Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board cuts physics programs at two HBCU’s – Is Florida next?

From the Houston Chronicle story:

Earlier this year, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board identified 545 programs at public universities, community colleges and health institutions that were not producing enough graduates, including several at Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M.

On Thursday, the board rejected a final appeal to save bachelor’s degrees in physics at both institutions, over protests from TSU President John Rudley.

“When you try to find a kid in the ghetto and expose them to these areas of study, no one has ever talked to them about what physics is all about,” Rudley said.

African-Americans, he noted, “have a long history of an uphill battle to get a fair and level playing field. What do we do as a backup strategy to provide opportunities to these students?”

Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes pointed out that the program had graduated only one student in five years.

“These numbers are simply indefensible, John,” Paredes said. “I would argue that if you are graduating one student per year, you haven’t offered much of an opportunity.”

The threshold to remain open is 25 graduates within five years for an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, 15 for a master’s degree and 10 for a doctoral degree.

Is Florida next?  Here are the degree numbers for 2005-2010, taken from the Florida Board of Governors web site (for CIP code 40.0801).

The professor numbers at the bottom were taken from a scan of the physics departments’ web sites.

Bachelors’

	05-06	06-07	07-08	08-09	09-10	5 yr total
FAMU	4	1	1	3	2	11
FAU	8	3	4	8	3	26
FIU	8	12	8	4	14	46
FSU	19	16	8	14	8	65
UCF	15	8	13	8	20	64
UF	28	36	41	31	27	163
UNF	4	2	4	6	4	20
USF	10	11	12	9	14	56
UWF	5	5	6	6	6	28

Masters’

	05-06	06-07	07-08	08-09	09-10	5 yr total
FAMU	2	1	0	2	2	7
FAU	1	1	1	1	1	5
FIU	0	4	3	4	3	14
FSU	18	19	20	21	8	86
UCF	4	16	7	4	4	35
UF	18	15	15	10	16	74
UNF	0	0	0	0	0	0
USF	8	10	8	9	6	41
UWF	0	0	0	0	0	0

Doctorates

	05-06	06-07	07-08	08-09	09-10	5 yr total
FAMU	0	5	2	0	1	8
FAU	5	2	0	2	3	12
FIU	4	1	2	3	1	10
FSU	12	12	23	25	9	81
UCF	3	5	6	1	11	26
UF	19	17	20	16	10	82
UNF	0	0	0	0	0	0
USF	3	3	6	4	9	25
UWF	0	0	0	0	0	0

Professors (Assistant, Associate, Full):  FAMU – 13; FAU – 17; FIU – 23; FSU – 45; UCF – 31; UF – 45; UNF – 6; USF – 22; UWF – 5

Health research advocacy group: Floridians say State Must be a Leader in Science and Research

Press release from Research!America:

WASHINGTON—October 27, 2011—A majority of Floridians (87%) believe it is important for their state to be a leader in science and medical research, according to a new state poll commissioned by Research!America. The poll also shows that 80% think spending money on scientific research is important for Florida’s economy in terms of job creation and incomes.

Many Floridians also believe the state should lead in science and technology education and career growth.  An overwhelming majority (92%) believe education and training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics is important to U.S. competitiveness and economic prosperity.  Eighty-seven percent think it is important for their state to encourage young people to pursue careers that require a solid education in science and 88% say their state should create more opportunities for careers in science and research for its young people.

The Florida poll findings were released today at a forum on science journalism at the Embassy Suites Tampa-USF convened by Research!America, Pfizer and the University of South Florida (USF).

“Scientists have a responsibility to tell the public just how intricately tied the research enterprise is to their state’s economy,” said Mary Woolley, president and CEO, Research!America. “When research funding slows, medical progress stalls, health care costs rise and jobs are lost.”

“There needs to be a culture change in the sciences that’s integrated into the educational process of future scientists,” said Jay Dean, PhD, professor and interim chair of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of South Florida. “We have to learn to effectively and concisely communicate in a technologically advanced age what we do and why it matters to the public.”

Despite their strong support for research Floridians do not feel well-informed about research-related issues.  More than 80% cannot name a living scientist.  Sixty-percent would like to see more information about science and research than is currently in the news.

