Triangle Coalition For Science And Technology Education

Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address focused heavily on education and specifically called for greater emphasis on STEM education. President Obama covered the full-spectrum of recent education issues including: Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, international competitiveness, standards, the teaching profession, as well as STEM teachers, and more. In addition, four science students attended and sat in the box as guests of First Lady Michelle Obama.

President Obama stressed global competitiveness, pointing out that other nations, including China and India, are focusing greater efforts on educating their children in math and science. He also referenced lagging math and science proficiency among American students compared to their international peers. In December 2010, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results revealed that U.S. students ranked 17th in science and 25th in math out of 70 other international economies.

“We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world,” the President stated. This statement comes only a few weeks after he signed into law the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 5116), which sets goals to do exactly that.

Race to the Top, the $4.35 billion grant competition, is the “most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation,” he said. The President has requested that Congress continue the competition in the FY2011 budget, which has not yet been approved. The President also applauded the states who have adopted the new Common Core State Standards.

In addition, President Obama called for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Many education policy experts are skeptical of the likelihood of this being accomplished in a highly divided Congress. President Obama, however, consistent with his optimistic tone, sounded confident as he said, “Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that is more flexible and focused on what’s best for our kids.”

Of course the budget was also a main topic throughout his remarks, but he cautioned law makers regarding edu-cuts. He compared gutting our investments in innovation and education to be like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine.

Teachers, or “nation builders” as they call them in South Korea, should be treated with the utmost respect, said the President. He referred to his recent announcement of a goal to recruit and train 100,000 great STEM teachers over the next ten years who are able to prepare and inspire students. This goal is aligned with the recommendations(pdf) recently made by the President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST). In an appeal to young people, he said, “If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make a difference in the life of a child — become a teacher. Your country needs you.”

Overall, the State of the Union Address was extremely favorable for STEM education, especially this statement, “We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.”

Now that the 112th Congress is officially in office, we can begin to examine who the new players will be in education, specifically science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. With the GOP now in control of the House, the committees and subcommittees are under new Republican leadership. Not only have the players changed, but the names of a few committees have changed too. The House Education and Labor Committee is now the Education and the Workforce Committee; and the House Science and Technology Committee will now be called the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Former Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Rep. John Kline (R-MN) have swapped positions on the Education and Workforce Committee, with Kline now serving as the new chair. Kline announced the 112th Republican committee members here. Kline has expressed that his priorities will focus on certainty and simplicity in federal regulations, and promoting innovation in schools and workplaces. Simplicity and minimalism seem to be the themes among this new Congress as budgets are tightened and programs become scrutinized.

Kline has selected the following members to serve as education subcommittee chairs: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness; and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education

Former ranking member Ralph Hall (R-TX) is the new Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Hall replaces retired Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN), author of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5116). Hall voted against the COMPETES Act which passed as a last minute surprise at the end of the lame duck session. Hall has pledged now to conduct rigorous oversight to the programs in the bill. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) has been named Ranking Member of this committee.

The new House Appropriations Committee Chair is Hal Rogers (R-KY), who, like Hall and most Republicans, also opposed the COMPETES Act. With COMPETES passed and now signed into law by President Obama, the question going forward is what level will be appropriated. John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, said in a recent blog post, “Full funding of the COMPETES Act is among the most important things that Congress can do to ensure America’s continued leadership in the decades ahead.”

In addition to the retirement of Bart Gordon, a few other STEM education advocates will also be missed this year. After serving eight terms, one of STEM’s biggest champions, Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), retired. He served on both the committees on Education and Labor, and Science and Technology, and was also co-chair of the STEM Education Caucus. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), who worked with Ehlers across the aisle on STEM education legislation, also retired. Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), another STEM advocate and former ranking Republican on the Education and Labor Committee, ran for Senate and lost the election in the primaries.

Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) has been selected to replace Ehlers and serve as co-chair of the STEM Education Caucus along with Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL). “My background is in manufacturing, and one of the most important ways we can strengthen this and other highly-skilled industries here at home is by investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and training,” said Lee in this article. “I look forward to working with Dan to ensure students interested in these critical fields have access to the resources they need to succeed so we can grow our economy and create jobs.”

To read more about what’s in store for 2011, check out these edu-predictions:

• ASCD predicts What’s Hot and What’s Not in Education for 2011
• TIME.com has Andrew Rotherham’s 11 Education Activists for 2011

Christmas came early today for STEM education. In an unexpected move at the tail end of the “lame duck” session, Congress passed the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 5116) this afternoon. The bill is now on its way to the President’s desk for signature.

