Georgia implements its differential pay program for math and science teachers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Georgia has implemented its differential pay program for math and science teachers despite continuing budget difficulties.  The program pays new math and science teachers the same salary as a sixth-year teacher receives in other subjects.  This gives a starting differential of just under $5,000 per year.  (Thanks to Christine Johnson at FCR-STEM for pointing out this article)

Georgia has a statewide teacher salary schedule, and this makes it possible to implement such a program.  For a comparison of the Georgia statewide schedule to schedules for several Florida counties, look at this post from January.

Florida statute has authorized differential pay for math and science teachers for many years, but to my knowledge not a single Florida district has implemented it.  The new law on teacher quality and compensation (SB 736) also includes language authorizing salary supplements for math and science teachers.  No word yet on whether any school district has included it in new compensation programs.

It is safe to say – based on the experience in Florida – that differential pay for math and science teachers cannot happen where teacher salary schedules are determined by collective bargaining.  After all, where differential pay is implemented most teachers are left behind.  The AJC article reports that Tim Callahan, spokesperson for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said about the differential pay plan, “What are we saying to our reading and social studies teachers?

Update (Thursday, 6:00 am):  Ron Matus at Gradebook posted on this issue yesterday.  The comments on the Gradebook post may have been representative of the larger teaching profession and are useful to reproduce here:

“Here’s a novel idea. Raise all teacher pay by 7-10 K and watch how much competition there is for teaching jobs…….you’ll get the best of the best in ALL areas.”

“Differential pay can and does happen where salaries are determined by collective bargaining, the state just has to give the districts enough general revenue funds (which they don’t) to it.”

 

FSU’s Professor Hu embarks on new study of whether Bright Futures “works” (Hint: it would if the eligibility requirements included more math and science)

The Miami Herald published an article last week announcing that FSU Higher Ed Professor Shouping Hu has received a $780,000 grant to study whether Bright Futures scholarships “work.”

“It’s time to assess the program so people can talk from some evidence rather than just talking for the purpose of making political arguments,” Hu said.

He plans to use state data to track what happens to individual students who receive Bright Futures as well as those who don’t. For example, he wants to know whether a student with a 3.0 grade-point average and a Bright Futures scholarship will perform better in college than one who has a 2.9 GPA and is ineligible for the award. He also wants to see whether the scholarships benefit certain racial groups more than others.

“In higher education, studies almost always show that the same programs tend to have a very different effect for students of different characteristics,” he said.

Hu will look at factors such as college admission, retention and graduation for students. He said he would have access to individual student data, but not names, and he does not plan to interview students.

State Senator Evelyn Lynn, who has controlled the higher ed appropriations process in her chamber for several years,  expressed skepticism that the study would provide any useful information:

State Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee, said she was not sure the study would shed any new light on the program. The state’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability reviewed the issue in 2003 and determined Bright Futures was effective, she said.

That study found the state’s high school graduates are better-prepared academically and that more are going to college, with the largest gains among minority students. A subsequent study found most Bright Futures recipients perform well and remain enrolled in college.

“It sounds to me like we’ve looked at a lot of this already,” Lynn said.

Of course, one has to decide what one wants to accomplish with Bright Futures, and with the state’s university system in general.  If educating more strong scientists and engineers is a high priority, then here is what you do:  Require precalculus and a complete science program (biology, chemistry and physics) for Bright Futures eligibility.  If we did this, then Shouping would have something worthwhile to look at with all that money.  And I’m pretty sure I know what he’d find – more students graduating with bachelors’ degrees in the physical sciences and engineering, which is what our state needs the most (and where the highest starting salaries for new graduates are).

National Research Council issues report on K-12 STEM education: “…raise science education to same level of importance as math and reading”

From a National Research Council press release issued today:

State, national, and local policymakers should elevate science education in grades K-12 to the same level of importance as reading and mathematics, says a new report from the National Research Council.  The report recommends ways that leaders at all levels can improve K-12 education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The report responds to a request from Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) for the National Science Foundation — which sponsored the Research Council report — to identify highly successful K-12 schools and programs in STEM fields.   

