Education Bulletins

For the week of June 07, 2004

Announcements of events, new resources, professional development opportunities, grants, and more for the K-12 math and science educator. 

High schools are failing to support the academic success of large proportions of students, according to the National High School Alliance, but so far the nation's leaders have not alerted the citizenry to the problem. The authors of the report Crisis or Possibility? Conversations About the American High School say that only 36 percent of high school graduates have taken the courses they need to be prepared for college. They point out that gains made in the early grades will be lost unless the high school is reformed. Their "seven levers for change" are drawn from a number of national meetings on high school reform last fall. Among the levers are: begin thinking about K-12 and postsecondary education as integrated parts of the same system; prepare practically all students for college-level work; improve teacher preparation; and revisit existing standards. Find the report at http://www.hsalliance.org. The National High School Alliance is a partnership of over 40 organizations involved in school reform.

Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST), an initiative of the Council on Competitiveness, has released a report on ways to attract minorities and females to engineering careers. The report, What it Takes: Pre-K-12 Design Principles to Broaden Participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, identifies best practices from an analysis of 34 outreach programs. Among the practices are: agreed-upon and well-defined outcomes; persistence; personalization of the programs; challenging content; and mentors who are engaged and supportive. To read the full report or its executive summary, visit http://www.bestworkforce.org/publications.htm. Founded in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, the Council on Competitiveness focuses on issues of technological innovation, workforce development, and economic and academic performance. Its members are corporate executives, university presidents, and labor leaders.

The National Weather Association (NWA), a professional group for people interested in forecasting, makes $500 grants available to teachers to help improve their teaching of meteorology. The teachers selected can use the funds to take courses in atmospheric sciences, attend workshops or conferences, or purchase scientific materials or equipment for the classroom. Applications for the Sol Hirsch Education Fund grants can be obtained from the NWA web site at http://www.nwas.org/solhirsch.html. Completed applications are due by August 1.

Sea Education Association (SEA) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is currently accepting applications for openings in its fully funded seminar for teachers called Research at SEA (July 12 - August 20). Funded by the National Science Foundation, the seminar offers an oceanographic research experience for middle and high school teachers. For more information, go to http://www.sea.edu/sea2000/admission2000/teachers.htm.

The U.S. Department of Education is re-releasing No Child Left Behind: A Toolkit for Teachers, which clarifies for elementary, middle and high school teachers what it means to be "highly qualified" as required in the federal legislation. The first print edition ran out in record time, and because of the demand, a second, revised edition has now been made available. The 76-page publication is available online from http://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/index2.html. Print copies are available at no charge from http://www.edpubs.org/webstore/content/search.asp.

The National Weather Service has an online tool kit for teaching lightning safety. Tools for Teachers at http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/teachers.htm contains slide presentations designed for use on PCs, activities, games, and maps. June 20-26 is National Lightning Safety Week.

Editor's note: ENC's June Classroom Calendar features an entry on Ben Franklin and Lightning with background information and selected resources.

Nearly half of freshmen seeking degrees will not graduate from college within the next six years, according to an analysis of the federal government's graduation rate survey. With a report on the analysis, A Matter of Degrees: Improving Graduation Rates in Four-Year Colleges and Universities, The Education Trust has launched a new initiative on improving higher education outcomes, particularly for low-income and minority students. The Trust notes that in their first eight years out of high school, four out of five on-time high school graduates had enrolled in some form of higher education. Many of these young people will drop out of college (one in four in their freshman year alone), putting them at a disadvantage in the workforce where postsecondary education is becoming a job requirement. The report features a few high-performing institutions that have made progress in increasing graduation rates or worked to close racial and socio-economic gaps. Find the report at http://www2.edtrust.org.

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