1 PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EDUCATION COMMITTEE HEARING - - - - - IN RE: STEM EDUCATION PUBLIC HEARING - - - - - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2009 - - - - -
BEFORE: HON. JAMES R. ROEBUCK, JR., CHAIRMAN HON. RICHARD GRUCELA, MEMBER HON. BARBARA McILVAINE SMITH, MEMBER HON. MARK LONGIETTI, MEMBER HON. JOHN YUDICHAK, MEMBER HON. DUANE MILNE, MEMBER
Held at the Community College of Philadelphia-Center for Business and Industry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, commencing at 9:00 a.m., on the above date, before Virginia Mack, Professional Court Reporter and Notary Public.
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2 1 I N D E X T O T E S T I F I E R S 2 3 TESTIFIERS: PAGE 4 IMAGINE 2014 Dr. ARLENE ACKERMAN, Superintend SDP 9 5 BREAKING THE SILENCE-The Community Plea 17 6 JEREMY ORTIZ, Senior-George Washington Carver HS JAMIE M. BRACEY, Co-Chair, Urban STEM, Temple CIL 7 8 JEREMIAH WHITE, Chair of iPraxis 23 9 PANEL 1) PA INDUSTRY AND BUSINESS IMPACT OF CONTINUED 26 10 POOR MATH/SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT, PARTICULARLY IN RECRUITING FROM DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES 11 MICKEY FLYNN, President PA Bio DR. STEPHEN TANG, Science Center 12 TONY GIRIFALCO, Delaware Valley Industrial RC ERIC NELSON, Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board 13 14 PANEL 2) SOLUTIONS THAT WORK: MESA for PA STUDENTS 67 GARLAND THOMPSON, ESQ. STEM Historian 15 FREDERIC BERTLEY, The Franklin Institute VELDA V. MORRIS, Co-Chair, Urban STEM, SRI/BEST Robotics 16 17 PANEL 3) EDUCATION RESPONSES TO THE CRISIS OF 91 ACCELERATING MINORITY STUDENT MATH AND SCIENCE 18 ACHIEVEMENT STEPHEN COX, Bridge to the Doctorate-AMP Drexel 19 DR. CATHERINE FIORELLO, Department of School of Psychology, Temple University 20 DONNA CLELAND, 21st Century Partnership/STEM Education 21 DAVID DELANEY, Drexel University PhD Program QUINCY BROWN, Drexel University PhD Program 22 23 24
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ----- 3 THE CHAIRMAN: Good morning. I would 4 like to call this House Education Committee hearing to 5 order. The topic of the morning is STEM Education. 6 I would like to thank everyone for 7 coming out and we look forward to the testimony from a 8 number of presenters. Let me preface the testimony by 9 saying that we have already received some testimony that 10 will not be offered directly this morning, in writing, 11 and I would urge those who are making presentations to 12 summarize their points so we might have a discussion of 13 the issues they are raising. 14 Despite what you might have heard, most 15 legislators do know how to read. So we have the written 16 testimony before us, so you don't have to read it to us, 17 but we would like to have most of the morning available 18 for discussion. 19 Let me begin by asking that the members 20 would introduce themselves. 21 I am Jim Roebuck, State Representative 22 from the 188 District in Philadelphia, Chairman of the 23 House Education Committee. Let me go then to my 24 colleagues beginning with Barbara McIlvaine Smith.
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4 1 MEMBER McILVAINE SMITH: Good morning. 2 I am Barb McIlvaine Smith from Chester County and I am 3 the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Special Education. 4 MEMBER LONGIETTI: Good morning. State 5 Representative Mark Longietti from Mercer County. It's 6 not the Mercer County in New Jersey. I'm about 370 7 miles away. 8 MEMBER YUDICHAK: Good morning, I'm 9 Representative John Yudichak from Luzerne County. 10 MEMBER GRUCELA: Good morning, I'm 11 Representative Rich Grucela, Northampton County, 137th 12 District. I'm between the City of Easton and the 13 Poconos Mountains. 14 THE CHAIRMAN: If I might also ask that 15 the staff who are present may introduce themselves. 16 MS. McLAUGHLIN: Tracey McLaughlin. I 17 work for Representative Roebuck on the Education 18 Committee. 19 MS. DIXON: Erin Dixon, I also work with 20 Representative Roebuck on the Education Committee. 21 MR. WAKELEY: Chris Wakeley, Executive 22 Director of the Education Committee I also work with 23 Representative Roebuck. 24 THE CHAIRMAN: Let me begin by asking
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5 1 that George Davis, who is the Chairman of the Board of 2 Community College of Philadelphia to come forward to 3 give us welcoming remarks. 4 MR. DAVIS: Good morning. Welcome to 5 the Community College of Philadelphia. My name is 6 George Davis and I Chair the Board of Trustees at 7 Community College. I want to thank everybody for being 8 here today. This is very important occasion. I don't 9 think there is anything more important right now than 10 enhancing education around technology, engineering math 11 and science. 12 Before I make a few remarks here, I 13 would like to particularly thank the House Education 14 Committee, especially representative James Roebuck, who 15 is also on our Board of Trustees. I would also like to 16 thank Jeremiah White, who is sitting here behind me. 17 Jeremiah is the Chairman of the Osiris Group and also 18 iPraxis, and he also is a member of our Board of 19 Trustees. 20 I also want to thank the STEM Group. 21 The work you're doing is just simply outstanding and 22 very important. Is there anything more important than 23 preparing our youth for the future? I don't think so. 24 Since its inception, in 1995, the trends
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6 1 in international mathematics and science study has 2 become the standard for comparing educational programs 3 across the nation. And we all know that the most recent 4 result put the U.S. in the middle of the pack. 5 In a recent book, The Post American 6 World, the author points out, that when you analyze our 7 results, the U.S. aggregate scores point out deep 8 regional racial and socio-economic variation. Simply 9 put, students in affluent U.S. suburban school districts 10 are competitive with the best in the world, which is 11 Singapore, but poor and minority students, in the U.S., 12 are not competitive. 13 He goes on to point out that this trend 14 over time will result in our competitive decline in the 15 world. If we cannot educate and train a third of the 16 working population to compete in a knowledge economy, it 17 will drag down the country. I think we could also say 18 the same about the City, where we find a preponderance 19 of poor and minority students, how can we possibly grow 20 and flourish as a City and as a State if we cannot teach 21 our children math and science? 22 If we expect our City to grow and 23 prosper, if we want to have a growing standard of 24 living, if we went to eliminate poverty in this City and
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7 1 in this State, we are going to have to figure out how to 2 improve the math and science skills of the people who 3 live here. 4 We need to expand existing businesses 5 and develop new ones. Not only are science, technology, 6 engineering and math vital for new fields such as green 7 technology, but also they are the foundation of many 8 existing industries in the City and in the State. 9 Technological advancements are seen 10 almost everywhere. Workers in many healthcare sectors 11 need to understand and operate new technology as part of 12 their jobs. Individuals in office settings need to keep 13 pace with new software and stay competitive with high 14 tech systems. Even auto mechanics have to be trained to 15 fix automobiles with advanced technology. 16 If our children are not sufficiently 17 learning, performing in these areas, if we do not commit 18 the necessary resources for science, technology, 19 engineering and math and education, we will fall behind 20 as a City, as a State and as a nation. 21 Today's event serves not only as a forum 22 for suggestions and dialogue, but it also serves as the 23 start of a multifaceted movement to bring awareness to 24 this issue and a lot is at stake, and there are many
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8 1 stakeholders in fixing this problem, including 2 educators, politicians, business people, parents and the 3 community at large. 4 You are to be commended for this 5 excellent effort that you are undertaking. Arnold 6 Twinby observed, in a study of history, growth takes 7 place whenever a challenge evokes a successful response 8 that intern evokes a further and different challenge. 9 We have not found any intrinsic reason why this process 10 should not repeat itself indefinitely, even though a 11 majority of civilizations have failed as a matter of 12 historical fact. 13 I strongly believe that if we do not 14 evoke a successful response to this challenge, we will 15 fail as a civilization, but I do know that together we 16 can correct this trend and strengthen our math and 17 science education to meet current and future demands. 18 Good luck. 19 THE CHAIRMAN: We have also been joined 20 by Dr. Arlene Ackerman, the CEO/Superintendent of the 21 Philadelphia School District, and I would ask her to 22 come forward and also make a presentation. I want to 23 thank Dr. Ackerman for taking time out of what is a very 24 busy day, this being the first day that the new Reform
