News and Announcements

STEM TEACHER ISSUES - November 13, 2007

Three K-12 Leadership Groups Urge Broad and Intensive Use of Technology to Improve Education
From: Yahoo! Business
Three K-12 leadership groups today warned that the nation's schools would not be able to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century without using technology broadly and intensively -- just as competitive U.S. industries have been doing for years. In a new report, "Maximizing the Impact: The Pivotal Role of Technology in a 21st Century Education System," the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills urged renewed emphasis on technology in education. "Most people assume that schools already are using technology in the same way that leading businesses and organizations are using it as an indispensable, integral tool for every critical function," said Mary Ann Wolf, Executive Director of SETDA. "This is simply not the case. Our educational system has a long way to go before the potential of technology to improve teacher quality, increase rigor, and maximize efficiencies is realized."

Local teachers attend math development institute
From: the Sequoyah County Times
Roland teachers recently attended a special math institute that focuses on giving teachers methods to better students' math problem solving skills. The county teachers are participating in a Math Professional Development Institute (PDI) that focuses on improving middle school students' math skills and improve scores - an effort undertaken by the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA). Bruce Treadaway, OEA communications specialist, said the PDI got its start after the legislature recognized that middle school math scores in Oklahoma were low and wanted to combat the problem. The legislature funded the effort and the OEA recognized the issue and undertook the delivery of the PDIs to middle school math teachers across the state. The math PDIs began in the metro areas, and resulted in higher test scores for students and better problem-solving skills, prompting the OEA to focus on rural schools. The recent PDI for the southeast part of the state was held in Poteau with 80 teachers attending from Sequoyah and LeFlore Counties. While all Sequoyah County schools were invited, Roland teachers were the only ones who attended. As part of participation in the PDI, teachers receive six days of training yearly. Becky Felts, OEA vice president, explained that it's structured over a period of time so teachers can reflect on the lessons and implement newly-learned skills in their own classrooms. Teachers then go back to training and can talk about how the skills worked.

STEM education policymakers to come to D.C.
From: Education Daily
The Educational Policy Institute and the University of Maryland plan to gather national experts, policymakers and researchers to discuss improvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. The summit will look at research and policy on the best practices in STEM education to improve U.S. global competitiveness and expand access to programs for at-risk students. What: National Capitol Summit on STEM When: Feb. 6-7 Where: Washington, D.C.; hotel to be announced For more information, visit http://www.educationalpolicy.org/events/NSC/0802/main.html

Carnegie Corp. Provides Grant to Support Training of Science Schoolteachers
From: the Chronicle of Higher Education
The Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded the association representing land-grant universities a $200,000 grant to help public universities prepare more and better schoolteachers in mathematics and science. The grant, to the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, known as Nasulgc, came weeks after Congress separately authorized new grants to universities for improving the training. Like the Congressional programs, the Nasulgc project, announced on Monday, is meant to raise the low number of schoolteachers in math and science who have earned degrees in the disciplines they teach. Analysts have blamed that paucity as one cause of the mediocre scores of American students on international science examinations. The association will use the money to set up an online clearinghouse of promising practices among existing teacher-education programs. Nasulgc also plans to develop tools to measure the education programs? progress and to quantify the need for more science and math teachers by state. The project, which is focused on secondary schools, is called the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative.

NACOL Releases Report on Professional Development for Virtual Schooling and Online Learning
From: Calibre
The North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) released a report entitled Professional Development for Virtual Schooling and Online Learning at their Virtual School Symposium (VSS) today. This report aims to raise awareness of misconceptions and provide guidance on professional development for virtual schools as well as providers of teacher education and professional development. It examines the types of professional development necessary to implement successful online learning initiatives. "Online learning is an important trend in the systemic reform and improvement of our nation's schools," says Susan Patrick, President and CEO of NACOL. "I fully support the recommendation in this report that all universities, colleges and preservice professional development include virtual schooling and online learning in their programs." Virtual schooling is providing a bridge between the traditional classroom and 21st century education by linking high-quality teaching and high-quality courses with the collaborative, networked, information-rich environments that are a hallmark of the information age. States, districts, universities and schools need to be providing professional development in the operations, budgeting, curricular and instructional leadership for leaders, future teachers and school administrators to understand and support virtual learning. New professional opportunities are open to teachers to teach full-time and part-time with the advent of virtual learning. For the first time, teachers are provided with more flexibility than ever--some are even telecommuting. Online professional development for administrators, teachers and school leaders will help build new models of schools--both online and blended--and better serve today's students during an information revolution in a global society.