“A growing number of jobs — not just those in professional science — require knowledge of STEM fields,” said Adam Gamoran, chair of the committee that wrote the report and professor of sociology and educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  “The goal isn’t only to have a capable and competitive work force.  We need to help all students become scientifically literate because citizens are increasingly facing decisions related to science and technology — whether it’s understanding a medical diagnosis or weighing competing claims about the environment.”

The report identifies key elements of high-quality STEM education to which policymakers could target improvements:

•  A coherent set of standards and curriculum.  States and districts should have rigorous K-12 STEM standards and curricula that are focused on the most important topics in each discipline and presented as a sequence of content and practices that build knowledge over time. 

• Teachers with high capacity to teach in their discipline.  Good teachers need to know both STEM content and how to teach it; many teachers are currently underprepared to teach STEM-related courses.  

• A supportive system of assessment and accountability.  Current assessments limit educators’ ability to teach in ways that promote learning the content and understanding the practices of science and mathematics.

• Adequate instructional time.  The average amount of time spent on science instruction in elementary classrooms has decreased in recent years even as the time on mathematics instruction has increased. This is likely due to the focus on math and English language arts in the No Child Left Behind Act.  

• Equal access to high-quality STEM learning opportunities.  States and districts should strive to eliminate the disparities in access to high-quality STEM education between advantaged students and minority and low-income students, which contribute to the existing achievement gaps. 

• School conditions and cultures that support learning.  Although teacher qualifications certainly matter, so do school conditions and culture — such as school and district leadership and parent and community involvement. 

The report suggests that one way to elevate science to the same level of importance as mathematics and reading is to assess science subjects as frequently as is done for reading and math, using an assessment system that supports learning and understanding.  However, such a system is not yet available for science subjects, the report notes.  States and national organizations need to develop assessments that are aligned with the next generation of science standards — which will be based on a framework to be released soon by the Research Council — and that emphasize science practices rather than mere factual recall. 

 

 

What does it take to coax students into STEM careers?

From an Indiana University press release:

A new study published in the journal Science Education finds that pushing high school students into more advanced courses in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — does not have the greatest impact on whether they choose STEM careers.

“We want them to be skilled at math and science, but we also need to think about what we can do in terms of teaching it in ways to get them more interested,” said Adam V. Maltese, assistant professor of science education in the Indiana University School of Education. “This provides some numbers and some data to back up the importance of that.”

Maltese, also an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Geological Sciences in the College of Arts and Scienes, authored “Pipeline Persistence: Examining the Association of Educational Experiences with Earned Degrees in STEM Among U.S. Students.” The articles is co-authored by Robert H. Tai, associate professor of science education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Maltese and Tai recently received funding that will allow them to conduct analysis of younger students’ motivations to select STEM careers.

“Currently in terms of the current educational policy, we see a focus on achievement and we see a focus on students producing results on standardized tests,” Tai said. “By that time, the standardized test scores in high school matter very little, but at the same time, the experiences they had in their science classes when they were children may matter a lot.”

Using an analysis of 4,700 students participating in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, Maltese and Tai examined student transcripts and responses from surveys taken in the eighth, 10th, and 12th grades about subject interest, course enrollment and achievement, and career plans.

Earlier analyses of these data indicated that students interested in a STEM career in eighth grade were significantly more likely to complete a STEM degree in college. However, that group made up only 20 percent of the STEM degree earners from the NELS:88 sample. This study adds to the previous work by looking at the more complete educational histories of NELS:88 students and investigating the other 80 percent of STEM graduates from the nationally representative sample.

The key finding is that various indicators of student interest and self-confidence in science and math in high school are strongly associated with students continuing STEM studies through college, above and beyond enrollment and achievement factors. There are also indications that teacher emphasis on further study in STEM has a positive association with persisting in STEM fields. Teacher lecturing and an emphasis on facts and rules were negatively associated. The academic level of high school science and math courses attempted was not significant in predicting persistence.

Maltese said the finding provides a strong message for policymakers who are simply encouraging more students to enroll in more STEM-oriented classes.

“Achieving better is not necessarily going to lead to more students continuing in science and math,” he said.

Rhode Island School of Design leads congressional effort to make STEAM out of STEM

From a Rhode Island School of Design press release:

On Wednesday, June 22, RISD will present a Congressional briefing on the need to integrate art and design with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education as an essential component of the national innovation agenda.

