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Here's this week's edition of the STEM Ed Update.

  
Top Article:

After Election 2014: STEM EDUCATION 

Science Insider

Today, a look at how states and universities aren't waiting for Washington to improve science and math education. The debut of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in a handful of states and a growing awareness among research universities that they must improve undergraduate instruction are arguably the two biggest recent changes in the U.S. science education landscape. They also embody the political adage of thinking globally and acting locally, a timely message as the Obama administration heads into the homestretch and voters prepare to elect a new Congress.

Read more here.

  
Stay in the Know:
Latest STEM Education Policy News Across the U.S.

Next-Generation Accountability Systems:

An Overview of Current State Policies and Practices

Science Insider

Over the past six years, there has been a significant shift in education. States recognized that students were not being taught at levels that adequately prepared them for college and careers and stepped up to develop and implement more rigorous standards. As part of this transition, states have also committed to better supports for educators to adapt to the new standards, better assessments to measure student learning, and better accountability systems to understand where schools are struggling and how to help them improve.
Common-Core: Track State Efforts
Education Week
Anxiety about and opposition to the Common Core State Standards continues to highlight many debates about education policy. Now, several states are reassessing, through legislation, their involvement with the standards and associated assessments. Governors have also issued executive orders regarding the standards.  
How Federal Education Policy Contributes to the Skills Gap - and Can Help Us Move Beyond It
EdCentral
In survey after survey over the last decade, employers have complained of difficulty finding workers with the right mix of skills, despite record numbers of job seekers and college graduates. Concerns about pervasive mismatches between worker skills and employer needs have driven a host of initiatives designed to fix the "skills gap", so far to little avail. While the question of whether we are really facing a skills gap or some other kind of a gap-in wages, jobs, or expectations-is highly contested, there is ample evidence that navigating today's labor market is more complicated than ever for students and job seekers. Even as employment opportunities pick up, college graduates are struggling to find good jobs and underemployment is at record levels.

Read more here.

Problem Solving Skills Needed Now
Huffington Post

I have been listening to talks given by prominent scientists including our current senior advisor to President Obama on science and technology issues, John Holdren. He was explaining the different ways math-teacher-chalkboard.jpgscientists input advice into our federal government system. One avenue for advice is from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) which is "an advisory group of the nation's leading scientists and engineers who directly advise the President." They have written several wonderful reports including the 2012 Undergraduate STEM Education Report.

Here's Why A Quarter Of The World's Best-Performing CEOs Studied Engineering
Fast Lane

The Harvard Business Review came out with its list of the 100 best-performing CEOs on the planet last week.

Amazon head Jeff Bezos topped the list. A full 24 of the 100 best-performing CEOs have a Bachelors or Masters degree in engineering. That's nearly the same number of people who earned the more traditional merit badge in business - 29 people on the list have MBAs.

Read more here.

  
From Around the Community
  

Campos: The Role of STEM Education in Improving the Tri-State Region's Workforce 

The ultimate promise of STEM education is to develop the next generation of collaborative problem-solvers as a means of closing the workforce gap of skilled workers in the region that includes Southwestern Pennsylvania and adjacent counties in Ohio and West Virginia. Although educators say that STEM education is becoming more of a priority across the region, a seminal finding of this study is that rural areas represent one of the greatest, yet underexploited, opportunities for STEM education to impact workforce development.

  

 

Guerilla Educators: Dream. Design. Build.

A project assisted by Guerrilla Educators with 10th graders from 1st Philadelphia Charter High School demonstrates the critical intersections between Project Based Learning, Community Partnerships, and STEM.  "Dream" was developed as a multi-disciplinary, student-centered way to connect the actual design and construction of their new high school to teachers, students, and curriculum.  Over the first month of this school year, the Project took place in Geometry, Chemistry, and Social Studies classes and helped students achieve academic and civic proficiencies in each of those subject areas.  

Take a look here. 

 

 

Exxon: America's Future Engineers 

 

 

 

My Most Memorable Hire: The Afghanistan Soldier Turned Computer Engineer

 Military men and women put themselves in harm's way every day in service to the country. And when they come home, they need the support of businesses to smooth their entry into the workplace. "I've always got my antenna out for promising candidates who've done service in the military," says Bill Coder, recruiting manager for hardware and software maker LGS Innovations in Denver, Colorado. "But the challenge is finding the ones who have the talent and skills for our technical jobs."

Read more here. 

 

 

Bayer Donates $100,000 To Help New Jersey Students Pursue Science Careers

Bayer Corporation today presented a $100,000 two-year grant to Students 2 Science (S2S), Inc., an innovative STEM education organization that introduces elementary, middle and high school students from Northern and Central New Jersey to real-world science and scientists at its professional laboratory in East Hanover and through its virtual lab program. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Dr. Mae C. Jemison, Bayer's national Making Science Make Sense� spokesperson, were on hand.

Read more here. 

 

 

October 2014 STEM Magazine

Wayne Carley understands that the future of the American economy rests on the success of our S.T.E.M. education efforts in schools across the nation. To help promote STEM education, he has created a monthly magazine focused on issues related to STEM.

 

 

 UT Education System Releases seekUT Tool

 

 

 

Washington Facts: STEM Edition

Far too many low-income students and students of color do not have access to great teaching that supports a positive school environment states the report Climate Change: Improving School Climate by Supporting Great Teaching. The new report from Alliance for Excellent Education in partnership with the National Opportunity to Learn Campaign asserts that the teachers do not always have the preparation and the support needed to develop the skills required for great teaching that will support a positive school environment.

Read more here. 

   

Note from the Editor

 

We at the STEM Education Coalition hope you have enjoyed this week's edition of the STEM Ed Newsletter. 

 

Remember, any organization may join our team, and there is no cost to become an Affiliate Member of our Coalition. Affiliate members are listed on our website, receive periodic communications from the Coalition on policy matters, and will be signed up for the weekly newsletter. 

 

Members can also join our Leadership Council, where they play an active role in setting the public policy agenda for the Coalition and are invited to participate in the Coalition's frequent interactions with policymakers. 

 

If you would like to join the Coalition at any level, please read our message to prospective members or email us at info@stemedcoalition.org.

 

We appreciate your continued support and involvement. 
  
Sincerely,
Taylor Luczak
STEM Education Coalition

 

Our Coalition's Co-Chairs  

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STEM Education Coalition
info@stemedcoalition.org
2000 M Street NW
Suite 520
Washington, DC 20036
October 23, 2014 

 

  
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