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9 1 Commission meet and I know she is on her way to that 2 meeting, but I thank her for taking the time to come and 3 join with us. Thank you, Dr. Ackerman. 4 MS. ACKERMAN: Good morning, Chairman 5 Roebuck, Chairman Clymer and members of the House 6 Education Committee. It's my pleasure to be here this 7 morning. In spite of the day before me, this is an 8 opportunity for me to speak on the subject that's 9 certainly important to me. 10 Again, my name is Arlene Ackerman, I'm 11 currently the CEO/Superintendent of the School District 12 of Philadelphia. My career in public education spans 40 13 years. I know I don't look that old, do I? But during 14 that time I have been a teacher, a principal, a central 15 office administrator, a concerned parent and citizen. 16 I want to thank you for the opportunity 17 this morning to speak with you today about something, as 18 I said before, is very important to me and an urgent 19 matter, STEM education, particularly for minority 20 students, in Philadelphia's public schools. 21 Today I would like to talk about sort of 22 three topics: An overview of our school district, talk 23 about where we're going, existing initiatives that are 24 currently in the district as it relates to STEM, and
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10 1 then where we're going as we're proposing a new 5-year 2 strategic plan, Imagine 2014. 3 An overview of the School District of 4 Philadelphia: It's the 8th largest school district in 5 the nation, consisting of 270 schools and a very diverse 6 population, totalling more than 167,000 students. As of 7 last fall, we enrolled approximately 62 percent 8 African-American students, 17 percent Latino students, 9 13 percent white students, almost 6 percent Asian and 10 about 1 percent of our children are Native American, 11 another 1 percent classify themselves as other. 12 76 percent of our student population is 13 economically disadvantaged, coming from high poverty 14 neighborhoods and low income homes. 14 percent of our 15 students are enrolled in special education programs and 16 6.7 percent are classified as English language learners, 17 and our primary languages are Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, 18 French, Khmer, Vietnamese, Russian and Albanian. 19 District-wide aggregate PSSA scores, 20 since 2002, show some notable gains in students who are 21 scoring proficient or advance. We have gone from 19 22 percent, in 2002, to 49 percent of our students scoring 23 at the proficient or advanced level, in 2008. We hope 24 we will top that 49 percent this year. The percentage
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
11 1 scoring Below Basic improved from also from 59.2 2 percent, in 2002, to 30 percent of our students in the 3 Below Basic category. 4 Furthermore, State-wide 2008 science 5 test results are of deep concern to Philadelphia as they 6 are across the State. We cannot be content with only 7 half of our students scoring at the proficient or 8 advanced level. As we look at given the fact that 9 Pennsylvania and Philadelphia are heavily occupied by 10 pharmaceutical companies, bio-technology firms, health 11 and medical organizations -- I have told my friends from 12 around the country that if you have to be sick, this is 13 the city you want to be sick in, because there are 14 plenty of health institutions that will get you to a 15 state of wellness. 16 So given all of that, we understand and 17 do commend the Urban STEM Strategy Group for their 18 leadership in driving awareness and seeking solutions. 19 Particularly alarming, I would like to talk about our 20 achievement gaps. With all the gains we've made, there 21 are some observable differences as we look at race, as 22 we look at ethnicity and as we look at gender. 23 Currently, 70 percent of our 24 African-American students qualify for learning and
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12 1 emotional support services as opposed to only 10 percent 2 of our white students. A brief analysis of gender 3 reveals the two consistently most at-risk and critically 4 underperforming student populations in Math are: (1) 5 African-American and Latino males, approximately 60 6 percent and 20 percent respectively; While the majority 7 of African-American and Latina females also score below 8 proficiency in disproportionate numbers. 9 So we have two groups that we are 10 particularly concerned about. 11 Research studies show their proficiency 12 in math and science is closely related to proficiency in 13 other STEM-related areas, including the sciences, 14 engineering and technology. When underperforming 15 populations lose interest and they lean toward this 16 notion that their success is unattainable, their 17 academic skills and abilities in the more technical 18 areas, namely math, technology and science, begin to 19 decline rapidly. That's what we're seeing here in 20 Philadelphia. 21 So, where is the District going in 22 regards to STEM-related initiatives? 23 Well, we have in place a standardized 24 curriculum and sequence of courses in mathematics and
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13 1 science for grades K through 12; however, teaching and 2 learning are further complicated by unevenness in the 3 quality of lessons, adult inattention to the curriculum 4 expectations and insufficient resources, and I'm talking 5 now about labs and technical materials that, in some 6 school districts across Pennsylvania, they are 7 commonplace in their facilities. That is not the case 8 in Philadelphia. There are lots of inequities as it 9 relates to access to quality resources and experiences. 10 On the upside, though, we do have 11 pockets of excellence and stories of success across the 12 District, as evidenced by a number of STEM-targeted 13 programs, magnet schools, and partnerships with 14 businesses, colleges and universities in the Greater 15 Philadelphia -- let me give you a couple of them: 16 Some schools are equipped as classrooms 17 of the future, and this initiative is put in place to 18 provide more high quality technology in high school 19 classrooms for the use in English, Math and all 20 Sciences. 21 We have Robotics programs and clubs, 22 they're active in some of our schools, unfortunately, 23 not in all of our schools. And supplemented by 24 after-school opportunities for young people to apply
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14 1 science, math and engineering in the building of robots 2 and competing in City, State and national events. 3 We have STEM Science Fairs: A local 4 snapshot, again, the School District of Philadelphia 5 participates in the Annual George Washington Carver 6 Science Fair, one of the largest science fairs in the 7 country. It is a citywide science research competition 8 for students in grades 4 through 12. There are two 9 fairs, the 4 through 6 grades and the 7 through 12. 10 Students from public as well as charter and private all 11 attend. This fair is a partnership with Temple 12 University and The Academy of Natural Sciences as well 13 as with local government agencies, universities and 14 science related companies who provide funding. 15 Out of the 500 students from the Carver 16 Fair last year, 130 of our students were winners in 17 grades 7 through 12 and then moved on to compete in the 18 Delaware Valley Science and Engineering Fair. This 19 year, one of the 15 students going on to the 20 International Fair is a student from the School 21 District. We're really proud of that student. 22 We also participate in the First Lego 23 League, BEST, Boosting Engineering Science and 24 Technology with Villanova University, and the Sea Perch
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15 1 challenge, in partnership with the Office of Naval 2 Research and the University of Pennsylvania. 3 In the School District we offer a 4 variety of Career and Technical Education programs: 5 Construction Technology; Information Technology; 6 Biotechnology Academy; Academy of Process Technology; 7 Health Related Technology; Medical; Engineering and 8 Aerospace Magnet Program, Northeast; Agriculture; 9 Environmental & Natural Resources. 10 Lots of Grants and Partnerships that 11 support STEM: Math and Science Partnership Grants that 12 provide our children with lots of opportunities for 13 young people to improve in math and science. 14 Currently, we have grant partnerships 15 with: The Franklin Institute; Drexel University; Temple 16 University; University of the Sciences and University of 17 Penn. I could go on because we have lots of them. I'm 18 afraid if I do that we'll be here all morning listening 19 to our partnerships that we have. 20 What I want to say, as I move to 21 closure, is that STEM-related initiatives are definitely 22 a part of our strategic plan. Imagine 2014, we have in 23 the School District currently, is good but it's not good 24 enough. What we have is some programs, but not enough
