Triangle Coalition For Science And Technology Education

Just prior to the end of the year, Congress came to a compromise and passed a consolidated appropriations bill (H.R. 2055) for FY 2012, totaling $915 billion. The bill cut the Department of Education’s budget by $153 million over last year, putting its FY12 funding at $71.3 billion. Despite the House’s proposed elimination of funding for the Math and Science Partnerships, the program survived at $150 million for FY12, a decrease of $25 million from FY11. In his budget request, President Obama had proposed replacing the MSP with a $206 million comprehensive STEM program, “Effective Teaching and Learning: STEM.” This program was not funded, but the MSP will continue this year.

The President’s key programs – Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation (i3), School Improvement Grants, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and Promise Neighborhoods, were all included in the budget, although some received cuts. RTTT received $549 million in FY12 funding, which is $150 million less than last year and much less than the Administration’s $900 million request. Funding for i3 remained at last year’s $149 million. Both of these programs have strong STEM emphasis.

Prior to the bill’s passage, the government had been operating under continuing resolutions since October 1, 2011. The omnibus spending bill now funds the government through September 30, 2012.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education invited nine states to apply for the third round of Race to the Top by submitting state-wide education reform plans that emphasize STEM education. The states eligible to apply for a portion of the $200 million are the nine unfunded Round 2 finalists: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

To apply, the state must first provide a set of assurances confirming its commitment to continue the reforms established in its Phase 2 application. Assurances will include information such as state funding for education and efforts to enhance data systems, raise academic standards, and improve evaluation systems.

If the Department deems they meet all assurances, states will then submit a detailed plan explaining how the proposed reforms will broadly impact student learning and improve STEM education, as well as include a budget and details on performance measures. The plan can either be a specific STEM activity from the Round 2 proposal or incorporate a STEM focus within one of the four core education reform areas: standards and assessments; data systems; teacher training, recruitment, and retention; and school turn-around. Whichever way the state decides to address STEM education, “sufficient funding” must be put towards activities that are both measurable and likely to produce improvement in STEM outcomes.

In a statement last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “Race to the Top round three will enable these nine states to further their reform efforts already underway and help them get better faster.”

Race to the Top Phase 3 is funded by Congress through the FY2011 Appropriations Act, which provided nearly $700 million for the Race to the Top Fund this year. Approximately $500 million went to the Early Learning Challenge program, leaving $200 million to be divided between some or all of the nine unfunded Phase 2 finalists. If all nine states apply, awards would range from $12 million to $49 million, depending on state population. However, the amounts could increase if some states decide not to apply or do not meet the required assurances.

States have until November 22 to file the first part of the application showing that they meet all of the assurances. For those states that qualify, the second part of application is due December 16.

To learn more about the requirements of Race to the Top Phase Three, visit the Department of Education’s resources page.

Yesterday, Congress passed the FY2011 spending bill (H.R. 1473) to fund the federal government, including the agencies, through September 30th. The bill passed in the House by a vote of 260 to 167 and the Senate by 81 to 19. The measure makes historic spending cuts totaling nearly $40 billion, the largest non-defense cut ever.

The passage comes after a long, painstaking and highly partisan battle that almost forced a full government shutdown. The shutdown was narrowly avoided by an agreement that was reached just minutes before the deadline last Friday night.

While education did see its share of cuts, STEM education programs fared rather well considering the overall reductions. The Department of Education saw a $1 billion cut from levels enacted in FY2010. The budget of the National Science Foundation’s Education and Human Resources division was reduced by $10 million. It’s Research and Related Activities is also down $43 million. NASA Education’s budget was cut by $38 million. The Department of Energy’s Office of Science also saw a reduction of $35 million.

The White House reports, “We protected funding for critical programs that invest in science programs, our kids’ education, and critical health programs… Even though we will no longer double the funding of key research and development agencies, you will still see strong investments in National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation and the Office of Science.”

The measure does continue two of the administration’s key education priorities, which were both initiated in the Recovery Act. The Investing in Innovation (i3) program is slated to continue with another $150 million. Although surprising to some, the Race to the Top will continue another round with $700 million. While Obama had hoped to see districts compete in the next round, the measure only allows for states to enter.

Several of the Department of Education’s programs were eliminated, including the $100 million Education Technology State grants. Unfortunately, the legislation also cut $138 million from Perkins by eliminating Tech-Prep and cutting back the Perkins Basic State Grants by $35 million.

