Improving K12 Science Education Judy Franz

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Improving K12 Science EducationJudy Franz

• Symposium in Honor of
• Helen Quinn
• April 16, 2010
• SLAC

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• Chair of the National Reseach Council Board on
  Science Education (BOSE)

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• My major goal for the coming year is to take a
  long range look at the Society. Where do we want
  to be five and ten years from now, and what do we
  need to do to get there?

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Why is Improving K-12 Education Important?

• Workforce and economic development
• General Science Literacy
• Production of future scientists and engineers

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• President Obama
• If we as a nation do not prepare one of the
  worlds most educated and scientifically and
  mathematically literate workforces, then we have
  no chance of continuing to be one of the worlds
  most secure and competitive economies.

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• What is needed to improve K-12 science education?
• Most important an excellent teacher in every
  classroom

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Rising Above the Gathering Storm

• Action A-1 Annually recruit 10,000 science and
  math teachers by awarding 4-year scholarships and
  thereby educating 10 million minds
• Action A-2 Strengthen the skills of 250,000
  teachers through training and education programs
  at summer institutes, ----

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What we need to do

• Increase the number of well-prepared math and
  science teachers at all grade levels
• Improve professional development for science and
  math teachers
• Support and retain good teachers
• Ensure good teachers for all students, regardless
  of socio-economic background

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Good teachers are not the only thing that is
needed

• Good curriculum and curricular materials
• Equipment for hands-on experiments
• Better understanding of how students learn
• ?
• ?

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Why dont we have sufficient excellent physics
teachers?

• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment

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Why dont we have sufficient excellent physics
teachers?

• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment

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Need for High School Physics TeachersFields
with the highest demand(listed in order of
decreasing demand)

• Severe/Profound Disabilities (Spec.
  Ed)Multi-categorical (Spec. Ed)Emotional/Behavio
  ral Disorders (Spec.Ed)Mild/Moderate
  DisabilitiesPhysicsMental Retardation (Spec.
  Ed)Learning Disability (Spec. Ed)Mathematics
  Visually ImpairedChemistry

2004 AAEE (American Association of Employment in
Education)Educator Supply and Demand in the
United States Report
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• Physics Teachers
• 20,000 physics teachers
• 1/3 have a degree in either physics or physics
  education
• Most of the rest have at most a set of
  introductory courses
• AND there is a dearth of even bad teachers
• (But many are very, very good!!!)

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1999 Joint Society Statement

• The scientific societies listed below urge the
  physics community, specifically physical science
  and engineering departments and their faculty
  members, to take an active role in improving the
  pre-service training of K-12 physics/science
  teachers. Improving teacher training involves
  building cooperative working relationships
  between physicists in universities and colleges
  and the individuals and groups involved in
  teaching physics to K- 12 students. Strengthening
  the science education of future teachers
  addresses the pressing national need for
  improving K-12 physics education and recognizes
  that these teachers play a critical education
  role as the first and often-times last physics
  teacher for most students.

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APS/AAPT/AIP Joint Efforts

• We asked universities and colleges to endorse the
  statement, acknowledging their responsibilities
• Now over 360 have now done so (including
  Stanford)
• Started a major effort to work with universities
  to develop models for good teacher education
  programs (PhysTEC)
• Received major funding from NSF and FIPSE

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Key Elements

• Teaching intro physics courses with active
  learning
• Real cooperation with the School of Education
• Teacher-in-Residence (Master Teacher)
• Mentoring throughout the early teaching years
• Assessment

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• Two additional elements have been added
• Active recruiting of students
• Early teaching experiences often as a TA in intro
  courses

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• Program has become a great success
• Recently received a second 6.5M NSF grant
• Often cited as a model program

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12 PhysTEC Universities

• Ball State University
• Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
• Cornell University
• Florida International University
• Seattle Pacific University
• Towson University
• University of Arizona
• University of Arkansas
• University of Colorado, Boulder
• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Western Michigan University
•  

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Why dont we have sufficient excellent physics
teachers?

• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment

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Weekly wages of full-time teachers and comparable
workers 19962006

• Teachers Comparables
• 1996 721 728
• 1998 753 793
• 2000 791 872
• 2002 836 950
• 2004 894 1007
• 2006 920 1073

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USA Today Op-Ed by Bill Frist

• Something remarkable is happening in American
  public education. In a matter of months, the
  Obama administrations Race- to-the-Top
  competition engineered the kind of wholesale
  reform that ordinarily would take a generation to
  pull off.

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Why dont we have sufficient excellent physics
teachers?

• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment

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Why dont we have sufficient excellent physics
teachers?

• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment

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Gathering Storm Report

• The US education infrastructure suffers from a
  recurring pattern of abundant short-term thinking
  and insufficient long-term investment.

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Why dont we have sufficient excellent physics
teachers?

• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment

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Why dont we have sufficient excellent physics
teachers?

• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment

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Taking Science to School Learning and Teaching
Science in Grades K-8

• Knowing, using, and interpreting scientific
  explanations of the natural world
• Generating and evaluating scientific evidence and
  explanation
• Understanding the nature and development of
  scientific knowledge
• Participating productively in scientific
  practices and discourse

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• Achieve Diploma Network Project States
• 85 of high school students

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Achieve and Common State Standards

• Achieve and the National Governor Association
  trying to set benchmarks for all students to
  receive a world-class education.
• 48 states launched an effort to formulate
  Common Core Standards in math and English
• Released on March 10 to good reviews

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Science Standards Why so Difficult?

• Currently two sets of standards exist
• AAAS Project 2061 (1989/1995)
• National Academy (1996)
• Characterized as a mile wide and an inch deep

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Co-chairs Stanford Initiative on Improving K-12
Education
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Thank you, Helen!