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16 1 to touch all children. And as we move into the next 2 five years -- and we're waiting for the approval now 3 through the SRC, School Reform Commission, on April 4 22nd, to make this plan a reality for our young people. 5 We have lots of STEM-related initiatives in our new plan 6 and we are looking forward to implementing these plans 7 and these resources for all of our children. 8 The School District of Philadelphia 9 recognizes that not all of our children are receiving 10 the best education or the education that they certainly 11 deserve, the kind of education that enabled me and you 12 and everyone at this hearing to achieve a degree of 13 success in our careers. Our children today, we know, 14 some of them, are suffering from the consequences of 15 widespread inequalities, low expectations, and too 16 often, mediocre instruction, while living and hoping to 17 work in a world that will demand more and more from 18 them. 19 So I say to you that we recognize, at 20 the School District of Philadelphia, that we have to do 21 better. We are happy that you recognize that we all 22 must do better for our children. I thank you for giving 23 me an opportunity to speak to you today. I do wish you 24 luck, but this is collective, you and we are included
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
17 1 with you as partners in making sure that all of our 2 young people get the skills that they need so that they 3 can succeed in -- not this world that we know today -- 4 but their world tomorrow. We need them to be 5 successful. Thank you very much for listening to me 6 this morning. 7 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Dr. Ackerman, 8 and we look forward to continued dialogue with you as we 9 move forward in this area as well as other areas of 10 education in Philadelphia. 11 MS. ACKERMAN: Thank you so much. 12 THE CHAIRMAN: We would ask that our 13 Panel, Breaking the Silence, The Community Plea, might 14 come. 15 Good morning. I ask that you might 16 introduce yourselves and give us your testimony. 17 MR. ORTIZ: Hello and good morning to 18 everybody. My name is Jeremy Ortiz. I'm a Senior at 19 George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and 20 Science and future freshman of the class of 2013 in 21 Howard University. 22 When I was nine, my mother started 23 working at the Urban Youth Racing School and actually 24 made me enroll. It was by far the most influential
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18 1 program I have ever been involved in. I only had to try 2 it once before I knew it was something I would be doing 3 for the rest of my life. This program was pretty much 4 the reason why I actually wanted to go to racing school 5 -- or why I wanted to go to George Washington Carver 6 School of Engineering and Science. It pretty much let 7 me know that I had to be involved with engineering and 8 science, since I was about 11, just to get where I 9 wanted to be. 10 So there is so much to this sport that 11 people do not know. It's much more than cars going 12 around the track. I've actually completed two 13 internships with NASCAR Teams, including championship 14 racing teams like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. I was 15 also chosen to do an internship with the South Point 16 Racing Team, in North Carolina, in Charlotte. I have 17 worked side by side with crew chiefs and engineers and 18 PR and marketing people and all involved in the sport. 19 I have actually been able to help build 20 cars that were actually raced on a NASCAR circuit. As a 21 matter of fact, while I was at Jeff Gordon's shop, I 22 actually repaired the brakes to one of the cars and I 23 actually helped paint some of the logos and some of the 24 painting that you see on the side of the car, and that
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19 1 car was actually raced the next week. I think it 2 finished about third. I mean this program pretty much 3 helps me feel like I was part of the team, and that was 4 actually amazing to me. 5 Programs like the Urban Youth Racing 6 School are needed to make regular school and subjects 7 like math and science pretty much more fun. Without the 8 UYRS I would not have been able to create a serious 9 academic and life strategic plan to achieve my goals 10 that UYRS pretty much has instilled in me, all the real 11 core life values that I would need to help such as in 12 respect, confidence, determination and most of all, it 13 has enabled me to begin networking with people in the 14 future career that I want to be in, and I know for a 15 fact what industry I want to be in. And it's pretty 16 much just allowed me to take my journey in life of where 17 I want to go. 18 So where ever this ride takes me, I know 19 that there is nothing I cannot accomplish and the 20 possibilities are endless all because of the program. 21 Thank you. 22 MS. BRACEY: My name is Jamie Bracey and 23 I am one of the Founding Co-Chairs of the Statewide 24 Urban STEM Strategy Groups, which really came into
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20 1 existence about 5 months ago, strategically, for a 2 number of reasons, but at the core, we exist because 3 Jeremy exist. And the fundamental vision and mission of 4 this organization is to raise the community awareness 5 across this state. Though we recognize and we 6 acknowledge that the performance level of students in 7 the State of Pennsylvania, particularly on the 2008 8 PSSAs, were deplorable and does not align us 9 strategically with producing people into the STEM 10 pipeline who can contribute to the viability of our 11 local economy, our regional economy or our state's 12 economy. 13 I just want to give you a quick history 14 lesson because I wear four hats here: I'm a mother of 15 four Pennsylvanians, one who is also graduating this 16 year and will join Temple University Class of 2013, as 17 Jeremy is going into Howard. I have two more who are in 18 cyber home school co-op and I have one who is in 19 Governor Rendell's Pre-K Counts Program. 20 And I share with you from a community 21 perspective -- would the members of the Urban STEM 22 Strategy Group, will all of you raise your hand. This 23 is a statewide initiative. Dr. Colbert, from 24 Pittsburgh, flew in specifically for this because we
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21 1 anticipate that across the State there are several key 2 issues that are going to be raised to the table; one, 3 that as a community of 50 plus people, most of the folks 4 in Urban STEM are age 50+ and this is our civic and 5 cultural responsibility to address these issues. This 6 is not a one-time event. We are anticipating that we 7 are going to be a resource to you, as you look to 8 accelerate and improve the status of math and science 9 learning for children across the state. 10 We understand that there are 450,000 11 children of color in this State. When you look at the 12 50 percent failure rate on the PSSA, when you dig down 13 into that data, it was 80 to 90 percent for our 14 children; it's deplorable. At the same time we have an 15 aging State that is rich, very rich in experience and 16 expertise and at the same time we have an upsurge of 17 children who need to be diverted into STEM. This is 18 children of all races and ethnicities. We have the 19 capacity. 20 My other hat, at the Center For 21 Intergenerational Learning: Everything that we do, 22 every piece of evidence and research that is out there 23 shows that if you expose a child, like a Jeremy, very 24 early on so he can create an identity -- we're not
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
22 1 talking about self-esteem here, we're talking about an 2 identity that's affiliated with a particular career path 3 then there is an opportunity for success. You're going 4 to hear from a lot of people who are very clear about 5 success patterns. We aren't going to belabor you with 6 the dire doom prognosis. 7 You have my testimony regarding Henry 8 Baker's research 100 years ago and he looked for 9 evidence of innovation within a community of people who 10 had been formerly enslaved and found 900 patents when 11 such things should never have happened. Well, how did 12 they learn? I don't care what the names are right now. 13 What was the learning process that would take a child 14 from underperforming in the most socially toxic time in 15 our nation's history to getting federally protected 16 intellectual property. 17 The process included three things: One 18 was the self-identity; two was the apprenticeship model, 19 exposure and apprenticeship. In the 21st Century, as we 20 accelerate forward, we're talking about cognitive 21 apprenticeships. Math and science require cognitive 22 apprenticeships as well as hands on. So we need to have 23 a civic engagement jug a knot in this state to expose 24 children and to mentor children. So you're going to
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
