Monthly Archives: December 2011

The primary mission of Florida’s public schools at all levels is to prepare the state’s students for the new economy. It seems to me that should be self-evident.  When our students earn their terminal degrees, whether at the high school, … Continue reading →

Here is the link to my Democrat op-ed from December 16.  One of the key lines:  “Of course, we can’t put just anybody in our math and science classrooms. These teachers must have strong math and science skills themselves.”

The American Physical Society news service Weekly Newsbrief has listed the Science and Engineering Readiness Index (SERI) as one of its highlights for 2011.  Newsbrief’s article on SERI, which was also featured on the MSNBC web site, was the service’s … Continue reading →

One of the commenters on yesterday’s Gradebook post on math and science education complained that many math teachers in Florida’s secondary schools “do not even have a mathematical mind.”  This is a broad problem recently documented by researchers at Michigan … Continue reading →

The Gradebook post on SB 1368 has attracted some comments on the problem of recruiting and retaining strong math and science teachers.  These comments are apparently from teachers. The problem is, the schools do not have teachers teaching math. They … Continue reading →

The Florida Senate’s next President, Don Gaetz, has filed a bill titled the “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) High School Graduation Acceleration Act of 2012” that has two major provisions related to STEM education, one of which would provide … Continue reading →

From the NY Times feature on less well-known persons who passed away in 2011: When Richard Geller died, students put his catch phrase, “Math is #1,” all over Stuyvesant High School, in New York City, where he had taught. It … Continue reading →

The new NGA report, Building a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education Agenda, is a novice’s guide to the issue.  But it’s useful in that it provides a look at how policy-makers see things. The report lists five “reasons the … Continue reading →

From the St. Pete Times: Mark Rosenberg, who met Monday with the St. Petersburg Times’ editorial board, said by the time many students get to college, it’s too late for them to jump into demanding courses in science, technology, engineering … Continue reading →

The Palm Beach Post reports that the Florida Board of Education has approved a minimum passing score on the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam that would have resulted in 46% of last year’s test-takers receiving a failing grade. The Board’s approval … Continue reading →