OPPAGA releases report on differentiated high school diplomas

Policy-makers concerned about the impact that Florida’s new high school graduation requirements in math and science will have on the state’s graduation rate inserted a clause into SB 4 requiring OPPAGA, the legislature’s research office, to report on states where multiple high school diplomas are available.  OPPAGA released the report today in two formats.  The pdf is linked here, but I found the PolicyCast to be a useful introduction.

As you would expect from the concerns that motivated the study, the focus of the report is on releasing high school students from the new graduation requirements.  But for those of us who believe university-bound students should be STEM-ready, the Texas model that requires students to complete biology, chemistry and physics to graduate with the highest level diploma is quite attractive.

So here’s something I thought I would never say back in Texas’ anti-evolution days under former State Board of Education Chair Don McLeroy:  Florida should emulate Texas in high school science.

 

High-tech industrial policy in Florida and public education: When is a statement too blunt?

I’ve gotten several comments – both positive and negative – on my quote published in last week’s St. Pete Times article on the NAEP Science results,

We’re bringing in all these fancy biotech companies, and we’re importing these scientists and we’re training our students to make the beds for them.

The point is, of course, that we should be giving our students opportunities to pursue the science and engineering career paths that lead to leadership positions in the biotech firms we are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to attract.  In fact, if the State of Florida is going to have an industrial policy it should also make a commitment to dedicate 10% of each package it assembles to attract such a firm to improving educational programs in science in the K-12 public schools.  These programs should help students prepare for the rigorous undergraduate programs in science and engineering that lie at the beginning of the career paths that end up in leadership positions at labs like Lake Nona’s Burnham Institute facility.

Aren’t we doing fine on this now?  Nope – Florida is 40th in the nation in the production of science and engineering degrees per 100,000 population.  So what we’re doing now is importing scientists and hoping that our kids can get jobs being their lab assistants, building their houses and hotels, and making their beds.

President Obama’s call for 100,000 new STEM teachers over ten years: How does that work out for physics?

What would a response to President Obama’s call for 100,000 new STEM teachers over the next ten years mean for the American physics community?

Let’s say that half of those STEM teachers are science teachers.  That’s 50,000 over the next ten years.

Then let’s adopt the British target of one-quarter of the new science teachers hired being physics specialists.  That’s 12,500.  Or 1,250 new physics teachers per year.

How does that compare to our production of new physics teachers now?

First of all, according to the American Institute of Physics, there were 27,000 high school physics teachers (teaching one or more physics courses) in 2009.  But only 34% had a bachelor’s degree in physics or physics education.  So let’s say that 0.34 x 27000 = 9,200 highly qualified physics teachers are teaching physics in American high school classrooms.

The American Institute of Physics also reports that there were 5,760 new bachelor’s degrees in physics graduating from American colleges and universities each year several years back (2007-2008).  Of those, 240 (or 4.2%) were going into high school teaching.  Another 140 (2.4%) were going to graduate school in education – perhaps in preparation for high school teaching.  So let’s say we have an upper limit of 380 new highly qualified high school physics teachers per year nationally.

So as a physics community, we need to get from 380 per year to 1,250 per year.  These numbers more or less square with the numbers quoted by the National Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics.

So how are we going to do that?

 

In the Florida Legislature: Parent grading bill looks DOA in the Senate; Six-hour “Workshop on educational quality” today

Gradebook reports that Senate PreK-12 Chair Stephen Wise is much less than enthusiastic about a bill filed in the House by Rep. Kelli Stargel that would require some elementary teachers to grade parents.  In fact, WAY less than enthusiastic:

“I’m not sure I’m going to take that one up,” Wise said. “I don’t think so.”

Stargell’s bill has been a national media sensation, and has thrust the author into the national spotlight.

Today, Chair Wise will host a six-hour public workshop on this year’s sequel to last year’s hated SB 6.  It appears that Wise and House Education Committee Chair Bill Proctor will be the lead authors on this year’s version.  Wise, for one, is approaching the job in a particularly careful way.

 

Does high school physics matter?

I mentioned earlier that physicists love graphs that clearly answer a difficult question.

Here’s another:

This one is courtesy of Dr. Ted Hodapp, the Director for Education and Diversity at the American Physical Society.  It illustrates data we’ve discussed here at BtT before from a group at USF led by Dr. Will Tyson [Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, Vol. 12, No. 3, pgs. 243–270 (2007)].  They examined data from Florida’s state-of-the-art student data warehouse.

So whaddya think?  Is high school physics important?

(Yes, I know that correlation is not causation.  But nevertheless…)

Ron Matus at Gradebook: Who will step up for science?

Who’s going to be bold and make sure there’s not a single out-of-field science teacher in Florida within three years? And line up business partners to pony up the beakers and microscopes when classrooms get whacked by budget cuts?

Gov. Rick Scott? The Board of Education? The Council of 100 and the Chamber of Commerce?

Everyone’s waiting for someone else to take the lead.

Take a look at the whole post.

Git’ em, Ron!

2009 NAEP Science: What’s needed in Florida

As a physicist, I enjoy seeing an answer to a difficult question leap off a graph.