Grant Aimed at Encouraging Science Students to be Teachers
From: Inside Indiana Business
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has received a grant to help fund scholarships to encourage undergraduate science students to become high school or middle school science teachers. The Noyce Scholars commit to teaching at least two years in an urban or high-need school district after graduation. Science educators in the School of Science and the IU School of Education at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have been awarded one of 16 competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Robert Noyce Scholarship grants to encourage undergraduate science students to become high school or middle school science teachers. During a four year period, the grant will fund scholarships worth up to $12,200 per year for up to two years to 30 students in the School of Science in an attempt to meet the statewide demand for science teachers in Indiana. Noyce Scholars commit to teaching at least two years in an urban or high-need school district after graduation.

NSF grant supports education outreach
From: Arizona State University
As a child growing up in India, Tirupalavanam Ganesh remembers taking apart his mechanical toys ? and his father?s fountain ink pens ? to figure out how they worked. Later on, he used an Erector Set he received as a gift to build any number of ?contraptions.? Ganesh, the assistant dean for information systems with ASU?s Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, credits the imaginative play of his childhood for fueling his early career in engineering ? and for his desire to create opportunities for female and minority youth to engage in learning activities designed to inspire and prepare them to pursue careers in information technology, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (IT/STEM) fields. This fall, Ganesh and his research team earned a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a three-year project titled ?Learning through Engineering Design and Practice: Using our Human Capital for an Equitable Future.? The grant was awarded through the Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. ITEST was established by the NSF?s Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings in direct response to the national concern about shortages of technology workers in the United States, and it focuses on the need to expand and diversify the number of students prepared to enter careers in the field.

HOUSE SCIENCE SUBCOMMITTEE EXAMINES INNOVATION AND GLOBALIZATION
The House Committee on Science and Technology?s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation concluded its series of hearings on the offshoring of U.S. science and technical jobs this week. The hearing held this week ? the fourth in a series ? further examined the implications of globalization of research and development and innovation for the country?s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce. Witnesses included: Dr. Michael S. Teitelbaum vice president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Dr. Harold Salzman, senior research associate at the Urban Institute; Dr. Charles McMillion, president and chief economist of MBG Information Services; Paul J. Kostek, vice president for career activities of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers - USA; and Henry Becker, president of Qimonda North America. Witnesses sought to explain how U.S. workers need to constantly ?re-tool? their skills to adapt to the changing marketplace. The speakers also discussed the new opportunities and challenges created by globalization, including reshaping the demand for STEM workers and skills; as well as how offshoring is affecting the STEM workforce pipeline and how workers are responding to globalization. In a press statement related to the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) said, ?This can sometimes be a heated issue. No one wants to think about losing their job, but today?s science and engineering graduates could face an uncertain future. I?m sure we all agree that we must find a way to help our current and future science and engineering workers better understand the challenges and opportunities facing them in the twenty-first century.? For more information on the hearing, including testimony, visit http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2034.

Class Act: YouTube Moves Into Education
From: Ad Week
Log onto YouTube, and you can watch Richard Muller, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, illustrate how atoms and heat work (via a spot from Toyota's "Moving forward" campaign in which a meteor strikes a Tacoma truck). Actually, log onto YouTube (youtube.com/ucberkeley) and you can watch Muller's entire semester-long course (taught in 2006), thanks to a partnership between Berkeley and Google's video-sharing site. Bringing higher education to the Web in this manner can help both brands, experts say. (Berkeley is considered one of the first to do so. Harvard ran a law course through its extension program on Second Life in 2006.) Berkeley opens the virtual doors of its university to the world at large; YouTube gains the cachet of its association with a prestigious educational brand, and, ideally, attracts an audience beyond viewers interested in watching user-generated videos.

State leaders convene to discuss ed tech
From: eschoolnews
Keeping kids safe on the internet and allowing them to learn and explore online don't have to be mutually exclusive goals: That was one of the key messages delivered to state educational technology leaders who attended a recent event in Washington, D.C. The occasion was the annual Leadership Summit and Education Forum, hosted by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) on Nov. 5 and 6. Called "What It Takes to Compete," the forum invited state education leaders from around the nation to a series of sessions highlighting best practices and innovative approaches for using technology to transform instruction and create 21st-century learning opportunities. Session topics ranged from managing internet security to the importance of high-speed networks, and from "three-dimensional" social networking to a definition of global awareness. A central theme throughout the event was the importance of educational technology in preparing today's students for success in an increasingly global economy. Though most school leaders would agree with that notion, concerns about internet safety are keeping many educators from using the internet to its full potential as an instructional tool. But it doesn't have to be that way, said forum participants.

