Indiana Humanities Offers ‘Shelfie’ Challenge

I was a little too excited when I saw the Shelfie Challenge from the Indiana Humanities Quantum Leap program. A reading contest where you win a $10 Amazon gift card at the end? Sign me up!

Alas, I skimmed right over the information that the program is only for Hoosier middle schoolers in grades 5-8. So, I can’t participate, but maybe you know a middle schooler who might be looking for some new reading material this summer.

The 10 books in this challenge are all about women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). A mix of fiction, non-fiction and graphic novel, but all about women and girls in science.

Here’s why it caught my eye initially: I have a 6-year-old little girl at home who is enthralled in the sciences and math! She’s always been a curious thinker and is a natural questioner of her surroundings, wanting to understand how things work and why.

Recently, we were flipping through the parks and recreation catalog for our hometown and while I encouraged her to look at the sporting options (I’m also always looking for ways to tire her out in the summer), she opted instead for the “All About Birds” STEM program. Of course!

And the other night there was a nature documentary on PBS about hummingbirds, so we had to stop and watch it, naturally.

This is a topic that really hits home for our family and even though I’m too old and she’s too young to participate in this particular challenge, I’m so happy to see a list of books on this topic – and you can bet we’re going to be adding these to our reading list anyway.

To enter the challenge, read at least five books from the list by the end of 2018. Take some notes about what you’re reading or how you feel about it and fill out an online survey and voila – that $10 Amazon gift card is yours!

Remarks on Indiana’s Scores on ‘National Report Card’ for Student Achievement

Indiana Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kevin Brinegar reacts to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scoring or “national report card” on student achievement:

“Hoosier students are outpacing the national average and, in fact, Indiana is widening its advantage over other states. This is welcome news and is an important metric. We commend our teachers and school administrators for their important role in helping our students reach these higher levels of achievement.

“Our new ISTEP scores are lower due to the implementation of more rigorous, but important, college and career readiness standards, which will better prepare students for post-secondary education and ultimately create a much stronger workforce.

“But in the big picture, these NAEP scores reinforce that our students are achieving at a higher overall level than many of their counterparts. We expect that to accelerate going forward with the enhanced college and career ready standards in place.”

Background:
In mathematics, Indiana fourth graders averaged a score of 248 with a national average of 240 points. Hoosier eight graders in mathematics averaged a score of 287 with a national average of 281 points. Similarly in reading, Indiana fourth graders averaged a score of 227, higher than a national average of 221 points and eighth grade students averaged a score of 268 with a national average of 264 points.

Chamber President Brinegar Comments on ISTEP Scores

Indiana Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kevin Brinegar comments on the state’s ISTEP scores:

The decline in English and math test scores is expected as a result of the significant enhancements to the college and career ready standards. In fact, Indiana’s scores were either on par or higher than other states which have recently gone through this process of moving to more rigorous tests.

“The good news is these needed changes ultimately will better prepare Indiana students for the workforce and sets a baseline so educators can pinpoint where improvements need to be made.

“We applaud both students and teachers for their strong efforts, and look forward to seeing the growth in student learning and college and career readiness in the coming years.

Empowering Girls to Reach Their Full Potential — Especially in Math

Kristin Tobler of Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis wrote a brilliant post about a new (and oh-so-swiftly removed) t-shirt from The Children’s Place that carried a startling message: girls are bad at math.

The shirt specifically said “My Best Subjects” and had a check list of shopping, music, dancing and math. Each one but math was checked and under math it said, “(Well, nobody’s perfect.)”

Quite frankly, this is the absolute wrong message to send to girls and young women – even if it’s only being delivered on a pint-sized shirt.

Tobler’s blog post ties in some interesting studies about girls (from a young age) being aware of the stereotype that boys are better at math. The studies show that awareness affects the way they view their education and career options.

Negative messages like these have real and serious consequences.

I get it, it’s a t-shirt – it’s not meant to be taken seriously or encourage young women to give up all pursuit of math for shopping. But the point is that we need to take a serious look at the messages that we sent to children and offer opportunities instead of limitations, whether those come on a t-shirt, through attitudes at home or in the media.