23 1 hear those kinds of solutions. 2 And we're also calling for a Statewide 3 state of emergency around this issue. We also have some 4 solutions for you. So I look forward to serving again 5 as a resource with my Co-Chair, Velda Morris, and the 6 entire Statewide group of the Urban STEM Strategy Group. 7 Welcome to Philadelphia. 8 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. 9 (Applause.) 10 THE CHAIRMAN: I would ask 11 Representative Milne if he might introduce himself. 12 MEMBER MILNE: Representative Duane 13 Milne from Chester County, I'm delighted to be here with 14 you this morning. 15 THE CHAIRLADY: Thank you. 16 I understand that Jeremiah White has 17 brief remarks. 18 MR. WHITE: Good morning, and we're very 19 pleased, Representative Roebuck, that you were able to 20 convene these hearings here, particularly at Community 21 College. 22 Part of what has driven the desire to 23 get these hearings and to get them at Community College 24 is that a lot of the students that enter our college --
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24 1 I'm on the Board of Trustees -- spend a lot of time in 2 remediation, whether it's math or literacy or science, 3 and we feel that all community colleges need to 4 understand that if we don't put our energy into helping 5 to solve this problem then we'll continue to spend a lot 6 of money on, what we call, the treadmill, but a lot of 7 people use that treadmill to become very successful, so 8 I don't want to diminish it. 9 What I want to say specifically, I'm the 10 Chair of iPraxis. We're a non-profit, and part of what 11 we attempt to do is to get industry to support science 12 education, and we have representatives from Pennsylvania 13 Bio, the Science Center, who have put a lot of energy 14 and resources and equipment into a pipeline that goes 15 from industries, where they're not used anymore, into 16 classrooms. 17 We have had classrooms -- Dr. Ackerman 18 spoke about it -- we have classrooms who have no lab 19 tables. We have schools that don't have copy machines. 20 Well, some of the corporations have actually donated 21 that. And also to identify scientific talent that can 22 go in and support science education in classrooms, it's 23 called the scientific program that we operate, but more 24 importantly than that is why is this hearing today
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
25 1 different than this hearing, perhaps, a year ago? I 2 think that's the issue. And I think all of the members 3 of the Urban STEM Strategy Group, and people who have 4 been on this issue for years, understand the urgency. 5 So part of the challenge here is, not 6 that we don't have good people in good places and good 7 programs. We have got a lot of that stuff going on, but 8 it continues to get worse. So the question becomes, how 9 do we realign our energies and our relationships to make 10 it work? So what you see with the Urban STEM Strategy 11 Group is that we are putting forward and stepping on an 12 issue that is very, very delicate and very, very 13 devastating in our community as it relates to workforce, 14 business development, et cetera, but what we're also 15 saying is, is that we're starting with the legislative 16 body, you, but we also understand that the resolve to 17 change this situation for the kid that lives next door 18 to me has to reside in us. 19 So, yes, we would like to have hearings 20 in Pittsburgh, but ultimately we want to see a 21 community-based accountability system for making sure 22 that this happens. We can't talk about it anymore. We 23 want to win the innovation game. When Mickey gets up, 24 when Steve gets up, we need to win the innovation game.
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
26 1 So what we're here to say is the Urban STEM Strategy 2 Group, iPraxis and others, we're here to stay, we're in 3 the community and we're going to continue to struggle to 4 change the relationships to get it done because we have 5 good people, we have some resources, but it continues to 6 get worse, and what we believe is that will and that 7 restructuring and that advocacy will make a difference. 8 Thank you very much. 9 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. 10 (Applause.) 11 THE CHAIRMAN: I just want to say. I 12 think that all of us welcome partnerships that work and 13 it is indeed a partnership effort that brings success. 14 We look forward to that. 15 Let me then call the first Panel, 16 Pennsylvania Industry and Business Impact of Continued 17 Poor Math/Science Achievement, particularly in 18 recruiting from disadvantaged communities. 19 I'd ask that those on the Panel would 20 introduce themselves and make a brief presentation and 21 then allow the Committee to ask questions. 22 MR. FLYNN: Good morning, Representative 23 Roebuck and members of the House Education Committee, 24 thank you very, very much.
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27 1 My name is Mickey Flynn. I'm the 2 President of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, 3 and yes, I have got some comments and I will be brief 4 with those, although I will go through them, because I 5 think it's also important that we all understand the 6 need for stronger science and math programs that will 7 eventually support continued growth, innovation and 8 leadership, and I'll come back on the innovation side 9 because that is really a theme that will echo through 10 what I do have to say. 11 Because within Pennsylvania -- I want to 12 start first off with an overview of why we're a globally 13 recognized cluster and then discuss what the 14 opportunities are for people in the industry, and I'm 15 only going to go through a couple of examples because 16 they are relatively quick, but I think they are also 17 very important because we tend to, as a group, when we 18 talk about our industry, always focus on the scientists, 19 and that's, quite frankly, just a small part of what 20 ends up driving the engine for us to bring the 21 innovation to market. 22 Again, Pennsylvania Bio, we are a 23 statewide association. We represent the bioscience 24 industry in the Commonwealth. We have more than 375
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28 1 member companies, and the unifying theme to our 2 membership is the mission to help find breakthrough 3 therapies, diagnostics and devices that will enable 4 patients to live longer and better lives. 5 Great work to this end is happening all 6 over Pennsylvania, and we should as Pennsylvanians take 7 great pride in the work that we do and how successful we 8 are and we support the leadership now and also into the 9 future. 10 I think we need to understand, we've got 11 great strong heritage here, as Dr. Ackerman said, if you 12 want to get sick, pick it out here. Between the 13 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we've got everything here 14 that will be able to help -- hopefully, cure some of the 15 debilitating diseases. 16 We're located in the heart of the 17 biopharm corridor, as she said, and we've got therefore 18 a very, very talented workforce that helps to bring this 19 innovation to market. We've got a world class academic 20 research across the Commonwealth and, again, we've got a 21 very strong skilled group that also support us. And 22 when you look at the biosciences, we've got over 1700 23 establishments here, we've got 77,000 people that work 24 directly within the industry, but when you actually
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29 1 multiply -- we use a multiplier of a little over four, 2 we've got over almost 340,000 people that are involved 3 in our industry. 4 As a state, we rank second in research, 5 testing in medical labs; we are third in drugs and 6 pharmaceuticals and we are sixth in medical devices, and 7 just recently we were ranked number one in bio 8 technologist strength, out surpassing all the rest of 9 the state which, quite frankly, from our standpoint, we 10 consider to be a huge, huge accomplishment when you 11 stack it up against the California and the Massachusetts 12 of the world. 13 Again, the bioscience, we look at it as 14 being the cornerstone of Pennsylvania's new economy. 15 We've got average wages of over $76,000 compared to 16 every day of $41,000 brings in about 5.9 billion, in 17 wages, almost $6 billion, and these jobs, again, provide 18 family sustaining wages that contribute and will 19 continue to contribute to our economy. 20 When we talk about our bioscience 21 community, there are certain elements that we refer to 22 as a continuum. The continuum is made up of the 23 research institutions. We have our emerging companies, 24 we've got our mature companies, our medical device and