New Class(room) War: Teacher vs. Technology
From: The New York Times
Halfway through the semester in his market research course at Roanoke College last fall, only moments after announcing a policy of zero tolerance for cellphone use in the classroom, Prof. Ali Nazemi heard a telltale ring. Then he spotted a young man named Neil Noland fumbling with his phone, trying to turn it off before being caught. ?Neil, can I see that phone?? Professor Nazemi said, more in a command than a question. The student surrendered it. Professor Nazemi opened his briefcase, produced a hammer and proceeded to smash the offending device. Throughout the classroom, student faces went ashen. ?How am I going to call my Mom now?? Neil as ked. As Professor Nazemi refused to answer, a classmate offered, ?Dude, you can sue.? Let?s be clear about one thing. Ali Nazemi is a hero. Ali Nazemi deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Let?s be clear about another thing. The episode in his classroom had been plotted and scripted ahead of time, with Neil Noland part of the charade all along. The phone was an extra of his mother?s, its service contract long expired. Just as fiction can limn truths beyond the grasp of factuality, Professor Nazemi?s act of guerrilla theater, which he recounted last week in a telephone interview, attested to the exasperation of countless teachers and professors in the computer era. Their perpetual war of attrition with defiantly inattentive students has escalated from the quaint pursuits of pigtail-pulling, spitball-lobbing and notebook-doodling to a high-tech arsenal of laptops, cellphones, BlackBerries and the like. The poor schoolmarm or master, required to provide a certain amount of value for your child?s entertainment dollar, now must compete with texting, instant-messaging, Facebook, eBay, YouTube, Addictinggames.com and other poxes on pedagogy.

One Laptop Per Child program hits milestone with start of mass production
From: Education Week
The One Laptop Per Child Program, which hopes to spread under-$200 (under-euro135) computers to schoolchildren in developing countries, has reached a milestone with the start of mass production. The nonprofit spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said assembly lines for its "XO" laptops were fired up Tuesday at a Chinese factory run by manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc. That means children should begin getting the green-and-white computers this month. One Laptop Per Child did not specify how many computers will be made or how many orders it has received from international buyers. The program's founder, Nicholas Negroponte, said in September that Quanta would build about 250,000 XOs this year, ramping to 1 million a month in 2008. Negroponte originally expected mass production of several million XOs to have begun by now. But he scaled back that goal after encountering reluctance from potential buyers. The computers were dreamed up as $100 (euro68) laptops but for now cost $188 (euro123), and buyers are expected to let children keep the computers and tinker with them at home. The initial recipients will be children in Uruguay, Peru and Mongolia. Also, beginning Monday, people in North America will be able to buy one for themselves and donate the other to a child overseas through http://www.laptopgiving.org.

Atlanta schools get $22 million for math, science education
From: the Atlanta Journal Constitution
The General Electric Co.'s charitable foundation is committing $22 million to boost math and science education in Atlanta so more students are prepared for life after high school. The multimillion dollar grant from the Connecticut-based company is the second that Atlanta Public Schools has received in the past year from a high-profile organization and the largest private investment in the system's history. Last fall, the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, started by the Microsoft chairman, promised $10 million to help redesign the system's high schools. "I can't tell you how excited we are. This is so big for Atlanta," Kathleen Pattillo, chairwoman of the Atlanta Board of Education, said of the new award being announced Tuesday. "When I came to the School Board, not many corporations would invest in Atlanta. ... I really think that people recognize the good work that's going on here." Atlanta is the fifth school system in the country to be admitted to GE's College Bound District program. Through the five-year grant, school administrators will develop a "globally competitive" curriculum for kindergartners through 12th-graders, and improve teachers' math and science lessons. Organizers envision more hands-on activities and class projects focused on real-world challenges, such as how to develop better energy sources, which they say should bolster student skills in struggling areas.