In Indiana, we have a real issue with the need for more STEM professionals (those in the science, technology, engineering and math fields). Employers are searching high and low for skilled workers to fill the many available jobs. And we need more Hoosiers, especially those in the female and minority category, going into these fields.

The Department of Commerce’s Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation revealed that women in 2011 made up just 24% of the STEM workforce, but that they earned 33% more on average than their counterparts in non-STEM fields. There are real, high-paying careers in STEM available for women.

That’s not the only consideration: We are swiftly falling behind the rest of the world in STEM. Data from OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) ranked American students in 2009 at 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in mathematics (out of 34 OECD countries).

Math can no longer have a negative connotation for girls and women. The future of our country depends on it.

STEM Jobs Becoming Larger Emphasis in Indiana

Hannah Rozow is the student representative on the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. An undergraduate at Indiana University in Bloomington, she is pursuing a double major in economics and political science with a minor in Spanish.

Indiana needs more workers educated in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

According to a study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, the demand for STEM jobs in Indiana will rise to 4% of the total workforce by 2018. Of those 115,570 jobs, 90% will require some postsecondary education, and 43% will require at least a bachelor’s degree. So what are colleges and universities doing about it?

Institutions across the state have launched initiatives to meet projected demand. Many of these efforts aim to meet the needs of a particular region, while some serve the state as a whole. Here are some of the projects underway in Indiana:

  • Purdue University College of Engineering introduced a plan to increase undergraduate enrollment by 10% and graduate enrollment by 25% to 30% over the next 5 years.
  • Ivy Tech Community College received a $3.1 million grant from North Central Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) to train 44,000 people of the North Central region for STEM-based careers over the next 5 years.
  • The University of Notre Dame’s Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program in Indiana (AP-TIP IN) works to increase enrollment in AP courses – math, science and English – and increase the number of qualifying scores on AP exams at 33 Indiana public high schools.
  • In an effort to attract students at an earlier age, Ivy Tech-Northeast hosts Adventure and Imagination Summer STEM Camp for students ages 11 to 14. Similarly, Indiana University-Bloomington hosts Adventures in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math summer camp for middle school students.
  • Southwestern Indiana STEM (SwISTEM), through a partnership between the University of Southern Indiana and Ivy Tech-Southwest, aims to increase the number of students in STEM majors and educate those students in a hands-on, team oriented way.
  • The state funding formula for 2013-2015 includes a high-impact degree metric, meaning a portion of public research institutions’ funding will be tied to the number of STEM degrees produced.

While institutional initiatives are an integral part to increasing the number of STEM-qualified workers, their efforts are only part of the equation. Involvement from the business community is vital. By offering job-shadowing opportunities and school presentations to local students, businesses can incite student interest in STEM education at an earlier age. Additionally, businesses should partner with local colleges and universities to ensure that students graduate not only with a STEM degree but with the professional skills needed to be a good employee.

The state needs more STEM-educated workers, and if there is a collaborative effort between colleges, universities and businesses, demand will be met.

Title IX Celebrates 40 Years of Equality

I spent the weekend playing with my daughter, not realizing that Saturday was the 40th anniversary of a law that impacts both of us. Had I known, we might have celebrated. Well, as much as a nearly six-month-old can celebrate anything, that is.
 
To honor the achievement of Title IX, I’d like to give a quick history lesson. The legislation was signed into law on June 23, 1972 by President Richard Nixon and says this: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
 
That’s it. It’s such a simple sentence – such a basic idea – and yet it does so much. And it doesn’t just affect women, although that is who benefitted the most from the law in 1972 and in years since.

In a recent Indianapolis Star article, the bill’s author, former Indiana Congressman Birch Bayh said at the time he knew the legislation was just the right thing to do. He’d grown up surrounded by strong women and he recognized that they should have the same ability as he did to attend college and be employed.
 
Title IX applies to a wonderful variety of issues: access to higher education, career education, education for pregnant and parenting students, employment, learning environment, math and science, sexual harassment, standardized testing and technology. It is a vital piece of legislation for our higher education and workforce – opening up the playing field for women educators and innovators, business women and athletes.