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30 1 diagnostic, our global pharmaceutical, as well as in our 2 very strong support organization that make up, what we 3 refer to as, a continuum, and we know that's very, very 4 important because as a result we are looked at as a 5 global center for the biosciences. 6 And a lot of people take us for granted, 7 but quite frankly, we've got a very, very strong 8 bioscience community across the Commonwealth of 9 Pennsylvania, and that's evidenced by, what we refer to 10 as, 25 largest metropolitan bioscience clusters. We're 11 very fortunate here in Pennsylvania, and quite frankly, 12 they have two; one here in the Southeast and one in 13 Pittsburgh. We're hopeful that that will continue to 14 grow when we reach out into the Lehigh, Scranton area 15 and also in the Penn State area. 16 However, that's good news. Okay that we 17 have strong clusters here, but we're also competing and 18 that's the part that we really need to understand. The 19 risk for us is related to the impact of the poor 20 achievement that we have heard, and you'll hear more 21 about, in science is simple: We lose and our students 22 lose because there are plenty of places in the U.S. and 23 globally that are investing in science education. It's 24 not just what's within our states. It's what Singapore
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31 1 is doing, in Ireland, in India that are also what we are 2 competing with and we need to recognize that if we don't 3 continue to find a way to solve this problem, it's only 4 going to be a short time before we're not going to be 5 the number one leader in innovation. 6 That sort of sets the stage very 7 quickly, from an overview standpoint, but if you look at 8 the opportunities, okay, and you look at, yes, we 9 understand the opportunities at the scientific level and 10 we understand, at the bench level how they are important 11 and, yes, advanced degrees are necessary, but when you 12 look at it, there are laboratories, there are discovery 13 research, clinical development. In the operations sides 14 of it regulatory, inequality, in manufacturing and 15 facility, those are all opportunities that we have for 16 or students in order to bring them forward and enhance 17 their overall quality of life. 18 Again, there are an awful lot of career 19 ladders, but everybody tends to focus on the scientist 20 at the bench level. And quite frankly, that's really 21 only a very small part of what drives a company. And 22 having had a company prior to this, I can tell you the 23 support that you need in the other functions, the 24 facilities are not to be undertaken by someone that
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32 1 really doesn't understand science and math. It's very, 2 very important. 3 They again think the PhD's and the MD's, 4 and, yes, they are important, but that's not going to be 5 the overall driving force that's going to help us to 6 bring this innovation that we have in our institutions 7 forward. 8 I don't want to focus on the impact of 9 the poor science achievement, I'll focus on the 10 possibility for students that when we do invest in their 11 science and math skills. Again, when you look at just 12 the laboratory discovery research job, workers seek to 13 identify and/or create the biologically active molecules 14 in compounds that have a therapeutic value. 15 And I think it's important that 16 everybody understands there is a distinct difference 17 between a pharmaceutical product and a biological 18 product, and the biological is what is going to drive 19 our industry across -- not only Pennsylvania, but across 20 the world. That's what's going to help us eradicate the 21 debilitating diseases, it's the biological. 22 Understanding ourselves, basically, what I refer to as 23 the inside/out because if we don't understand the cell 24 make up of our body, we're never going to be able to
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33 1 eradicate the diseases, and that's why it's so important 2 that people differentiate between the two because 3 everybody sort of thinks pharmaceutical is 4 pharmaceutical. It's not. And that's very, very 5 important. 6 Again, the laboratory discovery research 7 again developing and moving it forward and bringing it 8 to market. At the beginning job, you can have a 9 laboratory assistant that has a high school diploma who 10 can make anywhere from 24 to 33,000. There is a study 11 that was on our website that was produced by the Life 12 Science Career Alliance that really references all of 13 that and has a lot more detail, but it's very, very 14 beneficial. 15 High school diploma, laboratory 16 assistant, everybody thinks, who's going to clean the 17 room, who's going to do the glass work, who's going to 18 make the solution? Well, a high school diploma can help 19 that student get there, if they have the initiative and 20 the drive, they will advance because the companies will 21 spend the time to train them, but they need the 22 fundamental of science and math in order to be ability 23 to get a very good, a very agreeable job, and quite 24 frankly, very, very important.
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34 1 And again, you look at the research 2 assistant, research associate, you just keep moving up 3 the ladder. Supervisory side of it, again, in the 4 discovery side. You can go on to just a Scientist I up 5 to 80,000 to $120,000 and that, again, is going to take 6 advanced degrees. We understand that, but there are 7 levels in there that everybody with the appropriate 8 education in the science and math can fit very, very 9 nicely. 10 Manufacturing, people always think of 11 manufacturing, its equipment, we knock out pills, we do 12 liquids, we make up Maalox, which is a company I 13 previously worked for, it's a liquid, that's not the 14 manufacturing of today. Today the biologics are 15 entirely different. It's fermentation. It's moving 16 that process forward in order to purify, in order to be 17 able to turn a gene on or turn a gene off. 18 So there is a lot more to the 19 manufacturing process and that's why the fundamentals of 20 science and math are so, so critical, but if you just 21 take in the manufacturer beginning job as a material 22 handler, high school diploma; very, very good job, 23 again, base of around 24 to $33,000. Manufacturing 24 technician, again, high school diploma, moves them up to
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35 1 35 to $60,000. So there are jobs that are there that 2 really will help and then, obviously, going on to the 3 supervisory side of it opens up that much more. 4 What do the career paths have in common? 5 They all need solid math and science -- times up? Okay. 6 I guess, I got the look then. Well, then I'll wait for 7 questions, then I can wrap it up that way. The problem 8 is you get wrapped up into what you're doing, folks, 9 okay. 10 MR. TANG: I know Mickey is passionate 11 about it, so thank you. 12 I want to thank Representative Roebuck 13 and the members of the House Education Committee for 14 giving me and my colleagues, on this Panel, the 15 opportunity to speak with you today. 16 I'm Steve Tang. I'm the President and 17 CEO of the University City Science Center. I want to 18 give you some brief background on my own experience of 19 the University City Science Center and help you 20 understand why improving and accelerating our children's 21 performance in basic math and science is so important to 22 the Science Center, our community resident companies and 23 entrepreneurs in the Greater Philadelphia Region and 24 throughout the Commonwealth.
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36 1 I have had the privilege of being the 2 President and CEO of the Science Center for the past 14 3 months. In case you're not familiar with the Science 4 Center, we are the largest and oldest urban research 5 park in the country. We were founded in 1963. We are 6 in West Philadelphia, in University City District. We 7 have the privilege of being in Representative Roebuck's 8 District itself, and we have many accomplishments that I 9 can share with you. 10 The ones I'll focus on are that over 11 those 46 years, we have been the home to 145 companies 12 that have originated in our incubator, business 13 incubator which we call the port. Those companies today 14 employ almost 16,000 people and the average salary, as 15 Mickey spoke to, in terms of job creation, of our 16 current core companies, incubator companies, is almost 17 $82,000 a year. 18 These are companies that will change the 19 world. They are working on diagnostic, they also study 20 nanotechnology and energy technology to change the world 21 as well. 22 I was attracted to this role as the CEO 23 of the Science Center because I saw the Science Center's 24 mission as an exciting and complex leadership challenge
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37 1 and more relevant, for the topic today, I was also 2 motivated by my passion for science and innovation, 3 which I will speak to in a second, and the ability and 4 potential to make the world a better place. 5 Science and innovation are in my blood 6 and part of my heritage. I'm the son of Chinese 7 immigrants. I was born with high expectations from 8 parents who sought and achieved the American dream. My 9 mother helped found the University of Delaware's medical 10 technology program. My late father was a scientist 11 engineer and an inventor with the DuPont Company, who 12 was posthumously awarded NASA's lifetime Achievement 13 Award in 1982. 14 Since we're here to talk about 15 education, I'll just mention a little bit about my 16 background. I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry 17 from the College of William and Mary, I'm pleased to 18 share alumni with Representative Milne. I have a 19 Master's and PhD from Lehigh University in Biochemical 20 Engineering and an MBA from the Wharton School of 21 Business. So I understand very clearly what Mickey is 22 talking back in terms of the cross over between science 23 and careers. 24 In case you think my parents were strict