When I look at the graph of how Florida’s NAEP performance at the proficient level compares to that of the nation (reproduced above from an earlier post), a conclusion jumps right out:  The state desperately needs more highly qualified science teachers at the middle and high school levels.

Since I haven’t seen any school district officials quoted in the media saying that we are desperately short of biology teachers (while I have seen those comments about physics teachers – see this from the St. Augustine Record, St. Pete Times, the Naples News and the Orlando Sentinel), I’ll conclude the big push has to be for chemistry and physics teachers (and physical science teachers for middle schools).

And what is being proposed to address this?  Perhaps this from the report of Governor Scott’s education transition team, chaired by Foundation for Florida’s Future Executive Director Patricia Levesque:

Allow postsecondary institutions to provide incentives to high quality math and science, engineering and technology (STEM) majors to move into teacher education programs, through tuition breaks, or scholarships and loan forgiveness programs, and possibly incentives to institutions to support expanding these programs.  Creating partnerships with school districts in low performing and rural schools should be encouraged and incentives provided.  The ultimate incentive to students to enter these fields is to increase compensation in these areas once they enter the teaching profession. Superintendents and school boards should find ways to provide differential compensation for these professions. The Higher Education Coordinating Council (HECC) should identify the best practices several colleges and universities have already demonstrated and propose ways to scale these efforts and other public and private colleges and universities.

That’s right -  leave it up to the universities and school districts to come up with incentives.

Florida Statute has authorized the possibility of differential pay for math and science teachers for years.  I am not aware of a single Florida school district that has implemented it.

And do universities have resources to provide free education for future science and math teachers?  If so, I’m certainly not aware of it.

The experiment suggested by the education transition team has been done.  It failed.  If the State of Florida wants to address the shortage of chemistry and physics teachers, it has to do so from the state level, as Georgia has done.

Anything else is just talk.

2009 NAEP Science buzz: Will it be enough to make FSBA back off?

The scores are “just not good enough for Florida,” said Steven Birnholz, vice president for research at the Florida Council of 100, a group of influential business leaders. “The world is moving on, and we have a choice: We can either jump aboard the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) train and get to the top of the scores … or stay where we are and hope that’s enough.”

- From the St. Pete Times

We simply have to get better at this.

- Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith, in the St. Pete Times

We have significant ground to capture in moving to a competitive level.

- Commissioner Smith, in the Orlando Sentinel

We’re bringing in all these fancy biotech companies, and we’re importing these scientists and we’re training our students to make the beds for them.

- Me, in the St. Pete Times

I’m afraid these scores show our system … is just not producing science students that have what is necessary to keep the country competitive.

- Joe Wolf, President of the Florida Citizens for Science, in the St. Pete Times

Will this be enough to get the Florida School Boards Association to back off from its goal of watering down high school graduation requirements and the state’s new science standards?

2009 NAEP Science: Is science a priority in Florida’s K-12 schools?

The figure compares Florida’s performance on the 2009 reading, math and science NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) tests to that of the nation.  The y-axis is the difference between the % proficient in Florida and the nation.  If the data point is above zero for a given test and grade, then Florida is ahead of the nation.  If the data point is below zero, Florida is behind. 

By this measure, Florida is ahead of the nation for 4^th grade reading and 4^th grade math.  The state is at the national % proficient rate for 8^th grade reading.  Florida is behind the nation in 4^th grade science, 8^th grade math and science, and in 12^th grade reading and math.  State-by-state results were not released for 12^th grade science.  (State-by-state results for 12^th grade reading and math were released for eleven individual states, including Florida, for the first time this year.)

Eleven years into the A+ plan initiated by Governor Jeb Bush, the state has made progress relative to the nation in reading for 4^th and 8^th grade and math for 4^th grade.  But Florida students continue to lag the nation in science at both 4^th and 8^th grades. 

Do we know anything about the science competency of our 12^th graders?  Sure.  Florida is 50^th in the nation on the science section of the ACT. 

So what have Florida’s priorities been during the A+ era?  The story is told by the banner that hung from the headquarters of the Florida Department of Education:  “Just Read, Florida!”  Math has lagged, and science has lagged even more.

Florida will begin to achieve in science when the state’s leaders decide that science should be a priority.  As a health care executive, Governor Scott certainly understands the importance of science to the state’s economy.  Will he speak up?  Our Commissioner of Education is a former high school science teacher, but he can be forgiven for being more than a little careful given the uncertainties of the transition.  What can we expect from the Governor’s education advisor, Michelle Rhee?  From her track record in DC, we’d conclude that Ms. Rhee doesn’t seem to have much interest in science.  Is there a science champion on the Florida Board of Education?  I haven’t seen one.  What about the leaders of our school districts?  The Florida School Boards Association has made it a legislative priority to water down both the new high school graduation requirements and the new science standards. 

So who will speak up for science in Florida?  Maybe no one.  But you just never know.  We’ll continue to hope.

NAEP Science coverage

Coverage from:

St. Pete Times

Orlando Sentinel