Classroom of the Future Is Virtually Anywhere
From: The New York Times
The university classroom of the future is in Janet Duck?s dining room on East Chocolate Avenue here. There is no blackboard and no lectern, and, most glaringly, no students. Dr. Duck teaches her classes in Pennsylvania State University?s master?s program in business administration by sitting for several hours each day in jeans and shag-lined slippers at her dining table, which in soccer mom fashion is cluttered with crayon sketches by her 6-year-old Elijah and shoulder pads for her 9-year-old Olivia?s Halloween costume. In this homespun setting, the spirited Dr. Duck pecks at a Toshiba laptop and posts lesson content, readings and questions for her two courses on ?managing human resources? that touch on topics like performance evaluations and recruitment. The instructional software allows her 54 students to log on from almost anywhere at any time and post remarkably extended responses, the equivalent of a blog about the course. Recently, the class exchanged hard-earned experiences about how managers deal with lackluster workers. Those students, mostly 30-ish middle managers and professionals trying to enhance their skills, cannot be with her in a Penn State classroom at a set time. One woman is an Air Force pilot flying missions over Afghanistan; other global travelers filed comments last week from Tokyo, Athens, São Paulo and Copenhagen. Dr. Duck cannot regularly be at Penn State, largely because of her three children. Yet she and other instructors will help the students acquire standard M.B.A.?s next August at a total cost of $52,000, with each side having barely stepped into a traditional classroom.

ENCOURAGING GIRLS IN MATH AND SCIENCE The National Center for Education Research (NCER) has released "Encouraging Girls in Math and Science," the second in a series of guides about education. Developed by a panel of experts, this guide brings together the best available evidence and expertise to provide educators with specific and coherent evidence-based recommendations on how to encourage girls in the fields of math and science. The objective is to provide teachers with specific recommendations that can be carried out in the classroom without requiring systemic change. Other school personnel having direct contact with students -- such as coaches, counselors, and principals -- may also find the guide useful. The guide offers five recommendations and indicates the quality of the evidence that supports the recommendations:

1. Teach students that academic abilities are expandable and improvable.
2. Provide prescriptive, informational feedback.
3. Expose girls to female role models who have succeeded in math and science.
4. Create a classroom environment that sparks initial curiosity and fosters long-term interest in math and science.
5. Provide spatial skills training.

Ed-tech groups issue urgent call to action
From: eschoolnews
Three leading educational technology advocacy groups have banded together to release a position paper that makes an urgent case for why--and how--school leaders should integrate technology into instruction. "How will we create the schools America needs to remain competitive? For more than a generation, the nation has engaged in a monumental effort to improve student achievement. We've made progress, but we're not even close to where we need to be," according to the paper, titled "Maximizing the Impact: Why Technology Must Play a Pivotal Role in 21st Century Education." "It's time to focus on what students need to learn--and on how to create a 21st-century education system that delivers results. In a digital world, no organization can achieve results without incorporating technology into every aspect of its everyday practices. It's time for schools to maximize the impact of technology as well." Released Nov. 5, the paper is a joint project of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). "Most people assume that schools already are using technology in the same way that leading businesses and organizations are using it as an indispensable, integral tool for every critical function," said Mary Ann Wolf, SETDA's executive director. "This is simply not the case. Our educational system has a long way to go before the potential of technology to improve teacher quality, increase rigor, and maximize efficiencies is realized." Profound changes in the world's economy "make it imperative for the nation to be much more strategic, aggressive, and effective in preparing students to succeed," the paper says. "The rest of the world is catching up in terms of innovation, economic competitiveness, and educational achievement."

US on Top in Economic Competitiveness
From: the Baltimore Sun
The United States has regained its status as the world's most competitive economy thanks to strong innovation and excellent universities, according to a survey released Wednesday by the World Economic Forum. The U.S. rebounded from sixth place last year to knock Switzerland from the top spot in the "global competitiveness index." The Swiss were second this year, followed by Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Finland. The study by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum said the U.S. was boosted by its close cooperation between universities and business on research and development, its high intellectual property protection, and its efficient use of employees and investment. But increasing public indebtedness in the U.S. threatens to hamper the country's growth, the study said. "This danger has most recently been demonstrated by the fallout and contagion caused by the country's subprime mortgage crisis and the ensuing global credit crunch," said Xavier Sala-i-Martin, a professor of economics at Columbia University and one of the authors of the survey. Sala-i-Martin said the weaknesses "present a risk to the country's overall competitiveness potential and to the global economy as a whole." The aim of the survey is to examine the factors that can affect a country's business environment and development. Included are judicial independence, government favoritism and corruption. Switzerland was credited with an excellent capacity for innovation, a sophisticated business culture, outstanding scientific research institutions, and strong intellectual property protection. Denmark and Sweden were ranked third and fourth respectively, followed by Germany and Finland. The Nordic countries -- traditionally strong in the survey -- were praised for their budget surpluses and very low levels of public indebtedness.

