Nancy Dejarnette's Reading Improvement Analysis

Being raised in a very STEM-centric family, I began to realize the importance of STEM at an early age from spending time with my parents during school breaks. My mother is a professor of electrical engineering at Georgia Tech and my father is a civil engineer who works for Georgia Power. I played around with Scratch and small robots when I was very young, spending a lot of time at Georgia Tech. What we, humans, can create fascinates me. I

If we hope to continue in the direction that we are going, it is imperative that we increase interest in STEM fields. The best way to increase the amount of STEM graduates is to increase STEM interest in school aged children. Some states have more successfully integrated STEM into their education system through the introduction of magnet schools and other specialized programs. These schools have helped increase interest in STEM education by exposing students very specific components of the fields. Some ways that they achieve this is by introducing specialized courses like aquatic science and robotics. Robotics is one of the most commonly introduced classes in the 6th – 12th grades and is responsible for a large increase in STEM interest. (Waters) Students report that their favorite part of robotics is the hands-on nature of the class. This teaching method has since been applied to other non-robotics classes resulting in higher class participation and attentiveness. AUVIS foundation helps schools start up robotics programs and reports that schools with robotics programs that expand on the AUVIS teaching method have also increased their performance on standardized tests. Robotics has further helped foster STEM education through the introduction of national robotics competitions. These competitions are beneficial to the children because it

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematic) includes some of the most versatile and important careers in the modern world. Most new developments that are making the world a better place to live are from the influences of STEM fields. As the world becomes more technologically developed there is an increase demand for students well-trained in the STEM related fields. To keep pace with this rapidly expanding area of the economy requires an adequate number of P-12 teachers with the necessary content knowledge and skills to train the next generation. Currently, Texas is facing a critical shortage of teachers with strong backgrounds in STEM. This STEM teacher shortage is impacting student learning and if too many teachers pursue degrees

With the emergence of technology the United States has invested heavily in STEM, the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math, as they are known to be the vehicle that continues to expand the economy with constant innovation. By gearing the nation to revolve their educational system on these four principles the United States is attempting to maintain its global leadership and competitive position as it is widely believed that U.S. students are consistently falling behind their contemporaries from other developed nations. A series of three reports published in 2005 argued that the alarming decline of STEM related graduates in the United States and its loosening grip as the world’s nucleus for scientific innovation.

Evaluation is vital to education, whether it is a new reform or a back to basics approach. STEM education remains open to interpretation. Drew states that the quality and efficacy of programs across the United States require quantitative and qualitative evaluations (2011). These studies should include the long-term benefits of grant funding and best practices for sustaining effective STEM programs when the grants and funds from corporate sponsors terminate (Johnson, 2014). Ultimately, the evaluation and research requires dissemination to schools across the country in order to affect the necessary reforms.

This chapter explores the underperforming United States education system that does not prepare students to be creative, think critically, work collaboratively, or communicate effectively to be ready to participate in society (Ferguson, 2011, p. 7). In addition to overall underwhelming performance in academics, the failure to incorporate real world everyday experiences in mathematics prevents students from developing critical thinking and logic skills so that they will be responsible and active citizens of society and have access to jobs in the fields science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM).

America’s school system is dramatically declining due to the lack of preparation that America’s High-school 's fail to deliver to its students. High-schools and their incompetent teachers do not adequately prepare students for jobs in Stem fields. STEM jobs are Science, Technology, Engineering and Math careers that pay wages close to double the U.S average. STEM jobs are vital in order to obtain a thriving market of new ideas and inventions in the world. Without proper teaching from qualified teachers in these particular fields many students may lose interest, not enjoy their teachings, or not even properly understand what STEM jobs are. This leaves many students unsatisfied with their experience limiting their abilities to do something great. Teachers are frequently found lacking degrees in the particular fields they teach: “Almost 40% of high-school math teachers have neither a college major nor minor in math.” (Chang 345). American students learn from unqualified teachers, hindering their ability to get a job in the fast paced twenty first century. It is important to understand the direct correlation between the mastering of essential subject matter and the success of our students to better the country. Studies have been shown to prove that teachers can change the trajectory of their students’ lives. Teachers who lack complete understanding in the fields that they teach can greatly negatively impact students lives further down the course of their lifetimes. Therefore when

