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K-12 Education
Winners of Career Pathways grants lay out ambitious goals (EdSource)
With the winner�s circle set on the state�s multimillion-dollar grant program to expand career education, grant recipients must now get down to work to keep their promises. The winners of the California Career Pathways Trust laid out some ambitious goals for the money. The $250 million fund is believed to be the largest investment in the nation to expand education programs that give students hands-on work experience on their path to graduation. Grants were awarded to 39 partner groups that pledged to create stronger links between schools, community colleges and businesses to better prepare students for jobs that are in high demand in local economies. The one-time, competitive grants were awarded in three categories: up to $15 million, up to $6 million and up to $600,000.
CSUB partnership receives grant to improve math education (Bakersfield News)
The California Department of Education has awarded a three-year 1.4 million-dollar California Mathematics and Science Partnership (CaMSP) grant to the South Kern Math Partnership (SKMP), which includes CSU Bakersfield, Lamont Elementary School District (Lead), Fairfax Elementary School District and Vineland Elementary School District. All three districts are rural, low-performing and face high levels of poverty. CSU Bakersfield�s Teacher Education Department will provide Common Core Math and STEM training to 47 3rd-8th grade district teachers. The project will begin this summer by bringing teachers to campus to participate in a summer intensive training led by CSUB Professor Dr. Tony Alteparmakian.
Brook Knoll Elementary earns state honor for parent involvement, math practices (Contra Costa Times)
nside of Becky McDermott's second-grade class at Brook Knoll Elementary School, students are divided into smaller groups during parts of the day. McDermott works with children to count plastic coins while two parent volunteers work with other groups at nearby tables on reading lessons and math games. Parent involvement was one of two signature practices that helped the school become a California Distinguished School for 2014. The school's second signature practice, its mathematics program, has components designed to help students solve and understand problems. It includes using Silicon Valley Math Initiatives, a program used to help teachers develop new math strategies, and using an assessment process to ensure student understanding. 
Women in STEM
How to get more girls into STEM? Chevron has ideas, and is writing big checks (bizwomen)
Corporate dollars can go a long way toward encouraging girls to get involved in STEM. Just ask Linda Kekelis to tell you about a girl named Aileen. Kekelis is the founder and CEO of Techbridge, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit that has partnered with Chevron (NYSE: CVX) to provide hands-on experiences and career exploration to 400 girls each year. Aileen was one of those girls. Aileen learned to solder through the Techbridge program and made a phone when she was in the sixth grade. In high school, Aileen met Jane MacKenzie, general manager for global workforce development at Chevron, who became her mentor. Now, Aileen has just finished her first year at University of California, Berkeley, where her interest in engineering and math continues.
STEM Competitions
Jesuit High underwater robotics team heading to Michigan to defend title (Sacramento Business Journal)
Jesuit High School�s student robotic team will defend its 2013 underwater championship title at the end of this month in Michigan. The 13th annual Marine Advanced Technology competition for remotely operated vehicles will be held at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. As defending champion, the team from Carmichael�s Jesuit High School will face 34 teams from 11 countries, and 31 of them are college or university teams. The Jesuit team spent six months working on this year�s explorer, including building printed circuit boards, writing control software and developing sensors.
Competitions inspire STEM learning through innovative project (NSF)
On May 31, 14 teams of middle-school students in the San Diego area competed in the final round of a tournament that drew both family members and public audiences. Rather than a sporting event, this was an engineering challenge that called on participants to work through the process of designing, testing and redesigning wind turbines to see which team could harness the most electricity. This was the culmination of an activity called KidWind, a project of Exploring STEM Careers Initiative (ESCI), funded through a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to San Diego State University Research Foundation in collaboration with the San Diego Science Alliance. KidWind provides students with the opportunity to learn about renewable energy resources as well as STEM.
Industry
$25,000 Grant Will Help Prepare Carmelitos Youth For College (Everything Long Beach)
The Los Angeles County Community Development Foundation (CDF) received a grant from Southern California Edison in the amount of $25,000 to help prepare youth and young adults to attend and complete higher education, prepared for career. In addition, the CDF received 5 laptop computers from Southern California Edison. CDF Executive Director, Jennifer Blackwell-Trotter, stated �we are excited to continue this long-standing partnership with Edison � a business leader supporting educational programs that emphasize science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). Together, we are preparing youth to excel in STEAM careers.�
Common Core
Hundreds of organizations sign statement backing Common Core (EdSource)
More than 300 California business, nonprofit and children�s groups have signed a statement supporting the Common Core State Standards and staying the course amid the discord over Common Core in other states. �While we recognize the hard work that needs to be done by teachers, district leaders, and state policymakers to make Common Core implementation successful, we believe that the investments and hard work will pay off for our students in the long run in preparing them for college and career,� says the one-page statement, which was circulated by the nonprofit advocacy group Children Now. Signers range from the California State PTA and the American Youth Rugby Union to the California Society for Biomedical Research and the Vacaville Police Activities League.