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38 1 and humorless, I will tell you, they were rather 2 progressive for their time. They allowed me to pick 3 either science or engineering. Those of us who grew up 4 in the '60s, with immigrant parents, may not have had 5 that choice. 6 On a serious note, I find it troubling 7 today that Chinese immigrants today are looking for 8 educational opportunities here in the U.S., but then 9 looking to go back to their country for career 10 opportunities, and I think we have to stem the tide 11 there as well. 12 So I have been fortunate to have grown 13 up in an atmosphere of nurturing of science and 14 education. Many children, of course, don't have that 15 kind of support at home and yet we can't afford to lose 16 those children. The students who are conducting basic 17 scientific experiments in the classroom today are the 18 ones who will lead the industry and this region to 19 future success and competitiveness. 20 So this is our challenge, we must 21 generate the next generation of entrepreneurs who are 22 well versed in both business and science. We need to 23 engage their interest in science and technology, while 24 they're young, long before they go off to college or
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39 1 select their life's work. We owe it to ourselves and 2 Pennsylvania's future to get our children on a path of 3 success, and math and science skills must be part of the 4 road map. 5 Pennsylvania cannot compete on a 6 national or global scale unless we have a critical mass 7 of students who enter higher education and a workforce 8 with training and interest in science and technology. 9 We can't have a thriving economy without 10 an educated workforce and businesses take into account 11 the caliber of school systems and its graduates where 12 they decide to locate. However, the school system 13 cannot do it alone. Kids need to know that science and 14 technology are important and that one segment of a 15 community can't accomplish this alone. We must all, 16 business, science, government, education and parents 17 dedicate our resources and work together. 18 In my professional career, I have had 19 the opportunity to work in academia, professional 20 services and private industry. I have also had the good 21 fortune of solving commercialization challenges for 22 small and large companies in life science and energy 23 technology industries. 24 So let me give you one example, and I'm
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40 1 sure my colleagues will provide others, of how we're 2 helping the cause. Next month the Science Center will 3 host an iPraxis event called iFunction, which celebrates 4 the accomplishments of middle school students in science 5 at iPraxis partner schools. We'll also be honoring the 6 mentors, the partners and the corporate leaders in 7 science education. 8 In addition, we're launching a new 9 program, at the Science Center this summer, called 10 Breadboard, which lets school children see firsthand the 11 opportunity for innovation that exist in the 12 intersection of art, science, technology and design. 13 Specifically, Breadboard will feature a rapid 14 prototyping and fabrication workshop, incorporating 15 state-of-the-art tools and machinery, including 3D 16 printing technology, which is similar to ink jet 17 technology that may be on your desk at home. 18 Did you know you can 3D print food? 19 It's a great way to engage children as we introduce them 20 to the potential of science and technology. 21 In summary, I think we have what it 22 takes to achieve our mission. We understand the 23 challenges, we have examples of programs that can 24 overcome those challenges and we have the determination
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41 1 to succeed, but as I said earlier, we must all -- 2 business, science, government, education and parents 3 work together. Thank you very much. 4 MR. NELSON: Good morning, Chairman 5 Roebuck and the rest of the Education Committee. 6 My name is Eric Nelson. I'm the 7 Executive Vice-President of the Philadelphia Workforce 8 Investment Board. For those of you who are not familiar 9 with the Workforce Investment Board, it's a private 10 sector led Board, volunteer Board appointed by the Chief 11 elected official, which is the Mayor here in 12 Philadelphia, charged with providing strategic 13 leadership, policy, governance over public workforce 14 dollars. 15 In Philadelphia we have mapped at 16 approximately $200+ million per year are channeled into 17 the City of Philadelphia for the purposes of getting our 18 citizens geared up and skilled for jobs in the local or 19 regional economy. So I want to share a couple of 20 comments with you today and I hope to avoid getting a 21 sign to tell me time is up before I'm finished. 22 I would like to just share a couple of 23 examples of how the industry would be impacted and has a 24 number of challenges related to the availability of
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42 1 skilled young people in the pipeline in the categories 2 of math and science competencies, as we look to build 3 our strategic position in this region, as we look to 4 stay competitive in this worldwide economy. 5 The data that I will share with you 6 comes from the Pennsylvania STEM Gap analysis that was 7 developed several months ago, and I will just share a 8 brief couple of data points. The analysis shows that 21 9 percent of Pennsylvania's employment in the time period 10 of 2006, which is the most recent data, requires a 11 significant background in STEM competency and STEM 12 education, and that nearly 80 percent requires at least 13 basic competency in certain skills. 14 I would like to also share that STEM 15 related occupations out-perform the state average in 16 growth as it relates to earnings. Pennsylvania, for the 17 time period of 2006 through 2016, it is projected that 18 most industries will have a growth of nearly 7.2, 19 whereas, for STEM occupations, the growth will be 20 somewhere around 12 percent. 21 There are a number of examples that have 22 been shared today about the challenges and why it's 23 important. I'll continue by sharing that 71 percent of 24 jobs are projected to be in the life sciences and the
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43 1 office of physicians. That is 80 percent of jobs are 2 projected to be available through information and 3 communication, service cluster and on and on, and that 4 there are a number of initiatives on the way to address 5 this issue. 6 The Workforce Investment Board is the 7 founding member of the Life Science Career Alliance, 8 which is a regional industry focus intermediary group 9 that is designed and charged to grow and expand the life 10 science industry in the region. And we're also managing 11 the U.S. Department of Labor Grant focused on 12 biotechnology for certificate programs through the 13 tri-state region. 14 I would like to end by sharing, just 15 quickly, a couple of applicable statements that we 16 received from industry at the very local level that 17 suggest that there are challenges. We are companies 18 through industry partnership, which are state funded 19 collaborative of business, industry, economic 20 development and workforce development that's funded by 21 the Department of Labor Industry. Those employers have 22 made statements such as they have had to turn down 23 business because they did not have the skilled workers 24 to sustain and take advantage of opportunities and
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44 1 contracts that have been provided to them. 2 That many utility related companies have 3 been very challenged in hiring new workers for their 4 aging workforce, particularly, as most individuals have 5 difficulty securing individuals who can pass licensing 6 around math and science. 7 And the last thing I'll say is that, on 8 a personal note, I have been exposed to a number of STEM 9 related enrichment programs, growing up in Philadelphia, 10 and while I did not -- I made a decision not to go into 11 STEM careers, I will assure you that through my exposure 12 to physics, organic chemistry, calculus, attending the 13 Science Magnet School at Northeast High School, all of 14 that has had a positive impact on my professional career 15 and has allowed me to be successful as I utilize my 16 analytical, critical thinking, problem solving skills to 17 be successful in my business today. 18 Thank you. 19 MR. GIRIFALCO: Good morning, Chairman 20 Roebuck, members of the Committee. 21 It is indeed a privilege to be here to 22 lend my singular voice to the many voices concerned 23 about STEM education and the future of our children and 24 the future of our economy.