National earmarks including Teach for America, National Writing Project, and the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards will now have to compete for funding through a 1 percent set-aside within the Teacher Quality State Grants program.

With the FY2011 budget settled, Congress can finally move onto the FY2012 budget, which will likely see the same arguments in the weeks and months to come.

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.”

Nine states and the District of Columbia have won grants in the second round of the Race to the Top competition. The 10 winning applications are: the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

To recap, Race to the Top is a $4.35 billion federal investment in education reform funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Earlier this year in round one, two states, Delaware and Tennessee, were selected to receive grants of approximately $100 million and $500 million, respectively, to implement their school reform plans over the next four years. The scores and amounts awarded to round two finalists are shown in the table below.

States that placed an emphasis on education programs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) were eligible to receive competitive preference priority points. Nine of the applicants, out of a total of 36, failed to receive credit for STEM education. Although this section was only worth 15 points (3 percent of the total score), only states that received these points ended up qualifying as finalists and all ten of the winning applications included strong plans for STEM education.

To highlight just a few STEM strategies of the winning states, here are some examples:

• DC plans to develop a DC STEM Learning Network to leverage regional and national partners, such as Battelle, and develop a strategy to strengthen STEM teachers at every grade level. (The formation of STEM networks are a commonality among many of the states’ applications.)

• Florida’s STEM initiatives include the cooperation of industry experts, museums, universities, research center, and other STEM-capable community partners to produce a STEM Plan. The state will also provide STEM Coordinators for Florida Struggling Schools and plans to support STEM teacher training programs at state universities.

• Hawaii mentions its challenge of attracting and retaining highly qualified STEM teachers and proposes several initiatives to increase the supply of effective teachers and connect them to industry, researchers, and higher education resources. Also, the state’s Women in Technology Project serves rural schools in geographically isolated islands and works in partnership with local businesses to encourage girls and other underrepresented groups to pursue STEM careers.

• Ohio’s proposal discusses how it will leverage the existing Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN), which is part of an emergent multi-state consortium of other statewide networks. It will use its established STEM schools as teacher training, professional development, and R&D sites available to schools.

• New York will enhance STEM access and education through leveraging partnerships with prestigious universities: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Clarkson University, and the University at Albany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Like many of the other states, it will emphasize STEM by adopting world class standards in STEM disciplines, which will be supported by state-wide curriculum and professional development.

While this space is simply inadequate to give credit to all of the inspiring STEM initiatives, these are just a couple of the STEM strategies that were mentioned in the proposals. All materials including complete applications and peer reviewers’ comments and scores from both Phase 1 and Phase 2 can be viewed on the Department of Education’s website. In addition, the Department also revealed the identity of the Race to the Top reviewers, keeping its promise to full transparency.

As far as the states that did not receive STEM competitive preference priority points, here are some comments from the judges. Regarding Iowa’s application, a reviewer commented that “the proposal is silent on the kind of K-12 plan involving STEM that qualifies as a priority for the state.” For Alabama, while the proposal discussed several STEM initiatives already in place, reviewers found that these efforts were not incorporated throughout the rest of the application. Commenting on Maine’s STEM plan, one reviewer said the STEM activities were not “coherent or pervasive,” nor did the application specifically address the needs of underrepresented groups or women.

“We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them in this round,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The secretary is hopeful that there will be a Round 3 of Race to the Top, pending the additional $1.35 billion dollars the administration has requested in the FY2011 budget. “In the meantime, we will partner with each and every state that applied to help them find ways to carry out the bold reforms they’ve proposed in their applications.”

If any Triangle Coalition members are becoming involved with implementing the STEM strategies in the RttT states, please let us know about it (email: guelzowa@triangle-coalition.org.

Today, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the finalists for the second round of the Race to the Top grant competition. Out of 36 applicants, 18 states and the District of Columbia were selected to present their plans in Washington the week of August 9.

The 19 finalists are: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

Duncan formally announced the winners this afternoon at the National Press Club in Washington, where he delivered a speech mentioning the “quiet revolution” of education reform around the country.

“There is a growing sense that a quiet revolution is underway in our homes and schools, classrooms, and communities,” Duncan said. “This quiet revolution is driven by motivated parents who want better educational options for their children. It’s being driven by great educators and administrators who are challenging the defeatism and inertia that has trapped generations of children in second-rate schools.”

While Race to the Top gives competitive preference to states with STEM initiatives, Duncan only briefly touched on America’s competitiveness in STEM today. “We’re competing with kids from around the world and the truth is we are slipping further behind. Among developed nations, our 8th grade students trail 10 other countries in science and our 15-year-olds are in the bottom quarter on math,” said Duncan.

