T C E B
TRIANGLE COALITION ELECTRONIC BULLETIN
FEBRUARY 8, 2001
VOL. 7, NO. 6
_____________________________________________________
Published by the
TRIANGLE COALITION
FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
_____________________________________________________
THIS WEEK'S TOPICS:
MORE PAY URGED FOR TOP TEACHERS
EDUCATION PUBLISHER MOVES SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS ONLINE
'TAKE YOUR PARENTS TO CYBERSCHOOL' ENLISTS WEB-SAVVY KIDS TO LEAD ONLINE TOURS
TRIANGLE COALITION BOARD MEMBER PROFILE: TOM FERRIO
NEW NSTA PUBLICATIONS DEMONSTRATE CRUCIAL LINK BETWEEN
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN SCIENCE
TEACHERS TO HAVE TRAINING WEB SITE
INTEL SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH HONORS 40 YOUNG SCIENTISTS AS FINALISTS
____________________________________________________
MORE PAY URGED FOR TOP TEACHERS
(Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 31, 2001)
Better public school teachers should get higher pay and more respect as
dedicated professionals, business leaders said as they released a 10-year
plan for improving the quality of public school teachers. The changes won't
be cheap, the business leaders conceded. Without putting a price tag on their
plan, they said it would require "significant" new spending, as well as
creation of new priorities within existing education budgets. "It won't be
unusual to see (some) teachers in a school making $100,000 a year," predicted
Roberts Jones, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Business, which
coordinates education lobbying by 1,200 national, state, and local business
groups. Today, the average teacher salary in the nation is $40,582 -- 18
percent below the average salary for other workers with a bachelor's degree
or higher.
"Investing in Teaching" spells out new ways to screen and train potential
teachers - assign them only to subjects they studied in college, give them
more time and financial support for brushing up on their subjects and
teaching skills, supply more office space and technology assistance, and set
up new systems for evaluating and compensating them. All the suggestions --
such as offering higher pay to master teachers whose skills are certified by
the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards -- are being tried by
some states or localities, but few are widely adopted, according to the
report. In return, teachers would have to give up the pay system used in the
vast majority of the nation's nearly 15,000 school districts. Most districts
pay almost all their teachers on a single salary scale in which raises depend
solely on a teacher's years of experience and number of graduate degrees.
"Teachers need to be paid more so that teaching is competitive with other
professions and pay is consistent with the new requirements," said the report.
Editor's Note: The report recommends that:
-- States require all teacher-education programs to meet accreditation
standards like those adopted by the National Council for the Accreditation of
Teacher Education.
-- Colleges require education students to complete an academic major and at
least one minor along with their education courses.
-- States offer more alternative certification programs for teachers, and
require all teaching candidates to pass rigorous exams.
-- States tie teacher pay to their knowledge, skills, and their students'
achievement.
The report is available at
www.nab.com/Content/EducationImprovement/teacherquality/index.htm. The
National Alliance of Business is a member of the Triangle Coalition.
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EDUCATION PUBLISHER MOVES SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS ONLINE
(Source: Education Week, January 31, 2001)
The McGraw-Hill Cos. -- one of the nation's biggest K-12 textbook publishers
-- will soon post six science textbooks online, a move that industry analysts
say may spur other publishers to follow its lead. The textbooks the New York
City publisher will put online this spring mirror its print editions. The
"e-textbooks" will have the same text as the regular books, but will be
accompanied by special electronic features such as video and audio clips.
School textbook publishers commonly give purchasers of their printed editions
a CD-ROM, or they set up special web sites containing supplemental materials.
But up until now, the industry has provided complete electronic versions of
textbooks only at the college level, not for K- 12 schools. Publishers have
waited because of a range of concerns in the industry about the security of
their content if it is available online, about the application of copyright
law for Internet materials, and about a lack of access to the necessary
technology in many schools and homes that would prevent online materials from
being used.