RISD President John Maeda will emphasize the importance of adding Art to STEM education (thereby making STEAM) to teach the flexible thinking and risk-taking that is needed in today’s complex and dynamic world. To realize this potential, he says, scientists, artists and designers need to develop new ways of working together and new modes of research and education. A resolution sponsored by Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) speaks to the importance of art and design in the national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education and research agenda.

US News and World Report ranked RISD as the number one fine arts grad school in the nation this year, with its closest rivals being Yale and the Chicago Art Institute.

 

Interviews for Florida Education Commissioner: Science didn’t come up much, if at all

A colleague mentioned today that he listened to most of the interviews and didn’t hear science mentioned even once during the five interviews with Florida Education Commissioner candidates.  Another friend mentioned hearing the term “STEM” once in passing. 

Either way, it provides yet another illustration that science hasn’t yet made it to prime time in Florida.

No surprise: Gerard Robinson new Florida Education Commissioner

Coverage from the Orlando Sentinel and the St. Pete Times.

Florida Education Commissioner search: five finalists

The Florida Board of Education has released the names of the five finalists for the Education Commissioner job.  They are being flown in today for interviews at the Tampa Airport.

See the Orlando Sentinel for the story.

Virginia Education Secretary Gerard Robinson leads the field.  The field also includes disgraced former New Jersey Education Commissioner Brett Schundler.

 

Florida Education Commissioner interviews on for this afternoon – but the names of the finalists haven’t been released to the public yet

So much for the Sunshine Laws.

I was a member of the Search Advisory Committee for the FSU Presidency in 2009, and we would never have gotten away with this.  And no, it wasn’t a more polite process than the Commissioner process.  Our debate over who would be invited for interviews was webcast, and it was bruising.  Candidates who seemed to be strong were shredded – in one case over allegations of sexual harassment – in the public forum of this meeting.  The professors on the committee were subsequently harassed by a useless public records request, and it is likely that the request came from one of the candidates who had been burned during the debate about who to invite for interviews.

Professors are not known for their affinity for combat, but we knew what was at stake and did what we thought we needed to do for the good of the institution, its students, and the state we serve.  We had the stomach to do what was necessary.  Why doesn’t the State Board of Education want to let us know what’s going on?

 

Want to know how well your state competes with Finland and Singapore? The US Dept of Ed is working on it…

From the July 2010 issue of Education Research News, published by the Institute of Education Sciences of the US Department of Education:

NCES Links National and International Assessments in 2011 Study of Eighth-Graders

The National Center for Education Statistics recently announced a new effort to link national and international student assessments so that states can measure their performance against international benchmarks. The NAEP-TIMSS Linking Study, to be conducted in the first half of 2011, will take a new approach to using grade 8 mathematics and science data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to project state-level scores on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Also known as the Nation’s Report Card, NAEP measures student learning in 50 states, 18 urban districts, and several other U.S. jurisdictions in a way that permits comparisons to the nation and among the participating states and jurisdictions. In grades 4 and 8, NAEP administers mathematics and reading assessments every two years, and a science assessment every four years.

In the 2011 assessment, NAEP will assess what students know and can do in reading and mathematics. At the same time, NAEP will also assess eighth-grade students in science in the 50 states that volunteered to participate in the science assessment.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study is an international assessment that measures student learning. Along with more than 60 other nations, the United States will participate in the 2011 assessment, as it has done every four years since 1995. NCES sponsors U.S. participation in the TIMSS.

For the NAEP-TIMSS Linking Study, two representative national samples will be tested on their knowledge of mathematics and science by taking both the NAEP and TIMSS assessments. One sample of 10,000 eighth-graders will take combined test booklets in a NAEP-like format in the winter as part of NAEP; and the other sample of 7,500 eighth-graders will take combined test booklets in a TIMSS-like format in the spring as part of TIMSS. The relationships between the NAEP and TIMSS assessments of mathematics and science that are found in these two samples will permit projections of how the 50 states that took NAEP would have performed in mathematics and science on TIMSS, with scores that can be compared to those of other countries.

To check the validity and accuracy of the linking projections, eight states—Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and North Carolina—have agreed to participate in TIMSS 2011 separately from the nation. The actual state TIMSS scores in these states will be compared to the scores projected on the basis of state NAEP performance and the relationships established by the linking samples.