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America is facing a shortage of STEM teachers: Here’s one way to solve it
Ever since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957, America has been struggling to recruit and retain STEM teachers in its public middle and high schools. In the 2017-2018 school year, approximately 100,000 teacher jobs in STEM – or science, technology, engineering and mathematics – went unfilled at the high school...
By Gerard Robinson | November 8, 2023
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To be globally competitive, the U.S. Must value STEM as much as literacy
The world is dependent on innovations, systems and equipment that are designed and sustained using science, engineering, technology and mathematics. This means the nurturing of STEM talent cannot be reserved for a slice of our student population but, instead, an essential component of every student’s educational journey. It turns out, industry agrees. Our colleagues in...
By Amy McGrath | October 30, 2023
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Opinion: How have schools improved since the pandemic? What teachers had to say
COVID-19 impacted every aspect of life, and schools are still dealing with its residual effects. Many teachers blame the pandemic for low achievement and isolation from peers as the root cause of student conflicts in schools. But are there more positive narratives to tell? In doing research for my Ph.D. program, I sought out the...
By Cory Beets | October 18, 2023
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Opinion: Finding ‘lost Einsteins’ means fixing K-5 science, especially in rural schools
This nation’s economic security will be won or lost based on the ability of elementary schools to energize science education. That is because the country is at the start of a massive effort intended to bring semiconductor manufacturing to the Southwest, battery research and development to rural upstate New York and more. It’s an effort...
By Jeanne McCarty | October 11, 2023
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Opinion: How are kids really doing after COVID-19? Survey of 500K students has answers
The back-to-school scene as I dropped my daughter off for her first day of school today was delightfully, if unnervingly, normal. For parents around the country, this is the first back-to-school season since the end of COVID-19 as a public health emergency, and that is something to celebrate. As the country emerges from a pandemic that...
By Jen Vorse Wilka | October 5, 2023
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Opinion: How a family COVID project became a fun, creative outlet for children nationwide
The vibe in education these days is dark. Test scores are falling, students’ mental health needs are growing and educators are becoming more and more exasperated. Perhaps schools should focus on fun. This isn’t a fanciful wish that’s out of touch with the stark challenges facing many communities. Rather, it’s a strategy, a means to an end, a practical...
By Stacey Gillet | October 4, 2023
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Opinion: As schools see a wave of immigrants, the past offers lessons for the U.S.
There is a 1905 photograph taken by Lewis Hine titled “Italian Family Seeking Lost Baggage, Ellis Island.” It shows a mother, with a scarf covering her hair and a baby in her arms, and two children: a boy, about 11 or 12 years old, with what looks like a laundry bag over his shoulder, and...
By Adam Strom & Meisha Lamb-Bell | September 29, 2023
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Opinion: AI can grade a student essay as well as a human. But it cannot replace a teacher
Can computers be trained to give feedback on student writing as well as a human can? To assess essay elements like convincing evidence and well-crafted conclusions? I’ve been working on these questions for years together with a group of colleagues since long before the advent of ChatGPT. After working with hundreds of data scientists from...
By Perpetual Baffour | September 20, 2023
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Commentary: The future is STEM — but without enough students, the U.S. will be left behind
In 2022, the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering report sounded an alarm. The report showed that the United States is falling behind in science, technology, engineering and math, the STEM fields. According to the foundation, America no longer produces the most science and engineering research publications — that’s China. We no longer produce the...
By Mark Schneider | September 19, 2023
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Opinion: Outraged over admissions policies at Harvard? Take a look at the public schools
Last week, I sat down and read the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, the landmark case that overturned many affirmative action policies at the nation’s elite universities. The case has generated significant outrage. The right was outraged that Harvard wants to use (and did use) race as a factor in its admissions decisions. The left...
By Tim DeRoche | September 11, 2023