Senate NCLB draft: two noteworthy COMPETES programs appear repealed; sections on MSP and Math Now included
From: the Triangle Coalition Blog
The Senate?s partial NCLB draft that recently became available is another sign that Congress would like to get some work done on NCLB reauthorization this year, however there is a lot of uncertainty in the air still (see this Education Week article for an overview). The draft does not include a number of sections on the more controversial areas of teacher pay and accountability. The role of science in AYP, therefore, is also left unaddressed for the moment. We urge readers to consider contacting Congress to express their opinion regarding the place of science in AYP. For our part, we support its inclusion as a mandatory part of AYP calculations, and added our name to a recent Roll Call ad to that end (available here). The John Glenn Academies, another important STEM education program in the House draft, has not yet been included in the Senate draft either. However, the Senate draft does include Math Science Partnerships and the Math Now/Math Skills programs?the latter of which appears to include the repeal of a few noteworthy programs from the America COMPETES Act. An overview comparison of the House and Senate versions of each program can be found below.

Study: Minority Faculty Severely Underrepresented in Top 100 STEM Departments
From: Diverse Issues in Education
U.S. policymakers need to step in with policies that help boost the number of tenured and tenure-track minority faculty members in science and engineering fields, if the United States is to remain competitive on global scale in these areas, argued a group of minority scholars at a press conference on Capital Hill. According to a recent survey conducted by Dr. Donna J. Nelson, associate professor of chemistry at Oklahoma University, minorities and women faculty are significantly underrepresented in the fields of science and technology among the top 100 departments of science and engineering. Between the years of 2002 and 2007, the number of underrepresented minorty faculty at the top 100 departments for science and engineering increased by only .5 percent rising to 5 percent, the survey revealed. Female faculty members fared better, making a 3 percent gain over the five-year period increasing 17 percent. Researchers along with members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science are urging Congress to develop policies that help to increase participation among underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Failure by the U.S. government to move quickly to remedy the situation could prove injurious for American to innovation, scholars suggest. ?The U.S. science and engineering work force is aging; ?baby boomer? scientists and engineers are leaving the U.S. work force, increasing the need for scientists of color who will make up the largest proportion of the population,? Nelson says.

New Orleans District Bills Laptop Program as Cultural Shift
From: Education Week
Thousands of public high school students in New Orleans received their own laptop computers this month?part of a $53 million technology initiative by the Recovery School District that aims to modernize some of the nation?s most rundown classrooms and improve achievement in a city where most students struggle to meet basic academic standards. For the past two weeks, education officials issued laptops to nearly 4,000 students in the 9th through 12th grades in the recovery district?s eight high schools. Several hundred more laptops will go to 8th graders who failed Louisiana?s high-stakes exam last spring and were not promoted to 9th grade, said Paul G. Vallas, the superintendent of the state-run district. The laptop program?which is costing the Recovery School District $1.67 million to lease the computers and software from Dallas-based Epic Learning for this school year?is remarkable for a city where, for decades, students in many struggling public schools did not even receive their own textbooks, officials say.

STEM education policymakers to come to D.C.
From: Education Daily
The Educational Policy Institute and the University of Maryland plan to gather national experts, policymakers and researchers to discuss improvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. The summit will look at research and policy on the best practices in STEM education to improve U.S. global competitiveness and expand access to programs for at-risk students. What: National Capitol Summit on STEM When: Feb. 6-7 Where: Washington, D.C.; hotel to be announced For more information visit www.educationalpolicy.org

Three K-12 Leadership Groups Urge Broad and Intensive Use of Technology to Improve Education
From: Yahoo! Business
Three K-12 leadership groups today warned that the nation's schools would not be able to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century without using technology broadly and intensively -- just as competitive U.S. industries have been doing for years. In a new report, "Maximizing the Impact: The Pivotal Role of Technology in a 21st Century Education System," the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills urged renewed emphasis on technology in education. "Most people assume that schools already are using technology in the same way that leading businesses and organizations are using it as an indispensable, integral tool for every critical function," said Mary Ann Wolf, Executive Director of SETDA. "This is simply not the case. Our educational system has a long way to go before the potential of technology to improve teacher quality, increase rigor, and maximize efficiencies is realized."

