This week, 2 of Cisco's current or former education nonprofit partners were recognized by Business Roundtable for their work to prepare U.S. K-12 students for college and the workplace.

• MIND Research Institute.MIND's Spatial Temporal (ST) Math program is a language-free, web-based software program that uses animation to help students learn key math concepts. Cisco support helped MIND convert ST Math to a web-based platform, enabling it to expand its reach from 55,000 students in 2007 to 500,000 today-a 357 percent increase. Students using the program have, on average, doubled or tripled their growth in math proficiency on standardized tests. Learn more.

• New Teacher Center.This nationally recognized nonprofit partners with states and districts to design and implement comprehensive new teacher induction programs that provide face-to-face and online mentoring with highly skilled educators. Cisco supports the organization's Teacher Assessment Tool and its online mentoring solution. Learn more.

As a technology company, Cisco views STEM education as a business imperative, and these organizations all recognize the urgent need to encourage students to pursue STEM subjects, said Alex Belous, a program manager for Cisco and the Cisco Foundation who has worked closely with these nonprofits to facilitate Cisco's support.

"STEM education is essential for developing a workforce with the skills in math, science, and critical thinking needed to support today's technology-based economy," he said.

According to the Math + Science Initiative, jobs in computer systems design and related services are expected to grow by 45 percent between 2008 and 2018 in the United States, but only 45 percent of high school students graduating in 2011 were ready for college-level math and only 30 percent were ready for college-level science.

The winning programs were selected from nearly 100 applicants. Business Roundtable will work the winners to help scale up their efforts. Congratulations to our partners!

Learn more about how Cisco supports education and STEM in particular at csr.cisco.com.