The six McGraw-Hill science texts headed for the web are for elementary and
middle school grades, and are published by the company's Macmillan and
Glencoe divisions. The online versions will be sold for the same price as the
printed versions -- or at a 40 percent discount if the purchaser owns the
latest print edition. The online books will be more up to date than the
print versions. Editors can change the text at any time to reflect scientific
advances, instead of waiting for the next edition, which can follow a cycle
of three years or more, depending on the subject. And schools won't have to
wait for their own replacement cycle to come around, which can be six years
or more. Students and teachers will have access to their online books at the
company's new web site, called the McGraw-Hill Learning Network. They can go
to the site, at www.mgln.com, use a password to open their books, and print
selected chapters. Teachers will be able to search through the online
teachers' edition.
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'TAKE YOUR PARENTS TO CYBERSCHOOL' ENLISTS
WEB-SAVVY KIDS TO LEAD ONLINE TOURS
Over 95% of schools and 50% of homes are currently Internet-connected and
today's web-savvy students take to learning through this technology with
gusto. There is a wealth of free educational resources available online,
providing instruction, research materials, and safe interactive experiences
to enhance school learning. Students can benefit immensely from these
resources, and parents can help -- that is, if they know where to access
these free educational tools. "Take Your Parents to Cyberschool'' Week,
February 5 through 10, is a unique national effort designed to create that
awareness through family participation in an interactive cyber-tour. The
program is the creation of Cable in the Classroom, the non-profit educational
arm of the cable television industry, with guidance from the National
Association of Elementary School Principals, America's largest organization
of principals representing the elementary school administrators nationwide.
Following simple directions, distributed in schools and through local cable
companies, web-savvy kids will act as at-home guides as they and their
parents explore the free educational resources on the Internet that can
enrich their academic lives. Families will have the opportunity to learn
valuable Internet literacy skills while they visit safe educational web
sites. The Internet tour begins on a special Cable in the Classroom web site
at www.cyberschool.ciconline.org. Participants will select a
grade-appropriate interactive activity and together tour sites that will
highlight the kinds of free resources that are available online as well as
teach parents and children key Internet literacy skills. Students and their
parents can then create easily accessible personal online libraries of
educational sites that fit their academic needs. Visitors to the site during
Cyberschool Week can win prizes including a computer, educational software,
and educational videos. Cable in the Classroom represents an investment of
$2 million a week by the cable industry to enhance the resources of teachers,
students, and the schools. In addition to providing programming, Cable in the
Classroom, via its Professional Development Institute, trains educators on
the effective uses of cable television and Internet resources.
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TRIANGLE COALITION BOARD MEMBER PROFILE:
TOM FERRIO
Tom Ferrio, Vice President, Educational & Productivity Solutions, Texas
Instruments, is responsible for the strategic focus and management of TI's
educational business in North and South America. He was instrumental in TI's
decision to work directly with educators to develop learning tools for
classroom use, and provide support services to help educators in the use of
these products. He maintains a close relationship with his customer by
regularly attending educator trade shows and meetings with a wide variety of
teachers to stay current on teaching trends and teacher needs. He also
develops and applies methods of making a business more responsive to market
needs by refining organizational design and information technology use. One
example of this is his leading TI's transformation of the calculator into a
handheld technology tool that can be updated and added onto with software
from TI's website. This software includes TI-developed programs, as well as
programs developed by third-party developers through strategic partnerships.
During his 27 years with TI, Ferrio has worked in both marketing and
engineering. In addition to his current position, he has worked in various
positions in test equipment development, production automation, semiconductor
research, and software development. In addition to serving on the Triangle
Board of Directors, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the
Mathcounts Foundation, an organization dedicated to stimulating 7th and 8th
grade students' interest and achievement in mathematics, and champions TI's
involvement as a title sponsor of the International Mathematical Olympiad,
2001, in Washington, D.C. Triangle Coalition members may contact Mr. Ferrio
at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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NEW NSTA PUBLICATIONS DEMONSTRATE CRUCIAL LINK BETWEEN
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN SCIENCE
NSTA Press, a publishing arm of The National Science Teachers Association
(NSTA), in collaboration with the National Science Education Leadership
Association, has released two new publications that examine current reform
efforts in science education and the important role that teacher professional
development plays in improving student performance. The second and third
volumes, "Professional Development Planning and Design" and "Professional
Development Leadership and the Diverse Learner," of the Issues in Science
Education series, are a collection of in-depth articles on professional
development written by prominent science educators and leaders. The two books
serve as comprehensive guides for science teachers, science department
chairs, principals, superintendents, policymakers, and many other individuals
who have an ongoing investment in science education.