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45 1 My name is Tony Girifalco. I'm with an 2 economic development organization that works with a 3 manufacturing company in Southeastern Pennsylvania. 4 I've been involved in trying to organize our community 5 around STEM education for the past three years and I'm 6 currently the regional point of contact in the Southeast 7 region for Pennsylvania's STEM initiative. 8 You have my written testimony. I'm not 9 going to belabor any of the points that I made in that 10 and I would be happy to answer any questions regarding 11 it, but I would like to offer a little supplemental 12 testimony this morning. 13 The first is that I'm sure you're well 14 aware that the national focus on STEM is not new. There 15 has been work done at the national level, particularly 16 through the National Science Foundation, that dates back 17 some 20 years, including a focus on minority and 18 typically underrepresented populations for math and 19 science. 20 I would also like you to know that our 21 region's focus on STEM education is not new. In the 22 Summer of 2006, many of us came together, in response to 23 the national landmark report Rising Above The Gathering 24 Storm, and convened the first regional response of its
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46 1 kind to that report. And I offer the proceedings from 2 that forum for the record, and I'll give those to you, 3 Tracey, chalk full of good ideas. 4 And in actuality, this forum became the 5 basis for the Commonwealth's proposal to the National 6 Governor's Association for funding for the current 7 Pennsylvania STEM initiative. Before the recession, the 8 number one issue facing companies in our region was 9 their inability to find talent. The recession will end. 10 And that will then again be the number one issue for 11 companies. 12 The business costs associated with 13 trying to find an individual, a single individual, range 14 from $5,000 to $15,000 and sometimes $20,000 per hire. 15 That is an absorbent amount of money, especially when 16 you keep that individual investing additional training 17 dollars and then somebody approaches them with a few 18 more bucks. This is happening all the time because our 19 labor market is wildly, wildly inefficient. 20 We know, I think everyone, that a 21 cornerstone of a strong innovation economy is a strong 22 STEM education system, and I think we also know that the 23 cornerstone of a strong education system are strong STEM 24 teachers. We are fortunate to have, as one of our
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47 1 partners in this work, the Philadelphia Education Fund, 2 who has a very focused set of activities supporting 3 teacher development in the STEM arena within the School 4 District of Philadelphia. 5 There are no shortage of individuals and 6 organizations interested in improving education in 7 general and STEM education in particular. We have 8 representatives of the economic development community, 9 the education system, the business community, the 10 workforce community, the associations, assorted 11 non-profits and community development organizations, 12 private sector enterprises, all want to do a better job. 13 Part of what we hope to accomplish in 14 our region is to start talking to one another. You 15 can't swing a dead cat in this region without finding 16 another good organization passionate about education and 17 educational reform, but we have assets and they're 18 diffuse, they're disconnected. 19 One of the activities that we're 20 undertaking within the context of the Pennsylvania STEM 21 initiative is an asset mapping project, so that we know 22 what we actually have out there and then making 23 connections where we can leverage our resources and 24 intelligence to move the needle. Too often we mistake
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48 1 activity for progress and too often we see with an 2 educational system a seemingly infinite capacity to 3 absorb research and innovation and make it disappear 4 without any lasting affect. 5 There are some cultural issues that we 6 need to address in order for that not to happen anymore. 7 Part of our largest -- our hugest competitor is the mass 8 media. We're up against a multi-billion dollar effort 9 that is barraging everyone, all audiences, with 10 messages, branding, products, ideas, all the time. I 11 think it's incumbent upon us to come together and start 12 to have our own communications campaign. Do a little 13 better job communicating among ourselves and then start 14 talking and speaking the same language with the same 15 messages to our citizens, our teachers, our parents, our 16 counselors, our educators, our school administrators. I 17 think we can achieve a great point of alignment once we 18 get that done. I'll stop there. 19 And I want to thank the Committee, 20 again, and please consider me as a resource. And I 21 welcome any further dialogue, Chairman, with you and the 22 Committee. 23 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. I 24 would like to thank all the presenters for their
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49 1 testimony and ask if there are any questions from the 2 Committee. 3 MEMBER LONGIETTI: Thank you, Mr. 4 Chairman. 5 I'm just curious, because we're close to 6 some other states here in Philadelphia. Have you looked 7 at all across borders? And I say that in the context 8 of, I'm on the other side of the state, and two things 9 that have happened is that Congressman Altmire, who is 10 my Congressman, has partnered up with Congress Tim Ryan, 11 who represents the Youngstown, Ohio area, to create a 12 biotech corridor between Cleveland and Pittsburgh and 13 then also, my county, Mercer County, has teamed up with 14 a couple of Ohio counties, and Governor Rendell and 15 Governor Strickland signed off on it, to create the 16 first Economic Development Workforce Training Regional 17 Partnership between two states. 18 I'm just interested to see if you 19 thought about that, partnering across the borders in 20 some of the other states? 21 MR. GIRIFALCO: Representative 22 Longietti, thank you for the question. 23 Our colleague, Tom Moore, of Select 24 Greater Philadelphia and the Tri-State Region, isn't
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50 1 here, but I think he submitted testimony. If he were 2 here, he would say the following: And I'll share this 3 as well, the states of New Jersey, Delaware and 4 Pennsylvania -- Southeastern Pennsylvania have formed 5 the Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Alliance. It's a very 6 tangible way of bringing together resources in the 7 metropolitan area. 8 While the focus there is mainly on 9 post-graduate level research, there is no reason that 10 type of tri-state vehicle can't be used for educational 11 purposes as well. I think we do need to come together 12 not only across the Southeastern Pennsylvania, but 13 across the three states as well. 14 MR. NELSON: Can I add one more element 15 to that response. One of the activities that came out 16 of our STEM forum, in the Summer of 2006, was 17 establishment of a Regional Engineering Dean's Council 18 that includes deans from three states. Rowan University 19 and the University of Delaware are members of this 20 Council and they have been a sounding board for many 21 economic development education initiatives. They're now 22 looking at developing some research collaboration. 23 That's one element of tri-state cooperation that's going 24 on.
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51 1 The second is that we're well aware that 2 we're a tri-state labor market and as part of our asset 3 mapping project, we've engaged the Economy League of 4 Greater Philadelphia to reach out to institutions and 5 organizations in New Jersey and Delaware and bring them 6 up to speed with what has been happening through the 7 Pennsylvania STEM initiative. So we have some good 8 things underway, but a way to go. 9 THE CHAIRMAN: Representative Milne. 10 MEMBER MILNE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 11 It's great to see my fellow alumni, Dr. 12 Tang from William and Mary, so it's good to have a 13 couple of William and Mary folks way up here north. 14 Steve and I shared one course, in William and Mary, and 15 that was Biology 101. Steve went on to take zoology and 16 all kinds of high level science courses, molecular 17 chemistry and so forth. I took Bio 101, so I commend 18 his great achievements that he has pursued, but I would 19 concur with Mr. Nelson, that one course, even though I 20 have not gone on to a hard-core science career myself, 21 was really influential for me in terms of thinking about 22 the importance of science and the implications to our 23 society. It certainly has driven some of my work as a 24 legislator just thinking about the particular impacts
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52 1 that we can have in the bioscience in Pennsylvania. So 2 I concur, it's really important that we expose all of 3 our students to at least some basic foundation. 4 My question then would be, thinking 5 about the nexus between business and science, which I 6 think is really the heart of the whole bioscience area, 7 what is the practical business implication if we 8 continue to have these achievement gaps in education, in 9 terms of the math and science areas? What is the 10 ramification going to be for our business, in terms of 11 talent, recruiting and trying to find qualified 12 employees and so forth? 13 MR. FLYNN: Let me start with that and 14 then we'll go from there. 15 From our end of it, from an industry 16 standpoint, what we're very concerned about is the fact 17 that we're spending all this time and effort to 18 understand the biology of who we are and the innovation 19 that is there, the technology that is being developed at 20 the institutions, that we're going to face a void if you 21 go out another ten years. 22 Keep in mind, it takes 10 to 15 years 23 for us to bring a product to market and an awful lot of 24 money. If we don't have the students starting at the
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53 1 4th grade -- I would say, the 4th grade level, getting 2 some sort of an interest in science and math and we 3 can't find a way, we're going to come to a point where 4 we're going to have this great technology, but we aren't 5 going to be able to bring that technology from a 6 research level to a development level to a commercial 7 level. So that's where we are out another 10 years from 8 now and that's why we're also concerned, quite frankly, 9 that this void is only going to get worse and it's going 10 to make it harder for us to do what our mission is, 11 which is to help eradicate debilitating diseases. 12 That's where we see it in the shortest version I can 13 give it. 14 MR. NELSON: To build on Mickey's point 15 about the innovation happening on the front end, if that 16 doesn't occur, you'll find that the majority of the 17 population who may not take advantage of the higher end 18 assimilated positions, but maybe would fail some of the 19 laboratory related, manufacturing related occupations 20 will not essentially have an opportunity to work, simply 21 because if the innovation doesn't happen, then the 22 commercialization and the production of products will 23 not occur, which will have an impact on a larger 24 percentage of the population, frankly, who will fill
