Triangle Coalition For Science And Technology Education

In This Issue:

• Triangle Coalition Members Commit to Secure 100K Excellent STEM Teachers
• Quality Counts Report Gives the U.S. Education System a Grade of C
• NESTA Polls Teachers on Climate Change Education
• GAO Calls for Greater Coordination between Overlapping STEM Programs
• Free STEM Smart Workshop Series Coming to a City Near You
• Member in the Spotlight: NIA and Promethean Partner to Bring Teachers NASA Education Content
  

Triangle Coalition Members Commit to Secure 100K Excellent STEM Teachers

A national movement to recruit, prepare, and retain 100,000 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers in 10 years has gained momentum in recent months. 100Kin10 was convened in 2011 by Carnegie Corporation of New York and Opportunity Equation in response to President Obama’s call to expand the nation’s STEM teaching force. With the addition of 34 new partners, the 100Kin10 movement now boasts more than 115 educational and corporate partners committed to using their resources and talent to bring excellent STEM teachers to American classrooms.  To date, 14 funders have committed more than $22 million to support partner organizations in reaching this goal.

In order to become a 100Kin10 partner, organizations must be nominated and go through a rigorous review process which examines each nominee’s capacity to advance the movement’s goal. Triangle Coalition members involved include the Kenan Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development, the National Center for Technological Literacy (NCTL), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

Dr. Valerie Brown-Schild, Director of the Kenan Fellows Program, one of the new partner organizations, says the core competencies of 100Kin10 and its partners strongly align with those of the Kenan Fellows Program. The program has committed to match at least 50 North Carolina teachers annually with STEM leaders in industry and academia for a summer of research and intensive professional advancement. According to Dr. Brown-Schild, involvement in 100Kin10 will provide opportunities for the program to: address the national need for more STEM teachers; network with other organizations working towards the same goal; and access resources to which they otherwise might not have access.

The 100Kin10 partners also include science centers and museums, including the National Center for Technological Literacy at the Museum of Science, Boston. “We are pleased to be included on the 100Kin10 STEM teacher initiative,” reports Ioannis Miaoulis, president and director of the Museum of Science, Boston and NCTL founder.  “Science centers and museums can play a key role in STEM education.  While often mistaken as simply field trip destinations, science centers are much more engaged in formal K-12 education than most people appreciate.  At the NCTL, we develop formal classroom standards-based, teacher-tested K-12 science and engineering curricula and offer corresponding teacher professional development opportunities across the country.”

To learn more about the 100Kin10 and view a complete list of partners and their commitments, visit the new 100Kin10 website.

Quality Counts Report Gives the U.S. Education System a Grade of C

Last week, Education Week released its annual Quality Counts report evaluating the nation’s education system and grading it overall as a C. The report tracks six distinct areas of policy and performance and is the most comprehensive ongoing assessment of the state of American education. In addition to the comprehensive national evaluation, the report also includes state-by-state report cards that measure states’ efforts to improve public education. This 16th annual edition, The Global Challenge—Education in a Competitive World, takes a critical look at the nation’s place among the world’s public education systems and the challenges of competing in a global environment. The report discusses the use of international insights by state officials in shaping their own state policies and programs as well.

When breaking down the results by state, Maryland, for the fourth year in a row, comes out as the overall top-ranked state with a grade of B+. Strong finishers Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia follow close behind, each receiving a B. Nearly half the states, however, receive grades of C or lower.

The report finds that in the U.S., mathematics and science are the subjects most strongly influenced by international standards and examples. Key findings related to math and science include:

• When developing or revising their own academic standards, states are most likely to seek international guidance in mathematics and science, two subjects often linked to economic competitiveness and technological innovation.
• In math, 23 states looked to other nations to inform their standards; 13 states did so for science.
• For math and science, Singapore was most frequently cited as an exemplar, mentioned by 18 states. Other international systems used as models included: Japan (by 11 states), Finland (10), Canada (8), England (7), Hong Kong (6), and New Zealand (5).

More Key Findings:

• Most states look beyond the U.S. borders to inform their own educational reforms, policies, and programs.
• Effects of the economic downturn linger in American education, a year and a half after the official end of the recession.
• Since the recession, teacher pay has risen, relative to the earnings of workers from comparable occupations. However, uncertainty about the post-stimulus outlook remains.

To learn more, read the full report, Quality Counts 2012, or browse the State-by-State Reports.

NESTA Polls Teachers on Climate Change Education

The National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) released the executive summary of its 2011 informal online survey on climate change education

. The survey included 61 questions about a range of topics including climate change education in K-12 classrooms, teacher preparation and professional development, the educational resources teachers use, and the outside pressures and challenges they face in teaching about climate change. The respondents included 555 K-12 educators in the United States who currently teach about climate change.

NESTA found that 89% of respondents believe global warming is a reality (compared to 63% of adults in the general public), with the highest levels of agreement coming from teachers in Western states, younger teachers, urban teachers, and females. Only 6% indicated that they did not believe global warming is happening (compared to 19% of the public). On average, only 13% of respondents attribute climate change to mainly natural causes (compared to 35% of the public). Responses varied by region, as teachers in the Western and Northeastern United States expressed significantly more concern about global warming than Southern teachers.

Climate change educators make extensive use of educational resources from professional societies, federal agencies, and universities, and to a lesser extent resources from other non-profits and for profit organizations. Teachers also expressed a strong preference for professional development opportunities in their local area, as well as for research experiences with a scientist or research lab. Webinars, self-paced learning, and lectures and science cafes ranked as the least desired options for professional development.