Duncan also talked about the “game-changers” in his reform plan and in the blueprint for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, such as measuring individual student growth rather than proficiency. Other game-changers include current federal initiatives like the Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund, the Teacher Incentive Fund, School Improvement Grants, and the federal charter school program. Between all of these programs, Duncan estimates that the Department of Education will distribute almost $10 million to support education reform.

Initially, the Race to the Top pot was $4.35 billion and out of that, $600 million was awarded to first round winners, Delaware and Tennessee, and $350 million is reserved for a separate assessment competition, leaving $3.4 billion remaining for the second round grant winners. The Department says it expects to select 10-15 winners, which will probably be announced in early September.

Duncan said, “Just as in the first round, we’re going to set a very high bar because we know that real and meaningful change will only come from doing hard work and setting high expectations.”  

STEM education became an unexpected topic of conversation and a unifying issue among a highly partisan Senate during a hearing on Wednesday. The hearing was held by the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations to examine the Department of Education’s FY2011 budget request, as well as the current education jobs crisis. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified before the committee and was followed by a second panel of witnesses representing education at the state and local levels.

While the majority of the hearing focused on education jobs and the budget request, Sen. Shelby (R-AL) refocused the conversation when he brought up the issue of the STEM education priority included in the US Department of Education’s recent Race to the Top competition. In the application, fifteen competitive preference priority points, all or nothing, were attached to STEM initiatives. Shelby expressed profound disappointment that greater emphasis was not given to STEM. He asked witness, Dr. Joseph B. Morton, what his reaction was to Race to the Top allocating only fifteen out of five hundred points to STEM.

Dr. Morton, Superintendent of the Alabama State Department of Education and Council of Chief State School Officers member, responded that he was “stunned and disappointed” when he found out that only three percent of the points were based on the inclusion of a STEM component. “Our whole initiative (Alabama Math, Science, and Technology initiative) was built on the fact that we think that in Alabama and America, our students’ future is in math, science and technology,” said Morton. “If we’re going to be number one, we’ve got to invest in engineering, mathematics, technology, and biotech.”

“It seems like this is upside down” stated Shelby, and referred to Race to the Top‘s STEM focus as “a flawed program” that needs to be changed. Chairman Harkin (D-IA), surprised by this information, agreed with Shelby and Morton that more emphasis needed to be given to STEM. The Senators agreed to work together in a bipartisan effort to look into this further.

According to EdWeek’s Alyson Klein in the Politics K-12 blog, the fact that the Committee is questioning the program’s application content doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t fund the Department of Education’s request for the $1.35 billion in Race to the Top extension funds. However, Klein says it does seem to mean that Congress intends to begin weighing in on the program.

Secretary Duncan’s testimony at this hearing also included specific mention of improving STEM education outcomes, citing some of the STEM items included in the FY2011 budget request as outlined below. “The world our youth will inherit will increasingly be influenced by science and technology, and it is our obligation to prepare them for that world,” Duncan said to the committee. Duncan did not make any specific mention to the STEM priority points in Race to the Top.

He mentioned President Obama’s ongoing “Educate to Innovate” campaign, which fosters public-private partnerships in support of STEM education. The goal, Duncan says, is for American students to become the world’s top achievers in STEM over the next decade. The education budget specifically includes the following requests for competitive grant programs related to STEM education:

• $300 million -Effective Teaching and Learning: STEM programs
• $500 million- Investing in Innovation (i3) program, including $150 million for STEM projects
• $25 million- STEM initiative within the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education

For more coverage on the Department of Education’s FY2011 budget request or the Race to the Top program, check out Triangle Coalition’s previous Legislative Update posts.

Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that Tennessee and Delaware are the first round Race to the Top winners. Forty states and the District of Columbia submitted lengthy applications for this landmark, $4.35 billion grant competition between states. Delaware will receive approximately $100 million and Tennessee $500 million to implement their school reform plans over the next four years.

“We received many strong proposals from states all across America, but two applications stood out above all others: Delaware and Tennessee,” said Duncan in yesterday’s announcement. “These states received the two highest scores in the competition. Both of them have statewide buy-in for comprehensive plans to reform their schools.”

States that placed an emphasis on education programs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) were awarded competitive preference priority points. Thirty-three of the original applicants and all of the finalists, except for Louisiana, received the competitive priority points for addressing STEM.