Get Started with NGSS and Common Core (CSTA)
A wave of change is surging through the California K-12 education system. Are you ready to jump on the surf board and ride that wave, or are you running for higher ground? Join two longtime science education experts�Cynthia Passmore, associate professor at UC Davis and Kathy DiRanna, director of the K-12 Alliance at WestED�for a FREE 90-minute online web seminar on June 17 that will introduce you to the changes coming with Next Generation Science Standards, how NGSS and Common Core will move our students from �knowing about� to �figuring out�, and how �figuring it out� in all science subjects means learning through practices.
Viewpoints
Nicole Rice (Policy Director, California Manufacturers & Technology Association) & Jeremy Smith (Deputy Legislative Director, State Building & Construction Trades Council of California): Policymakers must save career, technical education (AgAlert)
Imagine if California schools had reduced student access to science instruction by eliminating 1,500 courses, resulting in 50,000 fewer enrollments in science�all in just a single year. This would have triggered outrage by the media, the public and our elected lawmakers. Well, this is what happened to middle and high school Career Technical Education programs and students over the course of just one year, after years of steady decline. These statistics were reported by the California Department of Education, which compiled enrollment data for the most recent school year available, 2012-13; it found that school districts reported 1,366 fewer Career Technical Education courses, resulting in an alarming reduction of 50,000 in course enrollments in CTE.
Adrian Maaskant: To fix our math problem, bring back this CSUB degree program (The Bakersfield Californian)
The educators in Cal State Bakersfield's math department established the master's in math education degree to meet two needs in our community: To raise the level of math competence of Kern County's secondary math teachers, and to bring tools of modern mathematics into the secondary level curriculum. Unfortunately, this program was suspended in 2009 for budgetary reasons. The degree is currently awarded only to those who were already in the program before it was suspended. As in many school districts, the schools of Kern County satisfied their need for math teachers by encouraging those not fully trained in the subject to teach math. That's not criticism. There were - and still are - simply too few qualified math teachers to go around. |
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Stay Connected
     
 ICYMI: Video from the STEM Higher Ed Council Town Hall!
 Thank you to everyone who joined the STEM Higher Education Council Town Hall yesterday! In case you missed it or want to re-watch it, it's up on our YouTube page along with the entire catalog of videos from our Town Hall series! We hope you gained a better understanding of the tremendous experience the Council Members bring to this initiative and the exciting work they will be implementing in the near future. We'd especially like to thank yesterday's speakers who participated yesterday: Rob Denson (Pres., Des Moines Area CC), Martha Kanter (Former Under Sec. at the Dept. of Ed), Dr. Tim Welsh (SVP, Apollo Group), Dr. Jane Oates (VP, Apollo Group), Dr. Mitzi Montoya (VP & Innovation Dean, ASU), Dr. Richard Rhodes (Pres., Austin CC), Dr. Jim Catanzaro (Pres., Chattanooga State CC), Dr. Dean Evasius (VP, ORAU), Dr. Dena P. Maloney (Pres., Taft College), Vin Manno (Provost & Dean of Faculty, Olin College), Dr. Chad Womack (Nat�l STEM Director, UNCF), and Don Munce (Pres., My College Options). To learn more about our members, continue to follow along with our SHEC Member Profile Blog Series!
Scholastic Media's The Magic School Bus Continues Legacy with The Magic School Bus 360 degrees, A New Netflix Original Series for Kids
 Netflix and Scholastic Media announced today they will launch a new original TV series based on the groundbreaking and iconic TV show The Magic School Bus. The all-new CG animated series from Scholastic Media � The Magic School Bus 360 degrees � will be a dynamic reimagining of the show that revolutionized kids' television starting in the 1990s. Scholastic Media's Emmy Award-winning creative team, led by Executive Producer Deborah Forte, will produce the new series written for school-aged children. The 26 episodes will launch on Netflix starting in 2016. "The Magic School Bus revolutionized kids' television through a unique and powerful blend of entertainment and science information. We're proud that it's become an evergreen show that children and parents continue to watch together," said Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Media.
Student to Compete in National Chemistry Competition
 Students from across the United States will gather in Philadelphia to test their mettle as chemists and vie for college scholarships as they compete in the National You Be The Chemist Challenge� on June 23 at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, beginning at 10 a.m. ET. The You Be The Chemist Challenge�, created by the Chemical Educational Foundation� (CEF), is a quiz bowl style academic competition that aims to engage students in the fifth through eighth grades in learning important chemistry concepts, scientific theories, and chemical safety awareness. The competition was created in 2004 as a means to spark student interest in the sciences and prepare students for future study and scientific careers. The competition is also an opportunity for members of the chemical industry to interact with and enhance science education opportunities for schools and organizations in their communities. |
