Articles
California Schools
Creating a Well-Prepared STEM Workforce: How Do We Get From Here To There?
On February 2, 2009, a group of California science and mathematics teachers, policy makers, researchers, and representatives from business, industry, and higher education met to consider how California could do a better job of preparing today's students for the future STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - workforce. The Symposium was co-sponsored by the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) and the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL), as well as the California Teacher Advisory Council (Cal TAC).
California's Teaching Force 2008
The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning released its tenth annual report in December 2008 on the status of the teaching profession in California. The report, "California's Teaching Force 2008: Key Issues and Trends," finds that a grim budget outlook, complex challenges to the supply and assignment of public school teachers, and the lack of an effective teacher data system pose significant hurdles to California's ability to meet increasing demands for students' high academic performance.
Time Spent Teaching Science Has Diminished
In a recent study commissioned by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Lawrence Hall of Science in collaboration with WestEd found that 80% of Bay Area K-5 teachers report spending less than 60 minutes each week on science, and 16% of teachers are spending no time at all on science. This means Bay Area children have few, or in some cases no, opportunities to learn science.
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/rea/bayareastudy/index.html
Stanford Report: Study calls for major overhaul of California schools
Stanford researchers, led by education Associate Professor Susanna Loeb, have headed an unprecedented investigation into California's troubled K-12 education system. Their findings reveal that millions of students will be able to attain the state's high achievement standards only if what they describe as California's irrational, complex and restrictive school finance and governance system is overhauled from the bottom up.