The COMPETES Act is game-changing piece of legislation for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, education and makes significant investments in innovation and basic research. The bill includes the STEM Education Coordination Act, which will provide overall coordination of federal programs and activities in support of STEM education. It also reauthorizes a number of other federal STEM education programs including those at the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy.

The House had originally passed a version of the bill in May, but analysts had predicted that the bill was not likely to get through the Senate before the end of this Congress. However, the Senate passed an amended version of COMPETES by unanimous consent last Friday. Today, the House approved the Senate’s amendments and passed the bill with a vote of 228-130.

Rep. Bart Gordon, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology said, “While there have been concessions made, the Senate’s amendments preserve the intent of the Rising Above the Gathering Storm report and the original COMPETES. It keeps our basic research agencies on a doubling path, it continues to invest in high-risk, high-reward energy technology development, it will help improve STEM education, and it will help unleash American innovation.”

Gordon, who is now retiring, is the author of the bill and has been one of COMPETES’ biggest champions. “I cannot think of anything I would rather do as one of my final acts in Congress than sending this bill, with strong bipartisan support, to the president’s desk.”

The passage of the COMPETES Reauthorization comes on the heels of the report released in September, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5. The report references daunting statistics on America’s progress and future outlook regarding global competitiveness and innovation. The authors of the report stressed the necessity for major investments in basic research, STEM education, and innovation in order to maintain our competitive position in the world.

Last week, Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) brought the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5116) before the House floor for the third time. After two previously failed attempts at passage, the bill was finally agreed to in the House by 262-150. Only a simple majority vote was needed for the bill to pass and it will now move on to the Senate.

In the first proceeding on H.R. 5116 on May 13th, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) offered a motion to recommit with instructions that included several provisions. Then on May 19th, Gordon brought a nearly identical bill (H.R. 5325) before the House, which included the provisions set forth by the motion to recommit, but failed to garner the two–thirds majority required under the rules of suspension.

On Friday of last week, Gordon reintroduced H.R. 5116 and requested that each of the nine components of the amendment (H.AMDT.678) be considered for votes separately. All of the sections of the amendment were voted down except for two: the “porn provision,” section 704, agreed to by unanimous consent; and the “military recruiters on campus provision,” section 705, agreed to by 348-68.

“I am disappointed that my Democratic colleagues resorted to using a procedural tactic to defeat Republican changes that would have saved over $40 billion and restored the original COMPETES priority of basic research,” said Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX). “While I am glad we were finally able to reauthorize many of the important research and education program in this bill, the bill that passed today spends too much money, authorizes duplicative programs, and shifts focus away from the bill’s original intent.”

Chairman Gordon (D-TN), on the other hand, stated, “Today, we took the action necessary to see consideration of this bill completed. We have provided all Members, in a reasonable manner, with the ability to vote on each of these items separately instead of all together.”

COMPETES would seek to increase U.S. competitiveness by investing $86 billion over the next five years in research, innovation, and education programs at federal science agencies. The bill places a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education by reauthorizing the Noyce scholarship, coordinating STEM activities across the federal government, and improving STEM education at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels. It has over 100 cosponsors and more than 750 endorsers.

For more on the recent legislative actions surrounding COMPETES, read our past Legislative Update postings.  

The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, H.R. 5325, failed to rally enough votes for passage in the House of Representatives today. Although it received bi-partisan support, the bill did not have the two-thirds vote required under suspension.

Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) of the House Committee on Science and Technology reintroduced H.R. 5325, practically the duplicate bill of H.R. 5116 with a few exceptions:

1- The revised bill reduces the authorization period from five years to three years, reducing the overall cost by almost 50%.
2- It includes a provision from last week’s Motion to Recommit, banning the use of authorized funds to pay the salary of federal employees disciplined for looking at pornography at work.
3- In addition, all 52 amendments that were adopted during the floor consideration last week were included.

“The reintroduced America COMPETES Reauthorization Act is a 50 percent cut in the funding path from H.R. 5116 as introduced. While I certainly would have preferred the stability a five-year authorization would have given our science agencies, I am willing to compromise with the Minority, in the interest of getting a good bill through the House and to our colleagues in the Senate. This legislation is too important to our nation’s scientific and economic leadership to let it fall victim to political gridlock,” said Gordon in a statement on Wednesday.

Following the House vote today, Gordon said, “I’m disappointed, but not deterred. As I’ve said before, this bill is too important to let fall by the way-side. More than half of our economic growth since World War II can be directly attributed to development and adoption of new technologies. The path is simple: research leads to innovation; innovation leads to economic development and good paying jobs. Creating good jobs is the goal of this bill, and it is what our country needs right now.”

Learn more about the America COMPETES Reauthorization in our recent Legislative Update posts.

