By Jim Nicholson
On April 6, 2006, Gov. Matt Blunt convened a summit of specially appointed educators, elected officials and business leaders to address Missouri’s economic future vis a vis the education of its students in the area of math, engineering, technology and science. Existing studies indicated that, while Missouri 4th graders scored high in related testing areas, mirroring national statistics, by the time they had reached 12th grade, their scores had plummeted. In a world utilizing an increasingly global workforce, it is obviously imperative for the future well being of the State, that Missouri-educated students prove capable of being hired by Missouri businesses. The summit was to brainstorm solutions good for the State.
Some well-intentioned reports receive immediate lip service and are then forgotten. Others are shelved, only to be rediscovered and re-shelved in some latter day bureaucratic house keeping. The 20 members of the Governor’s Math and Science Alliance, post Summit, formed the METS Coalition (an official not-for-profit 501(c)(3) entity) and developed a preschool through graduate level
(P-20) action plan organized around five major goals:
- Improve the performance of all
P-20 students.
- Expand the pool of students
motivated to pursue METS careers.
- Expand the pool of Missouri’s P-20
METS educators.
- Establish a technology plan to support METS curricula, Missouri Grade Level Expectations and assessments in Missouri.
- Increase public awareness of the
value of METS knowledge on the lives
of all Missourians and highlight the importance of METS-related industries and jobs in enhancing Missouri’s global competitiveness and innovation.
The hard work and focused dedication of the METS Alliance (all the work was accomplished in a mere four months) is already impacting students and educators in Missouri. Last year, the Governor and General Assembly provided a $4.15 million appropriation to equip 100 Missouri
classrooms with laptops and SMART boards accompanied by professional development from eMINTS (enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies) National Center. This year, Gov. Blunt is requesting $5 million to bring the eMINTS technology and professional development to 400 more classrooms, increase funding for professional development for advanced placement courses, math-, science- and health-based after-school programs and AP testing-fee reimbursement.
Debra Hollingsworth, vice president for External Affairs at AT&T and METS Alliance chair, is quick to point out that the METS Coalition has rapidly evolved into a “grass roots” campaign for educational reform. “It’s really come together,” she observes calmly, before allowing her enthusiasm to come to the surface. “It’s very exciting. We want to make sure (our efforts) tie back to good curricula. Businesses are waking up to the importance (of the goals). Schools are responding. We’re seeing a positive impact in the classroom. The success of the program will be huge for businesses hoping to recruit (a workforce) in State. Likewise, supply of and demand for employable workers will be critical for the State.”
Hollingsworth stresses that this is a Statewide Coalition and one that has been successful because of collaboration. “This partnership is amazing. It includes state departments of economic development, higher education, elementary and secondary education, elected officials, educators,
business leaders and parents. It takes the entire team with different backgrounds and
perspectives working together in a non-partisan manner to develop the best solutions.”
Boeing Manager of Educational Relations Randy Maier sounds a firm warning that such active collaboration is timely and that Missourians can no longer afford to seem complacent about the impending, if not immediate, crisis in education. “In 2016, Boeing celebrates its 100th anniversary. The new graduates we would be hiring then are currently in the 7th grade and it may already be too late (to bring them up to expected standards). It is an important issue.”
Boeing Vice President and Coalition member Jim Young explains his and the company’s commitment: “It’s more than just about Boeing. It’s all about the kids and developing a workforce for the future and that means our focus cannot be just students. We need to do what we have to do to capture the interest and imaginations of youngsters to continue to grow and develop. Of course, it’s disheartening when a significant percentage of students must take remedial work in math and science at the university level. But we also must develop educators who are willing and enthusiastic. And we need to make
people realize that this is not just an educational push or program; the United States is facing an educational crisis. We’re falling
further and further behind when it comes to education. India and China are producing more engineers than the United States, and those engineers are not necessarily coming to the United States to work. We’re facing a possible shortage of qualified engineers to U.S. companies.”
Through Mohela, the Coalition has provided an incentive for students through a $3,500 a year loan forgiveness program for pre-engineering students for the first two years of their education. While to the
casual observer (or to the parents of
students paying major private school
tuition), the total amount may seem
insignificant, Coalition member and Dean of Math, Science, Engineering and Technology
at St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley Ashok Agrawal points out the opposite is
true. “It amounts to free tuition for
my students,” a strong incentive for
a dedicated student with minimal re-sources in a bad
economic climate.
The Coalition’s ap-proach, he continues “is neither short-term nor shot gun. It is the long-term approach designed to involve the community in both the problem and the solution.” He refers to the expanded after-school component as a means to “bring in more partners with us.”
Partnership is a key element of the
program. Debra Hollingsworth and Jim Young cite their companies’ commitments to working with Coalition programs; Dean Agrawal cites program after program of varying companies working with assorted local school districts and students. Hollingsworth literally refers to the Coalition’s program as the “Chamber of Commerce approach” and points out that it is partnered with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. “We are constantly making presentations and actively searching for partners to combine business personnel with students and educators.”
Astute political observers who wonder how the METS appropriations have breezed through the unusually contentious Missouri legislature might be surprised by the soothing reassurance of Coalition member and Washington University Science Outreach Director Victoria May, “The METS program is bi-partisan. Its offices are housed in the Missouri Chamber of Commerce building.”
May’s specialty is in curriculum development and faculty enrichment and she brings a practical perspective to areas often diluted by political practicalities. “Most often the time devoted to curriculum development follows the inch deep/mile wide approach. We need to take a more cohesive approach to the assessment system, and use the results to help guide curriculum decisions.
Addressing a seemingly standard pattern of approaching education reform focused on individual classrooms, she observes, “It’s also a good idea to take a whole school, or whole district approach, rather than a classroom by classroom approach. It creates a more equitable system.”
The need for faculty enrichment is easily illustrated by problems often faced by small rural schools. “Often you have one faculty member responsible for all the science
curriculum,” May observes. It’s easy to comprehend how one overworked teacher may not be up to date with all the latest educational techniques for botany, biology, chemistry, physics and whatever other science class being offered. “The same,” she points out, “holds true for small urban districts.”
Ingrained attitudes towards education as a career must also be changed. “Singapore,” May relates, “recruits the best teachers
available and pays them well” to educate its children. That model does not yet transfer to the United States. It’s interesting to observe that in American education, promotion (accompanied by increased salaries) moves teachers from the classroom to administration, which effectively denies the best instruction to our students.
The METS Coalition members know they are involved in a long process of utmost importance. Globalization is a reality in both education and the workforce. METS is providing Missouri the blueprint to build whatever bridges prove necessary to assure that Missouri’s students and businesses are a viable part of that global future.
FIRST'S Scientific Rush
By Jim Nicholson
St. Louis FIRST after-school science and engineering outreach has achieved a whole new dimension. The local incarnation of a national program, FIRST is a robotics competition on three levels.
Ashok Agrawal, Dean of Math, Science, Engineering and Technology at
St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley says, “If you enjoy basketball and football, you’ll find all that excitement—and more—in robotics.”
Primarily sponsored by Saint Louis Science Center and St. Louis Community College, the local competition pits teams on three levels of competition. The FIRST Lego League introduces students aged 9 to 14 to science and technology via the design and building of functional
Lego-based robots.
The FIRST Tech Challenge is a mid-level robotic competition for
high schoolers utilizing an affordable robotics kit. The FIRST Robotics Competition is a multinational competition teaming professionals and high school students to solve engineering design problems in an intense,
competitive arena.
Combining brains, creativity and adrenaline, Agrawal guarantees FIRST delivers an unforgettable scientific rush. |
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