Both publications examine the connection between teacher professional
development and the implementation of effective science education curricula.
The materials strongly emphasize the importance of teacher preparation and
the need for teachers to attain the meaningful skills derived from
professional development courses, workshops, and the collegial exchange of
new ideas and teaching methods. Drawing from the basic subject matter of
teacher training programs, Professional Development Leadership and the
Diverse Learner consists of articles that explore how professional
development experiences help educators teach science to students with diverse
backgrounds and learning styles. The articles show that professional
development experiences not only create better classroom teachers, but also
empower these teachers to become leaders in science education. The
publications are available from the NSTA Science Store for $25.95 and are
available for preview at www.nsta.org/store/online. For more information call
800-722-6782.
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TEACHERS TO HAVE TRAINING WEB SITE
(Source: The New York Times, January 30, 2001)
The (New York) Board of Education has awarded a $500,000 contract for the
development of a web site to train teachers. The contract was awarded last
week to Classroom Connect Inc., a Silicon Valley company that specializes in
Internet-based curriculum and professional development for elementary and
secondary school teachers. In addition, Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy
announced an Internet-based pilot program for fourth- grade math teachers
that will include individual reports on each student's math training needs
based on the student's performance on last year's citywide math exams. Mr.
Levy said all of the city's 1,200 school buildings would be wired for
Internet access by the end of the school year in June. Wiring remains to be
completed in about 50 buildings, he said.
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INTEL SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH HONORS 40 YOUNG SCIENTISTS AS FINALISTS
Intel Corporation and Science Service have announced the names of 40 high
school seniors from across the country as finalists in the Intel Science
Talent Search (Intel STS). The finalists will compete for college
scholarships totaling $530,000, with a top prize of a $100,000 scholarship.
The STS, often considered the "Junior Nobel Prize," will celebrate its 60th
anniversary this year. The finalists, who range in age from 15 to 18, were
selected from a group of 300 semifinalists. Of the finalists, 15 (37.5
percent) are female. New York has the most finalists with 13 (32.5 percent),
followed by California with four (10 percent). For a complete list of the 40
finalists and their biographies, visit
www.sciserv.org/sts/60sts/finalist.asp.
Students were judged based on their individual research reports for research
ability, scientific originality, and creative thinking. The research projects
cover all disciplines of science, including chemistry, physics, mathematics,
engineering, social science, and biology. Intel STS entries were reviewed and
judged by top scientists from a variety of disciplines. In addition to being
good students and scientists, this year's Intel STS finalists are very active
outside the classroom. Ninety-five percent of the finalists participate in
extracurricular clubs such as the Science Club and Mathematics Club, and 85
percent are involved in athletics. In addition, 72 percent play a musical
instrument, and 57 percent volunteer their time to worthy causes in their
communities. Finally, 87 percent of the students read a foreign language.
For more information on Science Service or the Intel STS, visit
www.sciserv.org.
_____________________________________________________
This TCEB is made possible by a grant from
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.
Please visit their web site at www.dupont.com
for more information about their educational support programs.
The TCEB is a newsletter provided to members
of the Triangle Coalition. Members may forward
individual articles or the issue in its entirety
providing that credit is given to the Triangle Coalition,
and all of the following contact information
is included in any republication.
For TCEB subscription or membership information, contact:
Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education
1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005
phone: 800-582-0115 fax: 202-289-1303
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.triangle-coalition.org
To submit information for possible inclusion in TCEB, contact:
Joanne Van Voorhis, Target Marketing, Editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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THE MISSION OF THE TRIANGLE COALITION IS
TO FOSTER COLLABORATION AMONG LEADERS
IN EDUCATION, BUSINESS, AND GOVERNMENT
TO IMPROVE SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS,
AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION.
The Triangle Coalition membership includes business,
labor, education, science, mathematics, technology
and engineering organizations, and community
and state-based alliances.
************************************
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