The America COMPETES bill (H.R. 5116) was sent to the full House floor this week, but will now be returning back to the Committee on Science and Technology under a “motion to recommit with instructions.” The motion, offered by Ranking Member Ralph Hall (R-TX), surprisingly passed with an overwhelming 68% majority, including 122 “ayes” from Democrats. The minority will now have a final opportunity to revise the bill within the committee, based on the instructions provided in the motion.

The Republicans have opposed the current bill primarily due to the proposed price tag totaling $86 billion for a five year reauthorization, which is $22 billion more than the original 2007 law, authorized for three years. In addition, Republicans say the bill would create at least six new duplicative programs.

“I remain committed to the underlying goals of the America COMPETES Act and believe that we should continue to prioritize investments in basic research and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education,” said Ranking Member Ralph Hall. “However, this bill spends too much money and goes far beyond the original intent and scope of the COMPETES legislation.”

Hall offered the following provisions for the committee under his motion:

• Reduce the authorization to three years instead of five.
• Strike the new programs in the bill.
• Reduce spending down to the FY2010 appropriated levels.
• Prohibit federal funds from being used by federal employees to view, download or exchange pornography, including child pornography.
• Ensure that the institutions that were given federal funding through the act will repay the federal government by allowing the military onto their campuses for recruitment.
• Ensure that colleges and universities that make STEM programs available to disabled veterans and those schools chartered to serve disabled veterans receive the same special consideration afforded to other schools serving underprivileged.

The vote on the motion came down to the recent issue of some federal employees at the National Science Foundation viewing pornography on government computers and the provision to prohibit these employees from receiving federal funds. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) urged approval of the motion, stating, “This motion to recommit is simple… If you think a couple days of suspension, a reprimand, a transfer is the right response when someone uses government computers to spread pornography, then vote against this motion. But if you think spreading pornography with a government computer is an act that should lead to dismissal, then vote for this motion.”

Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN), sponsor of the bill, was less than pleased at the action, but pulled the bill from the floor anyway given its current circumstances and provisions in the motion. He defended the cost of the bill explaining that spending in R&D is part of a cycle to invest in the future. “R&D gives you innovation,” he said. “Innovation gives you jobs which create the type of standard of living and revenue that allows us to reduce the deficit as well as to continue the R&D again.” He also emphasized that the bill has already been cut by 10.3%. “Now tell me what authorization has been cut by over 10%? This is the only one,” he stated.

Gordon expressed frustration that COMPETES would be recommitted over language regarding pornography. “I’m shocked,” he said. “I guess we need this little bitty provision that means nothing that’s going to gut the entire bill. This is an embarrassment.”

Watch Gordon’s response, courtesy of CSPAN here:

Following the House proceedings on Thursday, Gordon issued the following statements:

“I’m disappointed that politics trumped good policy. The Minority was willing to trade American jobs and our nation’s economic competitiveness for the chance to run a good political ad. We’re all opposed to federal employees watching pornography…but that’s not what this was about. The Motion to Recommit was about gutting funding for our science agencies.”

Gordon also said that he wants to bring up the bill again, but the timing is unclear right now. He urged STEM advocates to make their case to Congress why this bill needs to be signed into law.  

Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) of the House Science and Technology Committee may attain his goal of passing the America COMPETES reauthorization (H.R. 5116) through the House before the end of May. The bill has already been approved by the committee, as mentioned in the May 3rd Legislative Update post, and is scheduled to move to the House Floor as early as tomorrow. Last week, in addition to the bill’s sponsor Rep. Bart Gordon, one-hundred and one co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle signed on in support of this landmark legislation.

COMPETES was also the topic of a recent dialogue in the Senate. Last week, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing entitled America Wins When America COMPETES: Building a High-Tech Workforce. Witnesses testifying before the committee represented Discovery Communications, Wood County Schools, University of Maryland, the National Math and Science Initiative, and Triangle Coalition Member, the National Center for Technological Literacy (NCTL).

Ranking Member Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) mentioned her plans to introduce legislation around the UTeach Program to help colleges and universities recruit and prepare students who major in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) to become certified as elementary school teachers. “I hope as we move forward this can be included in the America COMPETES Act reauthorization,” she said.

Dr. Ioannis Miaoulis, President and Director of the Museum of Science, Boston and Founding Director of the NCTL recommended that Congress should include the Engineering Education (E2) for Innovation Act, S. 3043, as part of the America COMPETES or as part of the STEM initiative under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). “K-12 engineering education will catalyze the development of a highly skilled STEM workforce necessary to insure our global competitiveness and national security,” stated Dr. Miaoulis. The Triangle Coalition and many of its members have also signed on in support of this initiative.

