Guest Blog Post: IT-oLogy Dallas

IT-oLogy is pro-business. Helping businesses succeed by advancing IT talent is one of our guiding principles, and it is this understanding of technology’s role in every industry that drives IT-oLogy to promote, teach, and grow qualified IT professionals, beginning with K-12 students.

One of the vital components in educating students about technology is STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This nationwide movement is focused on educational initiatives that prepare students to achieve a higher level of proficiency in these skills that are so crucial to business and economic development. And leaders across the country are beginning to talk about the need to improve STEM education, which in turn will impact the quality of our workforce for years to come.

Recently, some 2,000 government, business and academic leaders met in Austin, Texas to discuss the state of STEM education as well as solutions that would improve how students learn these necessary skills before they enter the workforce.

Current estimates show that “fewer than 40 percent of students who major in science, technology, engineering, or math actually graduate with a degree in those fields. Instead, they switch majors after a semester or two, with many of them later reporting feeling isolated, discouraged, or overwhelmed by the course requirements*.” Why? Because they struggle with these skills during their formative years of education.

That two major conferences on STEM have taken place in Texas in the last two years is not a coincidence. Three of the top gold medal STEM high schools in the nation are located in Dallas, Texas, where business thrives on IT.

As IT-oLogy partners with business and academic leaders in the Dallas/Fort Worth region, it is clear that elevating programs such as Cyber Saturday will be instrumental in advancing technology skills amongst middle and high school students who are looking at career options.

STEM is not just about education—it is ultimately about jobs. And that’s why IT-oLogy’s expansion across the nation is so vital at this time, when the need to advance IT talent is fundamental to business.