 

Mentoring and volunteer work is a fantastic thing.  Philanthropy is important, but almost everyone can get involved in mentoring or volunteerism in some way.  Philanthropists need mentors and models too.  Everybody who got involved in the Charter School movement is buzzing about its success and philanthropists are getting involved because we’re hearing about it. You should know, getting the stories out about success will make philanthropy easier because we can see and access the models that are working.