Miaoulis also called attention to the fact that many of COMPETE’s goals set forth under the 2007 law, especially those related to STEM education, did not materialize because many of the funds were never appropriated. “Although some programs were funded either through appropriations or the Recovery Act,” said Miaoulis, “my concern is that very little was done in the K-12 STEM education space and even less was done for informal science education.”

“With America COMPETES we planted the seeds of something very powerful, but we have to nurture the investment if we want to reap its benefits.” stated Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV). “The authorizations in that legislation expire this year and, as we look toward reauthorization, we need to evaluate our progress.”

The Congressional Budget Office recently released the new budget report, detailing the estimated $86 billion in spending on COMPETES for 2011-2015. The House Science and Technology Committee has also posted a Legislative Highlights summary and full text of the COMPETE bill on its website, with STEM education featured in Title III.

Update 5/13/10: COMPETES has just been pulled from the House Floor and will be sent back to the committee because of Republicans’ objections to the budget and to a recent National Science Foundation scandal involving employees viewing pornography. Find out more at “COMPETES Pulled from House Floor.”  

Reform in K-12 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education was the topic of a hearing last week, held by the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology. This is one in a series of hearings on STEM education, being held in preparation for the reauthorization on the America COMPETES Act. COMPETES, passed in 2007, was created to invest in innovation through research and development, and to strengthen U.S. competiveness. The hearing focused on ways of promoting improvements in STEM education through cross-sector partnerships and the importance of STEM education to our nation’s economic competitiveness.

In his opening remarks, Ranking Member Rep. Ralph Hall (D-TX) said the America COMPETES Act needs to strike a balance between funding our nation’s competitiveness and fiscal responsibility.

Dr. Gordon Gee, President of the Ohio State University, advised that as our nation evolves from being a “hardware to thoughtware” economy, we must become more competitive and shift our educational approach from K-12 to “P-20,” starting with preschool and continuing for twenty years beyond.

Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL ) asked the witnesses how education could be expanded beyond the traditional school day. In response, Ms. Ellen Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History, encouraged more cross-sector partnerships and informal education programs that enhance science outcomes by engaging students, teachers, families, and communities.

Regarding teacher training, Dr. Jim Simmons, Founder and Chairman of Math for America, stressed the importance of producing teachers with rich content knowledge in STEM subjects. He attributed the nation’s lack of technically trained young people to a shortage of knowledgeable teachers in math and science.

Echoing the sentiment of the other witnesses, Dr. Gee urged Congress to make a long-term, strategic investment in STEM for the future of America. While the nation’s struggling economic situation has been the backdrop of this discussion, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) pointed out that the focus really needs to be long-term STEM involvement. She reiterated that while other country’s gain momentum in math and science, ours is falling behind and we can’t allow this to happen.

Dr. Jeffrey Wadsworth, President and CEO of Battelle, said that a disconnect exists as our nation is home to the world’s leading scientific research facilities and university system, yet we desperately need to improve our K-12 school system. He proposed that a solution can start with more partnerships, such as the one Battelle has formed with the Ohio State University. In agreement, Dr. Gee said that the COMPETES reauthorization provides us with an excellent opportunity to expand partnerships and reinvent the system.

In the same way, Chairman Gordon stated, “STEM education in this country is a problem that no one entity can solve alone. There is a role for all the key stakeholders, including federal, state, local school districts, higher education, and industry. But we must coordinate our efforts and leverage all our resources.”  

Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), a long-time advocate for math and science education, announced that he will not seek re-election in November after serving eight full terms in the House of Representatives. Ehlers was a professor of physics at Calvin College from 1966-83 and the first research physicist to serve in Congress.

He serves on the House committees on Education and Labor; Science and Technology; and Transportation and Infrastructure and is also co-chair of the STEM Education Caucus.

Ehlers has been involved with a variety of legislation aimed at improving the outcome of math and science education, including the current reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act, last year’s introduction of the Improving Mathematics and Science Teacher Quality Act, and the SPEAK Act, a bi-partisan effort introduced with democrat Senator Christopher Dodd, who also plans to retire after completing this term. Ehlers also sponsored National Computer Science Education Week, which will take place December 2010.

According to the Washington Post, Ehlers says that he may return to his roots in the sciences. “I’ve always dreamed of building my own airplane and flying it so that’s still a dream, but I don’t know if I’ll have the time or the energy to do it,” he said.

Ehlers recognizes that he still has work left to do before his term ends. “Many serious issues still need diligent attention from Congress,” he says, “and I intend to participate vigorously in my work for the remainder of this year.”