Case Studies

Every year, The Harold W. McGraw, Jr., Prize in Education recognizes outstanding individuals who have dedicated themselves to making substantial and sustainable changes to the field of education. Winners are chosen by a distinguished panel of judges representing pedagogical experts, academic thought leaders and education advocates. Each winner receives a gift of $50,000.

In 2011, the prize recognized excellence in digital education. In addition to the annual dinner to celebrate the recipients, activities included the release of a white paper authored by the three 2011 Prize winner to showcase the role that digital technology plays in enhancing intrapersonal interaction in education, and sponsorship of the first New York Times Schools of Tomorrow Education Conference, which featured the participation of two of our prize winners as panelists.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services established a new Environmental Finance Global Industry Focus Team (GIFT) in 2011 to promote global consistency, analytic rigor and greater awareness of our capabilities in the environmental finance sector, including global carbon markets, climate change finance and clean energy. A dedicated web portal was also launched to provide sustainability-related content from across Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ and S&P Indices.

McGraw-Hill chose one lucky employee to represent the company as an Olympic torch-bearer leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. This great distinction was bestowed upon Sandra Soler-Gomez for her impressive commitment to her community. Sandra is a Senior Business Infrastructure Change Manager at Global Organization and Infrastructure and a full-time mom of two. Her volunteer efforts include cleaning the banks of the River Thames, delivering groceries to the elderly, painting community centers and helping out at her local scouting group. She even makes time in her busy schedule to organize a bi-annual charity ball, which, over the past decade, has raised almost £30,000 (more than $46,000). Sandra was selected from among three employee finalists through an internal poll—over 1,600 McGraw-Hill employees voted worldwide.

Community service is very important to McGraw-Hill. The Corporation empowers employees to give back through company-sponsored volunteer opportunities and individual endeavors in local communities. McGraw-Hill is excited to recognize the volunteer efforts of Sandra through her participation in the Olympic Torch Relay.

In the U.S., one in five college-educated immigrants with work experience is unemployed or underemployed. Some of the common challenges they face include a lack of a professional network and unfamiliarity with the search process in the U.S. Upwardly Global helps skilled immigrants and refugees overcome these challenges while also helping employers discover and understand this hidden talent pool.

As part of Global Volunteer Day, employees from S&P and McGraw-Hill Financial (MHF) in New York, Chicago and San Francisco honed their coaching, leadership and cross-cultural communication skills by spending time working with Upwardly Global job seekers. The sessions focused on career-coaching exercises, such as practicing interviewing skills, revising resumes and sharing effective networking tips.

The partnerships were met with such success that a formal mentoring program has been established between S&P and MHF employee mentors, and Upwardly Global peer mentees with similar functional expertise. Mentors help with mock interviews, industry knowledge and other interactions to help familiarize these jobseekers with the U.S. job market. Mentees will work with their mentors over a six-month period to refine their professional skills and receive coaching and job-seeking assistance.

In 2011, 80 employee volunteers donated their time serving 80 Upwardly Global job seekers.

As part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s Joining Forces initiative, we have partnered with the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) Military Line to deliver programs on financial literacy and consumer protection to military families. The campaign builds on six years of BBB Military Line training initiatives and McGraw-Hill's decade-long commitment to ensuring financial literacy for all. The combined effort will reach more than 40,000 military families initially and will include a full complement of online and onsite financial resources including webinars, mobile applications, workshops and promotions.

McGraw-Hill offers educational services in China, Eastern Europe, India and the Middle East, with continuing efforts to expand in these areas and other emerging markets. In 2011, McGraw-Hill Education formed a joint venture with the New Oriental Education and Technology Group in China to provide Chinese students with premier after-school programs that advance their 21st-century skills utilizing McGraw-Hill’s award-winning curriculum.

In 2011, McGraw-Hill launched Learning, Empowering and Accelerating Digital (LEAD), our latest employee resource group that focuses on enhancing employees’ digital development and competency. Since its launch, LEAD has become the second largest employee resource group creating regional networks internationally and hosting two digital expos, in New York and Columbus. LEAD has also created five digital councils that host events focused on Video, Mobile, SEO Analytics, Digital Marketing and Social Media.

We empower our employees to make positive change through our corporate-wide Green Team initiative. Our Hyderabad, India, S&P Capital IQ Green Team has introduced innovative programs to engage employees to reduce waste. To increase paper recycling in the office, the team launched a paper bin program that replaces plastic bins and enables waste segregation at the source. The team also organized recycling workshops, book drives and training sessions to increase employee awareness and engagement.

McGraw-Hill has partnered with Morris High School in New York City to offer mentoring programs and summer internships to high school students for the past twenty years. In 2011, 25 students served as mentees in the year-round program and 11 students participated in summer internships.

McGraw-Hill’s mentoring program runs each school year and pairs the high school students with an employee mentor. During the course of the program, employees and students meet a few times a month to focus on college and career readiness. Students benefit from learning new skills to better prepare them for life outside the classroom. For employee mentors, the program serves as a professional development opportunity, including exercising their management skills.

Students involved with the mentoring program are invited to apply for the company’s paid summer internship program. The internship gives students access to new skills and relationships. Students get the opportunity to perform a multitude of tasks and often get exposure to all of our business segments.

Another highlight of the program is the Morris High School Scholarship Program. It provides stellar students with much needed financial assistance for their college tuition and fees. Scholars are selected for academic achievement, potential to succeed, strong leadership and citizenship qualities.