A huge percentage of Floridians trust scientists (90%) and health care professionals (86%) as spokespeople for science news. However, trust in journalists is less widespread.  Many Floridians (60%) think journalists are just somewhat trustworthy as science news spokespersons. While 62% of Floridians trust their elected officials less today than they did five years ago, trust in the scientific community has remained stable. More than half (56%) say they trust the scientific community about the same as five years ago.

“Scientists are trusted spokespersons because they are the obvious communicators of what is newsworthy in science,” said Jack Watters, MD, vice president, External Medical Affairs, Pfizer Inc. “There is no shortage of material.  Indeed the frontiers of science have never been more exciting and yet we have done a poor job of communicating that excitement. Scientists make discoveries that can positively affect the lives of millions and now is the time to talk about it.”

Further findings from the Florida poll include:

• 52% believe that the use of animals in medical research is necessary for progress in medicine.

• 65% favor medical research using embryonic stem cells.

• Floridians trust the information provided by newspapers (74%), radio (69%), television (71%), magazines (70%), and websites (69%). Social media fared less well, with 55% of Floridians saying social media is not trustworthy.

• Television and the Internet are the most commonly consumed media outlets in the state. 73% use television as a news source while 62% frequent the
  Internet/Websites for news information.

About the poll: Research!America commissioned JZ Analytics to conduct an online survey of 800 adults in Florida in September 2011. The sample is proportionate to the state’s demographics, including gender, age and ethnicity, with a theoretical sampling error of ±3.5%.

The poll is available online here:
www.researchamerica.org/uploads/2011FLAstatepoll.pdf

Florida’s schools should prepare students for the new economy

Instead of fussing over whether anthropology is or isn’t a viable college major and career choice, or whether Bright Futures should be saved by raising the SAT requirements, or whether Florida schools are producing enough STEM workers for the state’s businesses, we should focus on a simply-stated mission for the state’s public schools – preparing Florida’s students for the new economy.

And what exactly does this involve?  To use a football analogy, it means running to daylight.  It means preparing students with the skills necessary for the jobs of the present…and the future.  For career-oriented students in high schools, it means having at least the math and science skills necessary to fill the positions on modern assembly lines that are going begging.  At the community (or state) college level, it means earning one of those remarkable Associate of Science degrees that are earning graduates an average of $45,000 to start.  And at the university level, it means selecting a course of study that provides a career track that has economic promise now and in the future.

Not all of these university courses of study are in the science and engineering departments, although majors in the physical sciences and some engineering disciplines are doing just fine, according to statistics like those compiled by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.  For example, graduates of Florida State University’s major in Information, Communication and Technology are being snapped up as quickly as they are finishing their programs – or even well before they graduate.

The state’s schools, colleges and universities have an obligation to provide students access to these opportunities.  That means making sure there are enough engineering professors with active research programs to provide a high quality senior project for every engineering major.  It also means making sure that Earth science, chemistry, physics, computer science and math majors can get involved in research as undergraduates.

Such an obligation also requires us to provide the most powerful pedagogical tools available to help more students learn math and science at all levels from elementary to university with the level of understanding needed to be a productive member of society – and maybe even a STEM professional.

And it means showing students from elementary school on up how exciting the careers in the new economy can be, so that they can pursue them with enjoyment and maybe even passion.

Why isn’t this happening already?  Unfortunately, there are teachers, professors, guidance counselors and even parents who don’t understand how much things have changed since they (and people like me) graduated from college.  The world into which our kids are graduating in 2011 is a much tougher place economically than the one into which we took our first steps as adults in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

And because some of the people who are mentoring our students don’t get it, we have to put incentives in place to make sure that our university-bound high school students don’t stop taking math at Algebra 2, or don’t avoid chemistry or physics.  That is, we must make sure that these students don’t cut themselves off from the most promising economic opportunities available to them when they are only 15 or 16 years old, even if their mentors don’t keep them from doing so.  That means that we should make sure, for example, that students must be STEM-ready to be eligible for Bright Futures scholarships.

