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Greetings, Please see an update from our Ellen Lettvin STEM Ed Fellow, Patti Curtis.
US Department of Education Updates STEM Webpage
STEM policy lead, Jean Morrow, and yours truly, worked to update the Department’s STEM webpage. Please check it out and let me know what you think. http://www.ed.gov/stem
IES Grant Opportunities
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) supports research that addresses important issues in education and special education and develops solutions that improve school readiness and academic achievement for all students. While STEM is a specific grant category, STEM content and methods can also be embedded in other grant categories such as: career and technical education, early learning, cognition and student learning, English learners, effective instruction, educational technology, reading and writing, special education, etc. Grants range between $100,000 and $660,000 and up to five years. For information https://ies.ed.gov/funding/
NSF CISE Grant Opportunities
The National Science Foundation released a series of grant opportunities via its Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate with due dates in 2019 and 2020. CISE supports transformative research and education projects that develop new knowledge in all aspects of computing, communications, and information science and engineering, as well as advanced cyberinfrastructure, with an emphasis on broadening participating in computing. Eligible applicants include 2- and 4-yr institutes of higher education (IHEs) as well as non-profit organizations such as museums and professional societies. Small, medium and large projects are being sought.
Education Blockchain Summit
On June 20, 2019, the Office of Educational Technology (OET) of the U.S. Department of Education hosted the first Summit of Education Blockchains in Washington, DC. The Summit focused on the potential of education blockchains to enable learner agency by facilitating exchange of achievements across educational and employment contexts. Over 100 participants participated in the Summit, including educational administrators, technology developers, standards bodies, and policymakers. The discussions focused on solutions for understanding policies around public and private learning data, interoperability standards, and resolving principles of self-sovereign identity. Following the Summit, OET will continue to work with stakeholders to build the Education Blockchain Action Network and develop resources to provide information on implementation of education blockchains. More information can be found at https://tech.ed.gov/blockchain/.
Title IVA Spending Survey Results
Ed Week’s Blog reported that Safety, STEM & Teacher PD rank high among school administrators when spending their Student Support and Academic Enrichment (Title IVA) grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education, according to survey conducted by the National Association of Federal Program Administrators, the Title IVA Coalition and others. Less than a quarter of respondents transferred their funds to another program and more than half reported receiving more than $30,000, which triggers the conduct of a needs analysis.
Google Offers K-12 CS Teacher Resources
Most students are not getting the Computer Science (CS) education they need—and teachers have insufficient resources to provide it. Google has published a series of teacher resources to help educators give their students confidence in CS, advance their skills, and prepare them for the future. Code with Google is designed to ensure that every student has access to the collaborative, coding, and technical skills that unlock opportunities in their classrooms and careers.
Racial Disparities Persist in STEM Graduation Rates
Regardless of social class, high school education, and family backgrounds, black and Latino students are still more likely to leave STEM fields. “In recent years, there has been a proliferation of very promising efforts to make STEM college classrooms more inclusive and more engaging for all students, for example, by using less direct instruction and incorporating more research opportunities and mentoring; however, we need a better sense of whether and how such efforts are successful in reaching minority youth in STEM fields across the country,” according to the UT-Austin study.
As College Debt Rises, Financial Literacy Best Practices Issued
The Department of the Treasury released a report on behalf of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC), recommending postsecondary institutions deliver financial literacy education and resources to help students make well-informed decisions and avoid pitfalls associated with financing education. – “Between 2004-05 and 2015-16, prices for undergraduate tuition, fees, room, and board at public institutions rose 34 percent, after adjustment for inflation… Currently, most student debt consists of federal government loans, which now totals more than $1.5 trillion, owed by 43 million individuals, or over $33,000 per borrower on average. This rising cost of tuition and student debt is even more troubling when considering recent survey data that found one in five adults who attended college believe the cost of their education exceeded the financial benefit it produced.”
NOTE: If you have a great STEM education story and/or (free) resource to share, please submit ~100 words and relevant link, image, etc., to Patti.Curtis@ed.gov Current audience includes STEM NGOs, advocates, corporations, foundations, media, universities, science museums, school leaders, teachers, policy makers and administrators.
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