Of about 8.4 million children in afterschool programs, ethnic minority children are more likely than others to participate. The afterschool setting presents an opportunity to reach the vulnerable populations we need to bring into the STEM pipeline through experiences that supplement and complement the school day. Afterschool STEM programs like the one being developed by the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation will encourage interest and excitement in the fields of science, technology, engineering and

As the United States falls farther behind on education tests in math reading and science, there has been a push for a redesign of the education system. Of the 64 countries tested in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2012, 19 other industrialized countries ranked ahead of the United States (United States, n.d.). Because of these results and the stagnating American education, parents, teachers, and the government are pushing even more standards for math, reading, and science even more. To try to resolve from the problem from its root means that there needs to be a change in how reading is taught. By improving the reading skills of students, it has the potential to promote higher success in other subjects like

Members of the DCHBCUAA have designed and organized an instructional hands-on STEM workshop for students in grades 10-12. The workshop is designed to increase

One third of schools in the United States are located within rural areas. Rural areas are known to be small towns where people are known for a southern way of life. These areas are also known for high poverty and geographic seclusion. With these characteristics for an environment, it is difficult to maintain an upright school atmosphere. Most schools in rural areas are lacking high qualified teachers and the school itself is failing to develop strategies to help struggling readers in early elementary school.

In 2005, the three reports entitled Innovative America, Tapping America’s Potential, and Rising Above the Gathering Storm, argue that if the U.S. does not improve its science technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education the standard of living in the U.S. may decrease and threaten the economy and national security. The reasoning that the proponents use is that with more innovation and technological advancements, exports will increase and benefit the economy, but if there is no innovation this will harm the economy. The three reports, according to the Congressional Research Service, argue that in order to prevent these issues, we must close the academic achievement gaps in STEM, improve the quality of teachers, increase STEM labor supply, improve on international ranking assessments, produce more STEM degrees, and increase the number of H-1B visas issued. One of the most controversial subjects of the STEM movement is that companies are using H1-B visas to employ foreigners at cheaper rates rather than U.S. citizens. However, critics of the STEM movement argue that this is a strategic idea called “Brain Drain” where the U.S. is “draining” the most talented and skilled workers from other countries in order to gain an advantage on a global stage. In order for the U.S. to remain a leader in innovation and STEM education, the issue of H1-B visas needs to be addressed.

In 2009, a resurgence of attention on STEM curriculum in North American elementary, middle and secondary schools coincided with the launch of Canada’s “Economic Action Plan” the American campaign “Educate to Innovate”. There have been numerous investigations focused on factors that influence success among racial (Tsui, 2007) and ethnic (Xie, Shauman, 2015) minority students, examinations of gender inequalities (Riegle-Crum, King, Grodsky, Muller, 2012) as well as impediments to entering post-secondary education in these areas. Where the research seems to need bolstering, is a process to identify how this approach affects other at-risk members of our learning communities. In this paper, I will discuss the potential of using interdisciplinary,

The struggle to find employees with the indispensable technical and critical problem-solving skills has become increasingly complicated. The H.R. 1020 offers a solution to promote these skills into the working class field, inclusively the educators who will teach the generation of tomorrow. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is prime evidence that we need STEM education to widen across the nation. It is an international assessment that measures students ' reading, mathematics, and science literacy skills and is taken every three years. Sadly, results seem to be plummeting, for example in 2009 the U.S. ranked 24 in math and 19 in science. Now, in the most recent assessment, 2012, we are now in 29th place in math and

Not having a great public school system might eventually lag us as a nation in terms of innovation and discovery. It’s important to keep education as a high priority because if it is ignored, then a large amount of the country’s population will slowly start lacking in intellectual skills. As a result, the U.S. will fall more and more behind. Statistics from PISA indicate that math performances from students consistently remained below average for the last ten years, with science and reading staying around average. The United States needs a kick start to renovate its educational fields, and soon.