We must also make sure that those who are our best and brightest in STEM fields get the skills in other areas – particularly writing – to be productive leaders.  I have so far sent, and will continue to send, my own kids to colleges where their writing and critical thinking skills are honed by professors in the humanities.

To those who are concerned that a focus on preparing students for the new economy is turning our K-20 system into a trade school system, consider this:  It’s difficult for an adult to accomplish much in any area without a job.  It’s time to make sure we are doing everything we can to prepare our students to support themselves economically so they have the means to rebuild our society.

 

 

Associated Press: African-American participation in STEM fields declining

From an AP report (linked here at the Huffington Post):

The percentage of African-Americans earning STEM degrees has fallen during the last decade. It may seem far-fetched for an undereducated black population to aspire to become chemists or computer scientists, but the door is wide open, colleges say, and the shortfall has created opportunities for those who choose this path.

STEM barriers are not unique to black people. The United States does not produce as high a proportion of white engineers, scientists and mathematicians as it used to. Women and Latinos also lag behind white men.

Yet the situation is most acute for African-Americans.

Georgetown report: scientific and technological disciplines have “become the common currency in the labor market”

From a post on the NY Times blog Economix about a new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce:

The scientific and technological disciplines have “become the common currency in the labor market,” Mr. Carnevale said. With more companies concentrating on technology, “if you’re going to sell in a technical world you’ve got to be credible,” even to be in sales, he said. “You can’t sell to an engineer unless an engineer thinks you’re also an engineer”…

“What’s striking to me is that I’m used to thinking of liberal arts as the foundational degree that gives you lots of options in a career,” Mr. Carnevale said. Increasingly, he said, science, technology, engineering and math are crucial to a wide-ranging career. “You get a bigger bump going in, and almost at every stage you have other options,” he said.

 

Florida Chamber of Commerce: Link Bright Futures and STEM

From the Florida Chamber of Commerce legislative agenda document, “Where We Stand“:

Link Bright Futures scholarships to degrees in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

If this is done by this year’s legislature, how it is done will be critical.

If it is done by only awarding Bright Futures scholarships to STEM majors, then the STEM departments will be flooded by underprepared students.

If it is done by requiring STEM-readiness for Bright Futures eligibility, then our university science departments will have more well-prepared students.

 

Should Bright Futures scholarships be used to recruit math and science teachers?

Several policy-level people are thinking about it, including State Board of Education member Gary Chartrand and Higher Education Coordinating Council co-chair Marshall Criser.

See Leslie Postal’s report at School Zone.

Is 35 students too much in an AP class? State Board of Ed member Martinez thinks so because…

…his son is in a 35-student AP history class.  Go figure.

The report is from Leslie Postal at School Zone.

The worst class size situation I’ve heard of?  Thirty-seven (yes, 37) students in an AP Physics class at a local high school.  And while most of them are taking the algebra-based version, AP Physics B, several are registered for the calculus-based version, AP Physics C.  In the same classroom.  During the same period.  One teacher.

I wonder what Member Martinez would think of that.

Facilities, equipment, professional development and assessment – what it takes to make inquiry work (my response at Gradebook to the Palm Beach Post story)

Linked here.

Palm Beach County middle school rebels against “hands-on” learning

From the Palm Beach Post, a cautionary tale on science education reform:

Greg Loumanis says he’s “insulted” by some of the hands-on learning activities that are suggested to science teachers.

Even some of the hands-on labs he finds helpful, he says he can teach more quickly and neatly by demonstrating instead of having students spend time clearing their desks, doing the lab and cleaning up.

So a few years ago, Loumanis – the science department head at Osceola Creek Middle School in Loxahatchee – and some of his fellow teachers made an unorthodox decision: They opted to get rid of hands-on science labs in their classrooms.

As one of the authors of the new middle school physical science standards, I want to scream when I read this.

There are so many questions here:  What are the qualifications of the Osceola Creek science teachers?  How much professional development did they have to prepare for inquiry-driven teaching?  The new standards went into effect only this year – do they help or hurt?

And of course, all this raises questions about how science learning is assessed in Florida’s schools.

h/t Gradebook morning education news roundup.