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PROGRESS IN EDUCATION REFORMScience and math learning are in the forefront of the agendas of President Clinton, Congress and concerned parents and teachers, as well as American business representatives. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds a range of programs to improve the quality of science and math education for all Americans and to ensure a steady supply of the world's best-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers and science/math educators. Roughly 20 percent of NSF's $3.3-billion annual budget is allocated directly to its education and human resources programs. NSF's investment represents one-third of all federal spending on math and science education. For more information, call K. Lee Herring at (703) 292-8070, kherring@nsf.gov. Contents of this News Tip:
MATH CURRICULUM IMPROVES STUDENT PERFORMANCEAfter five years of Everyday Mathematics--an innovative, NSF-supported elementary school math curriculum--Hopewell Valley School District students in New Jersey are showing some significant improvements (to the tune of several percentile points) on the Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP III) test. The results emerge from a controlled study of more than 200 elementary school students that compared Everyday Mathematics to a more traditional math program in Hopewell Valley schools. In the academically competitive state of Connecticut, Everyday Mathematics is boosting scores even in Wilton, the state's top-performing school district. Developed for kindergarten through grade six, the materials to date have been used in as many as 60,000 classrooms nationwide. All of Wilton's 3,500 pre-K through 12th-grade students have learned math using this curriculum, which is part of a larger K-12 math curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. "Data over the past 12 years show that our students have achieved phenomenal growth across all grade levels. This is attributable to the quality of the program and related staff development," said Wilton superintendent David Clune. The Everyday Math curriculum has allowed the Wilton schools to expose some 68 percent of its middle school students to algebra as compared to only 21 percent in 1984, before the program began. TEACHERS GET THEIR HANDS ON SCIENCEMiddle- and high-school math, science and technology teachers have a tough enough time just keeping up with the hectic pace of daily classes, faculty meetings, committee meetings and class planning, not to mention developments in science. Getting direct experience with science so they can be better teachers seems out of the question. But a new seven-week NSF-funded residential program, conducted in research labs and other science facilities, helps teachers get their hands and minds back into "synch" with the reasons they teach science. The University of Florida's Teacher Research Update Experience (TRUE) program, now in its second year, has allowed a select group of 48 U.S. teachers from diverse schools to take part in cutting-edge lab and field research. In addition to attending workshops in environmental biotechnology, physics, statistics, computer technology and grant proposal writing, each teacher worked closely with a faculty mentor. They worked on research in areas such as the reproductive behavior of alligators and manatees in the wild, analysis of functional molecules from fire ant poison glands, mammalian wound sites, pesticides, and stressed or exercised cell systems. Many teachers worked with the tools of biotechnology, nuclear magnetic resonance, lasers, chromatography, mass spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy and a Van de Graff accelerator. This first-hand insight into modern research methods and strategies provides teachers with a wealth of information to bring back to their classrooms in the form of teaching tools and curriculum plans. The University's Center for Precollegiate Education and Training developed this program, which compliments a well-respected science outreach program with annual science activities for more than 2,500 children, youth and adults. TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION FOR URBAN STUDENTSA community college-based educational initiative spearheaded by the City Colleges of Chicago will use Advanced Technological Education (ATE) to help urban youth find their way to rewarding careers while helping U.S. business and industry fill positions with technically skilled workers. The initiative will be inaugurated by an NSF-supported National Urban Summit in Chicago on November 12-14 that will bring together leaders in industry (e.g., AT&T;), education (e.g., U.S. Department of Education, presidents of community college systems), and government (including some mayors) from the cities of Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Detroit to create new strategies to prepare urban community college and high school students to enter and succeed in the technical workplace.
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