The winners, Delaware and Tennessee, had especially strong STEM strategies that were integrated throughout their applications, both with central themes of collaboration and partnerships. Both states’ applications also included plans to develop statewide STEM coordination networks.

Tennessee

Tennessee’s STEM priorities (p. 147 to 150 of the application) focused on the development of the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, which will link together all STEM efforts in the state, and on the formation of strategic partnerships between entities including, Oak Ridge National laboratory, Battelle Memorial Institute, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and the Ohio STEM Learning Network. The state plans to leverage its substantial STEM education, research, and industry assets to dramatically accelerate STEM education.

“Tennessee’s plan truly is a statewide effort,” remarked Duncan. “In particular, it will reach rural areas with a STEM initiative to increase high school rigor and has a specific plan to recruit teachers into rural areas.”

The application also highlighted the state’s plans to invest in both new, innovative, STEM programming, as well as existing, proven programs, which will target K-12, higher education, unrepresented minorities, rural areas, as well as current teachers and mid-career changers. In addition, it included a strategy to turn around its persistently lowest-performing schools and also develop STEM-focused high schools.

Delaware

Delaware has historically fostered partnerships between nonprofits, institutes of higher education, and businesses, (including Triangle Coalition member, DuPont), to enhance STEM education throughout the state. Delaware’s application included plans to increase rigor in STEM coursework, promote college-readiness in science and mathematics, and to further integrate technology into education, while continuing its strategy of collaboration and innovation.

Delaware laid out three goals for STEM (p. P-2 to P-5 of the application):

1. All schools to offer a rigorous course of study in STEM subjects,
2. Formalize, continue, and expand collaboration with industry experts, institutes of higher education, universities, research centers, and other community partners to assist teachers in integrating STEM content across grade and disciplines.
3. Prepare more students for advanced study and careers in STEM disciplines, including underrepresented groups and women.

To reach these goals, the state will create a Stem Coordinating Council, which will manage the network stakeholder groups that are innovating in STEM and be responsible for overseeing STEM course content in schools. The Council will also work with the DDOE to conduct focused interventions to target women and other groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields to pursue STEM-related career pathways. In order to strengthen STEM teaching, the state will create a STEM Residency program for non-traditional candidates to work as assistant teachers in STEM subjects and earn their full-certification during the first year of teaching, as well as providing scholarships and loan forgiveness to encourage teachers to become certified in STEM fields.

The Race is far from over. The rest of the states have a chance to revise applications and compete for the remaining funds in Round 2, with applications due June 1st. States that chose not to participate in phase 1 will also have the opportunity to apply in the second round. To view the complete applications or to learn more about the Race to the Top, visit the Department of Education’s website.

This morning U.S Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan appeared before the House Education and Labor Committee in a hearing entitled “Building a Stronger Economy: Spurring Reform and Innovation in American Education.” Originally the hearing was to take place February 10th, but was rescheduled due to the blizzard in Washington, D.C.

However, with tomorrow’s upcoming announcement of the Race to the Top finalists and the ongoing hearings on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, timing couldn’t have been better. Both the hearing room and the overflow room were packed with spectators, interested in what Secretary Duncan had to say.

The Department of Education has laid out the following priorities for the next two years:
• supporting reform of struggling schools
• improvements in the quality of teaching and learning
• implementation of comprehensive statewide data systems
• simplifying student aid

While Duncan did not make any new announcements, nor did he make specific reference to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, his testimony echoed the Department’s predefined goals and priorities. Committee members questioned Duncan on President Obama’s education budget, the agenda for education reform, including the ESEA reauthorization, as well as on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. Other topics of discussion included charter schools, supplemental services, especially after-school programs, teacher quality and development, and assessment for special education and English language learners.

Overall, Duncan spoke positively about his outlook for this year’s agenda, stating, “As hard as this work is, it is also critically important; and for all the challenges, I’ve never been more optimistic.”

Alyson Klein of EdWeek also has a good wrap up of the hearing, which includes some of the specific questions that were asked.

Stay tuned for more from Duncan as the Race to the Top finalists are revealed tomorrow!

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/edlabordems/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

As the first round of the Race to the Top applications come due today, President Barack Obama announced his plans to request from Congress an additional $1.35 billion to continue the competition for education improvement in the 2011 budget. Today, the President, along with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, met with the students of Graham Road Elementary School, where innovative teaching methods have helped one of Fairfax County, Virginia’s lowest-income schools become its highest achieving school.