About one third of teachers reported that students, parents, administrators, or community members have argued with them that climate change is not happening or that it is not the result of human activity. 38% of respondents agreed that “students have misconceptions about climate change that are hard to address.” Furthermore, 36% of teachers said that they have been strongly encouraged to teach “both sides” of climate change.

As the NESTA survey shows, educators often face outside pressure when trying to teach climate change, which is accepted by the scientific community but controversial among the public. In response to this issue, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) just launched a new initiative aimed at defending the teaching of climate change.

NCSE executive director Eugenie C. Scott explains, “We consider climate change a critical issue in our own mission to protect the integrity of science education. Climate affects everyone, and the decisions we make today will affect generations to come. We need to teach kids now about the realities of global warming and climate change, so that they’re prepared to make informed, intelligent decisions in the future.”

For more information about the climate change education survey, contact Triangle Coalition member, NESTA.

GAO Calls for Greater Coordination between STEM Programs

This week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the findings of its study of federal STEM education programs. With so many STEM education programs conducted across various federal agencies, the study was conducted to address concerns about the overall effectiveness and efficiency of these programs.

GAO examined the number of federally funded STEM education programs; possible overlap and opportunities for coordination among programs; and the extent to which STEM education programs measured effectiveness. This study has similar goals to STEM education inventory published by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) last December. As OSTP is currently developing a comprehensive five-year strategic plan for the coordination of the federal STEM education portfolio, GAO makes recommendations for OSTP to include in that plan.

As a result of its study, GAO recommends that OSTP work with the federal agencies to better align their activities with a government-wide strategy, develop a plan for sustained coordination, identify programs for potential consolidation or elimination, and assist agencies in determining how to better evaluate their programs.

GAO finds that in FY2010, 13 federal agencies invested over $3 billion in 209 programs designed to increase knowledge of STEM fields and attainment of STEM degrees. More than half of these programs were administered by Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation. Almost a third of the programs had obligations of $1 million or less, while some had obligations of over $100 million.

The study also revealed that while eighty-three percent of the programs overlapped to some degree, they were not necessarily found to be duplicative. However, the programs are similar enough that they must be well coordinated and guided by a robust strategic plan. Currently, though, less than half of the STEM education programs indicated that they coordinated with those that were similar in other agencies. Furthermore, the study also revealed limited use of performance measures and evaluations within the agencies which hinders the ability of decision makers to assess the effectiveness of individual programs as well as the overall STEM education effort.

Current efforts by OSTP to inventory federal STEM education activities and develop a 5-year strategic plan present an opportunity to enhance coordination, align government-wide efforts, and improve efficiency of limited resources by identifying opportunities for program consolidation and reducing administrative costs. Read the full report on Triangle Coalition’s Resources Page, or learn more at GAO.

Free STEM Smart Workshop Series Coming to a City Near You

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is sponsoring a series of free one-day regional workshops around the country discussing the topic of building successful STEM schools. Based on the 2011 National Research Council Report, Successful K-12 STEM Education, the workshops will bring together educators from formal and informal education across all grade levels and higher education. Participants will also include STEM leaders, policy-makers, and representatives from business and funding communities.

Attendees will learn about the findings, implications, and recommendations of the report, and promising practices and resources relevant to effective STEM schools and programs. The first workshop will take place on February 28 at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle; other workshops will soon be scheduled in Baltimore and Chicago. A kickoff event which featured a distinguished group of STEM education experts and leaders took place in Philadelphia in September 2011; the video is available online. Register to attend a workshop or learn more at www.successfulstemeducation.org.

• Member in the Spotlight:

NIA and Promethean Partner to Bring Teachers NASA Education Content

A new collaboration between the Triangle Coalition member, the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), and global education company, Promethean is bringing the latest NASA education content to teachers and students worldwide. Promethean Planet’s website community now features NASA content developed for educators by the Center for Integrative STEM Education (CISE) at NIA. Designed to help teachers bring excitement into middle and high school classrooms, the materials include professional development resources and lesson plans for both elementary and secondary education, downloadable photos, interactive activities, videos, and more.

Becky Jaramillo, Senior Educator at NIA and education lead for the project remarked, “We are thrilled to work with the Promethean Planet team to bring NASA resources into such a dynamic learning environment.” She noted, “Teachers have told us how excited they are to have well-thought out lessons at their fingertips and how this platform helps them bring NASA content into a more interactive classroom.”

The collaboration is part of NIA’s ongoing effort to promote the development of a well-educated STEM workforce for NASA and for the nation. Created for teachers, Promethean Planet is the world’s largest online interactive whiteboard community and is currently used by over one million educators, in more than 150 countries who gather daily to collaborate, exchange ideas, share best practice, and browse nearly 38,000 free and publisher-supplied resources.

Visit Center for Integrative STEM Education’s Member Profile Page.

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Sponsors:

This week’s STEM Education News is sponsored by 3M.

3M and the 3M Foundation are committed to supporting innovative and practical initiatives which enhance the quality of life in 3M communities around the world. With the goal of helping to develop productive, educated and involved citizens, 3M targets programs that address related education, family, and community issues. Science and math education and youth development are top priorities. In addition to education, 3M also supports health and human services, the arts, and environmental efforts. 3M and the 3M Foundation donate millions to education, arts and cultural, health and human services, and environmental organizations.

To find out how your organization can sponsor the News or support the Triangle Coalition in other ways, click here. __________________________________________________________________