In Science Classrooms, a Blast of Fresh O₂
From: The New York Times
Maybe you?ve seen the television quiz show, ?Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?? and will proudly attest that you are. But how might you stack up against the students in Faye Cascio?s ninth-grade physical science class? Consider the following problems: 1) You fall into a swiftly moving river and are in need of a flotational device. You see a life preserver bobbing three meters downstream of you and another one the same distance behind. Which preserver should you swim toward? 2) A bullet is fired into one end of a spiral tube. When it shoots out of the other end, and forgetting here about the effects of gravity, will the bullet follow a trajectory that (a) is a straight line; (b) begins as a slight curve in the same direction as the spiral tube before gradually straightening out; or (c) begins as a slight curve in the opposite direction of the tube before straightening out? 3) A plane flying into a headwind will have a lower speed, relative to the ground, than it would if it were flying through still air, while a plane traveling with the benefit of a brisk tailwind will have a comparatively greater ground speed. But what about a plane flying through a 90-degree crosswind, a breeze that is buffeting its body side-on? Will its ground speed be higher, lower or no different than it would be in unruffled skies? The school year is still young, and so, too, is the Academy of Science, the almost sneakily rigorous high school magnet science program in Loudoun County, Va., of which Ms. Cascio?s physics class is a part.

The Science Education Myth
From: Business Week
Political leaders, tech executives, and academics often claim that the U.S. is falling behind in math and science education. They cite poor test results, declining international rankings, and decreasing enrollment in the hard sciences. They urge us to improve our education system and to graduate more engineers and scientists to keep pace with countries such as India and China. Yet a new report by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, tells a different story. The report disproves many confident pronouncements about the alleged weaknesses and failures of the U.S. education system. This data will certainly be examined by both sides in the debate over highly skilled workers and immigration (BusinessWeek.com, 10/10/07). The argument by Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), and others is that there are not enough tech workers in the U.S. The authors of the report, the Urban Institute's Hal Salzman and Georgetown University professor Lindsay Lowell, show that math, science, and reading test scores at the primary and secondary level have increased over the past two decades, and U.S. students are now close to the top of international rankings. Perhaps just as surprising, the report finds that our education system actually produces more science and engineering graduates than the market demands. These findings go against what has been the dominant position about our education system and our science and engineering workforce. Consider reports on national competitiveness that policymakers often turn to, such reports as the 2005 "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" by the National Academy of Sciences. This report says the U.S. is in dire straits because of poor math and science preparation. The report points to declining test scores, fewer students taking math and science courses, and low-quality curriculums and teacher preparation in K-12 education compared to other countries.

Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math
From: The New York Times
Adrianne Yamaki, a 32-year-old management consultant in New York, travels constantly and logs 80-hour workweeks. So to eke out more time for herself, she routinely farms out the administrative chores of her life ? making travel arrangements, hair appointments and restaurant reservations and buying theater tickets ? to a personal assistant service, in India. Kenneth Tham, a high school sophomore in Arcadia, Calif., strives to improve his grades and scores on standardized tests. Most afternoons, he is tutored remotely by an instructor speaking to him on a voice-over-Internet headset while he sits at his personal computer going over lessons on the screen. The tutor is in India. The Bangalore butler is the latest development in offshore outsourcing. The first wave of slicing up services work and sending it abroad has been all about business operations. Computer programming, call centers, product design and back-office jobs like accounting and billing have to some degree migrated abroad, mainly to India. The Internet, of course, makes it possible, while lower wages in developing nations make outsourcing attractive to corporate America. The second wave, according to some entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and offshoring veterans, will be the globalization of consumer services. People like Ms. Yamaki and Mr. Tham, they predict, are the early customers in a market that will one day include millions of households in the United States and other nations.

Microsoft hosts international 21st century learning forum, summit
From: Education Daily
About 500 teachers, school administrators and education policymakers from more than 50 countries are gathered in Finland this week for the Microsoft Corp. Innovative Teachers Forum and School of the Future World Summit. The events are part of Microsoft Partners in Learning, the company's initiative to help teachers and administrators give students the technology skills they need to learn from their international peers and be successful. ITF recognizes and rewards innovative teachers who practice 21st century learning and incorporate creative use of technology in their classrooms. The SOF World Summit provides educators and policymakers with a platform to exchange ideas and new approaches to K-12 learning and education reform to better-equip students around the world for becoming future business and technology leaders.

Technology Counts 2007
A Digital Decade
Technology Counts looks back, and ahead, after 10 eventful years. www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/03/29/index.html
Education Week

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