And while Bayh hadn’t anticipated that the literal “playing field” would be opened up and affect high school and college athletics the way it has over the past 40 years (virtually changing the landscape of athletics across the nation), that is what most people associate with Title IX, typically without realizing the vast many other topics to which the law applies.

I’m sure I’ve never given this much thought to Title IX. For me, this was just what I was expected to do: get good grades and play sports (I played golf, tennis and basketball), apply for and get accepted at the college of my choice, and follow my desires to a career in journalism and writing. I’ve never before paused at any of those fundamental freedoms that I have enjoyed.

It’s not been until I had my own child that the importance of this law has truly dawned on me – to know that just 40 years ago many of our mothers were either not allowed or didn’t have the option of playing organized sports in high school because they were girls. That they could be turned away from the college or university of choice because they checked the box marked “Female.”

It is amazing how far we have come that just two generations apart have such starkly different opportunities.

So, cheers to a one-sentence, life- and society-changing piece of legislation written by an Indiana congressman 40 years ago. I think we will celebrate with some pureed pears.

Ivy Tech President Tom Snyder Discusses Your Tax Money at Work

For Tom Snyder’s Economic Club of Indiana speech Tuesday, it was largely a story of numbers (along with some video clips of Ivy Tech graduates telling their personal success stories).

Before going into the details of Ivy Tech’s growth, Snyder shared one statistic that affects all Indiana taxpayers – you are paying half of Ivy Tech students’ tuition. For that reason, Hoosiers need to know what’s happening with the community college, Snyder notes.

The school has seen an enrollment increase of more than 40,000 students since 2008. No longer can high school students decide between college and a high-paying factory job. Employers are calling for everyone to have some postsecondary education – whether it’s a four-year or two-year degree, Snyder states.

He offered this profile of the Ivy Tech student body:

  • Average age is 27
  • 25% are single mothers
  • 60% receive financial aid
  • 10,000 students are on food stamps
  • 25% transfer to a four-year school
  • 25,000 are enrolled at the Indianapolis campus (that’s more students than at Ball State University, Snyder asserts.)

Noting the high number of students who need remediation in math and English, Snyder turned to the audience to prove his point. Through an interactive demonstration, audience members took a five-question quiz based on math placement tests.

The audience used small remote control buzzers to answer questions such as: What is the smallest prime number? (Answer: 2) On most questions, about 60% or less answered correctly.

Snyder reminded the audience that while half of the tuition at Ivy Tech is covered by taxpayers, all of it is covered at the K-12 level. He shared his five steps to success in educating Indiana:

  1. Children are prepared for kindergarten
  2. Third grade students are reading at third grade level
  3. Students decide to go to college while in the eighth grade
  4. Students take math during their senior year of high school (helping prevent the need for remediation)
  5. Graduates continue on to earn a post K-12 credentials

Snyder concludes education is a shared responsibility; everyone is an educator.

After all, you’re footing the bill.

Good Morning, Mr. Gekko

Governing.com reports on a new program that is transforming Wall Street’s laid off traders into the math teachers of the future. Very interesting concept, and hopefully some good can come of it. It should also make for some useful cautionary tales for the kids, although hopefully PG’ed down for young ears. (I’ve seen "Boiler Room" and "Wall Street"; I know what goes on.)

Moody’s Economy.com is predicting that 70,000 financial workers in the New York area will lose their jobs by the middle of 2010. New Jersey, which is home to many laid-off Wall Street bankers and is facing a looming shortfall in math teachers, launched Traders to Teachers, an accelerated program at Montclair State University to retrain laid-off financial services employees as math teachers. The full-time, three-month program, which starts in September, puts applicants through intensive math classes and requires them to spend one day each week observing and teaching math in a middle school or high school. Upon completion, they are placed in a paid teaching position at a public school, and over the next two years, the program provides teachers with professional support and mentoring. To be an applicant, individuals must have been laid off from the financial industry, have a bachelor’s degree and pass a math test — which is tough enough that only 69 of the first 146 applicants passed. A commitment to teach at least through June 2012 is expected, and the cost of the program for participants is funded by a federal grant administered through the New Jersey Department of Labor. The university will begin accepting applications for the Spring 2010 program this summer. If successful, the program may be expanded to retrain laid-off pharmaceutical workers as science teachers.