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ARTICLES
Girls' and Boys' Math Performance Now Equal
(Neil Greenfieldboyce, NPR)
A new study published in the Science magazine July 15, 2008 issue, "Gender Similarities Characterize Math Performance," reports that girls and boys performances in math on assessment tests are now equal based on a study of seven million students in ten states.
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Technical School to Offer Adults Masonry, Electrical Wiring Classes
(Charlie Smith, Greenwood Commonwealth)
Unemployed adults can get certified in masonry and electrical wiring in two new classes at the Greenwood Career and Technical Center. Kirby Love, the center's director, said it's an important contribution to the community to teach skills to people without jobs. "At the end of that 160 hours, they will be certified, and they can take this certificate plus an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) card to a job and show them that they've had training," Love said.More Information |
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Teens Explore Health, Science Careers as Part of Hospital Partnership
A pilot partnership between the Rochester, Minn., Mayo Clinic and an area high school aims to allow struggling teens to explore health and science jobs and solidify career goals. Nine students participated this summer, and their Mayo Clinic mentors plan to stay in touch with them during the current school year. For the summer of 2009, the clinic and district hope to accommodate 60 students from all three Rochester high schools.
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GE Workers Raise $20K for Vocational Education
(Kathleen Moore, Daily Gazette)
The men who ran through the streets of Schenectady on Friday, waving a handmade Olympic torch, never needed vocational services after high school. None of them dropped out of high school or graduated but foundered, searching for a job where they could make a living on just what they'd learned through 12th grade. But for children who are facing that dilemma, the highly educated engineers and scientists at General Electric raised $20,000 in an hour of intense exercise on Friday.
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Teachers and Machinists Unions Support National Education Policy on High-Skills Careers
The AFL-CIO executive council unanimously passed a policy statement spearheaded by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) calling for a national education policy that includes training, funding and support for high-skill careers. This statement lays out a public policy blueprint for training the next generation of skilled workers in the United States," said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger, whose union co-sponsored the statement with the American Federation of Teachers. "Across the nation, blue- and white-collar families are searching for alternative pathways to the middle class for their children. We have taken the first step. Now we must convince America's political leaders to join us in this endeavor."
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Restoration of CTE to California Schools Will Help with Dropout Problem
(Summary from August 12, 2008 ACTE CareerTech Update)
In an editorial, Paul R. Hay, superintendent of the Metropolitan Education District, writes that the "one size fits all" school curriculum "[t]ragically...doesn't fit reality, or the needs of" California's workforce. Hay referred to the "2006 study by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation" called the "Silent Epidemic," which "reported that 47 percent of former students who dropped out said classes were not interesting, while 81 percent called for real world learning opportunities." According to Hay, career and technical education (CTE) programs "provide students with relevant, hands-on learning opportunities." However, "during the last 20 years, CTE programs have declined more than 50 percent as high schools emphasized academics and college preparation." Hay argued that the "current system isn't working. CTE needs to be fully integrated into the high school curriculum." Furthermore, "We need to provide our young people with more choices and the skills to obtain and succeed in well-paying jobs," Hay concluded.
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STEM |
Students Get Chance to Discover Career Potential
(Kristi Funderburk, The Daily Journal)
Weeks before they face the first day of high school, local students considered the options of their not-so-distant future: college and a career. Instead of the more typical how-to seminars, these students dissected animal specimens, engineered towers with spaghetti noodles and gumdrops, and created moving carnival rides with K'NEX, an interlocking toy construction set. The College Bound STEM Careers Pathways Project at Cumberland County College helps students realize their potential in careers like science, technology, engineering and math. It also encourages students to think early about college.
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Keys to Hiring Women in Science
Campuses are full of both success stories and horror stories about the recruitment of women to positions in science and engineering departments. There are search committee chairs convinced that they know what worked - and would-be professors who never bothered applying for positions because they didn't feel welcome. Two sociologists who want to push the discussion beyond anecdotes and individual preferences think they have found evidence of steps that do make a difference in the recruitment of women for science faculty jobs. Specifically, they urge a focus on efforts to increase the pool of female applicants, and the importance of having a woman serve on the search committee.
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Girls Find Out Science Is Fun
(Abby Haight, The Oregonian)
Francis Rojina wants to be a surgeon, but for now her 14-year-old mind is delighted by anything scientific-including piecing together the puzzle of a solar hot-water system. Rojina's passion for the hows and whys of the natural world defies the stereotype that teenage girls are reluctant to study or pursue careers in fields that involve math, science and technology. For 18 years, the Oregon Institute of Technology has been nurturing such passions and trying to increase them with its Teen Women in Science and Technology camp. It's part of a larger pre-college program to make technology accessible, fun and intriguing to school-age children.
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Girl Power! Summer Camp Grooms Tomorrow's Techies
(Julia King, Computer World)
It's 10 o'clock on a sunny April morning in Balboa Park. In a spacious Girl Scout cabin tucked away amid lush green palm trees, 20 girls ranging in age from 11 to 14, most wearing jeans and pigtails, are gearing up for today's camp activities. But there are no sit-upons or s'mores, potholders or paper crafts, just 21 laptops, two color printers, 10 digital cameras, two scanners and a palpable abundance of preadolescent energy and creative enthusiasm.
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Cleveland High School Opens Pre-Engineering Center
The success of a Cleveland Catholic school's pre-engineering program has led donors to fund a $3.4 million, 13,000-square-foot engineering technology center complete with a robotics lab. About a third of students at the all-boys school follow the pre-engineering curriculum, and 90% of those that do continue studying engineering in college.
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