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54 1 many of those positions. 2 So the innovation driving it will 3 provide opportunities at the production and 4 manufacturing end for what would be the largest 5 percentage of the working population. 6 MR. TANG: I agree with Mickey and with 7 Eric's comments. Let me add a couple of other comments. 8 I think there is a cautionary tale about the steel 9 industry and the auto industry and what will happen if 10 the innovation isn't replenished constantly through our 11 own workforce. Part of that is bridging the gap between 12 the have and have-nots. 13 So I'm concerned about underserved and 14 disadvantaged portions of the community and making sure 15 that they have access and nourishment of science 16 education so that they can see and contribute directly 17 to it and benefit from the innovation as well. 18 And I think from a home-grown base here, 19 in Philadelphia, and throughout the Commonwealth we need 20 to address that. 21 MEMBER MILNE: If I can just add one 22 more comment on this issue. Our region is certainly 23 different than some other regions of the Commonwealth 24 and we're aware of the broad diversity, but we have a
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55 1 particular set of problems here with geographic 2 mismatch. We have pretty robust growth in our suburban 3 counties and we have a huge population of folks within 4 the City of Philadelphia that we know we need to do a 5 better job equipping for a 21st century economy, but 6 part of the challenge is getting them out to the jobs 7 that are being created in the suburbs. I'm not sure 8 just how to address that. There have been some attempts 9 over the past several years, by working with SEPTA, but 10 it will continue to be a problem, unless we take a hard 11 look at it. 12 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 13 THE CHAIRMAN: Representative Grucela. 14 MEMBER GRUCELA: I just want to make a 15 comment. 16 Listening to Mr. Flynn, when he was 17 first talking, I was able to connect some dots here 18 because something like this is actually happening in my 19 district. We have a company who, about a year and a 20 half ago, located in an industrial park that was just 21 started a couple of years prior, coming over from New 22 Jersey, and it's a science oriented company it's not 23 biotech, but it is science oriented and they came to my 24 office because you're a contact point, but one of the
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56 1 things they wanted to do was to go to the schools and 2 what has happened in the past year is they have met with 3 the science teachers at the high school and asking, how 4 can we start to interest the students in the job that 5 they want. And when you were talking about that they 6 are talking about $5,000 or $45,000 to start, but also 7 requiring a two-year degree which went from the school 8 to -- Northampton County is my county -- back to 9 Community College to, again, get them all on, sort of, 10 the same page where they might have some internships 11 with the interested students with this new company 12 coming over. So I realize what you're talking about 13 when you talk about the entry-level positions and the 14 ability to advance, especially, if we can interest the 15 students and provide the education and the talent so 16 they can fill those particular positions. 17 I just was sitting here listening to you 18 when you first started, thinking, Wow, this is something 19 that I see actually happening back home, in my 20 particular district, but it's -- again, I think if you 21 get to the students and tell them about this company and 22 go to the science classes and they get interested and 23 then follow their path to the community college and they 24 want to hire young people because they're looking for
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57 1 the long-term, hoping that these people will come and 2 work for this company maybe the next 25, 30 years or 3 whatever. I understand what you're talking about and 4 it's definitely a way to go. 5 MR. FLYNN: Thank you, very much, 6 Representative. We try to encourage, and we do. We 7 have an awful lot of companies that are really into 8 internships and they'll take the students and bring them 9 in. I can't tell you the number that are high school 10 students that come in after school and will work two and 11 three hours. We would like to be able to get more of 12 them here locally within Philadelphia with some of the 13 companies, and we think we can do that. It's just you 14 have to let the companies development a little and then 15 they are able to do that. 16 We do work from, in an industry 17 standpoint, we are working, quite frankly -- we just 18 worked with Lisa Nutter in a couple of schools here, to 19 be able to outfit a couple of laboratories in a couple 20 of the schools here by the contacts who we have to be 21 able to provide them with laboratory equipment. We're 22 looking to do more of that because what we're all saying 23 is if the students got the interest, we have a 24 responsible, as an industry and as a group, to be able
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58 1 to then provide the laboratories for them and the 2 equipment, and that's where we need all of your help 3 too. 4 So again, thank you very much. 5 THE CHAIRMAN: If I might just ask a 6 general question, and it comes out of an experience I 7 have had just this last weekend, in talking to young 8 people about what they want to do in their life and 9 having a young person identify a career of wanting to be 10 a veterinarian and as she talked about the career, the 11 question came up, well, you really are good in science 12 and math, right? And that young person had no sense 13 that you needed to have science and math background for 14 that career. 15 I think that's symptomatic of the 16 reality that many young people don't know how to get 17 from point A to point B. They don't know the career 18 path that you need to pursue in whatever field you're 19 talking about, and I guess that's fundamental. When 20 you're talking about a science based education, but that 21 is very abstract, it doesn't relate to a reality about a 22 job that you might be thinking about. Unfortunately, I 23 don't think the schools do a very good job of helping 24 students identify careers at all.
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59 1 I guess most of it comes off of what you 2 see on TV, which is probably why everybody wants to be a 3 forensic pathologist because I wanted to be a lawyer 4 when I was growing up because I liked Perry Mason. 5 How do you get this together? I think 6 that's what I'm asking, how do you get this together? 7 It's not just saying I think that science and math 8 education is good and we ought to be doing it, but how 9 do you get that to relate to a student thinking about a 10 career? 11 MR. TANG: Representative Roebuck, just 12 a brief comment. I have the same conversation with my 13 children, believe it or not, who believe that a love of 14 animals makes you a veterinarian. There is more to it 15 than that. So even in my household where science is 16 spoken often, the connection has to be made frequently. 17 So I think, particularly for children in households 18 where education is not the main motivator, we have to 19 somehow give them examples in the community. So we have 20 to share our experiences over all. We have to have 21 mentoring programs for children, and the way for them to 22 access the career path for the technology for various 23 experiences. 24 After school programs, summer programs,
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60 1 summer internships, all those things matter. 2 MR. NELSON: If I can share just -- I'm 3 a resident of Philadelphia and I grew up in North 4 Philadelphia where the conversation about science didn't 5 happen so often, but I was kind of a geek growing up, so 6 I had a natural interest in a lot of interesting things, 7 but it's finding where science fits into the areas that 8 are important to young people. 9 Young people are connected to technology 10 in a way that we've never been in our generation. It is 11 some how connecting where math and science plays a part 12 and it's of value to the technology that they use. 13 I have a nine-year-old son who wants to 14 be a race car driver and he wants to design, and I'm 15 constantly trying to -- as I'm helping him with his math 16 homework saying, if you can do this that will help you 17 get ready, but that's me doing that in my household. We 18 have to figure out how -- to complement Dr. Tang's point 19 -- how to supplement or complement that kind of 20 conversation in after school programs, in communities 21 and the like, and figure out a way to make science and 22 math appear cool to young people and relevant and look 23 at how it impacts the design of video games for example. 24 I think those are the kinds of activities that we need
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61 1 to engage in. 2 MR. FLYNN: Let me just add a comment. 3 I think to get the students -- we have a tremendous 4 industry. Let's just take Philadelphia, if we, as an 5 industry, representing the industry, I could put 6 together a group of industry people that would be more 7 than willing to go to the students and talk to them in 8 school and talk to them about science and math and take 9 them through how do you get from point A to point B. I 10 know we can do it. We have enough talent here, enough 11 talent here in this room this morning to be able to do 12 that because that's really where it's going to start is 13 really talking to the students on their turf, not our 14 turf, not bringing them to my office and sit down and 15 talk, that really has no bearing whatsoever on their 16 interest level and find out what's on their mind. 17 I think if we can do that and we put 18 together a group of people to do that, I think we can 19 make some inroads, then we can find out what do they 20 have in their labs? Do they have a lab? Maybe from an 21 industry standpoint we can find a way to help fund that. 22 Maybe we can do what I just did to get some equipment, 23 because all the schools are going to be at different 24 levels and surprisingly, maybe we can get more of the
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62 1 schools to have science fairs that then participate 2 across the Philadelphia area. I think those are things 3 that need to be done, coupled with a good education, 4 obviously. So that's my comment. 5 MEMBER MILNE: Mr. Chairman, I think 6 your question is very penetrating, and I would like to 7 make two comments about it. One is we have a very 8 diffuse set of communications going on as we try to 9 improve education. So we're bringing businesses to the 10 table and developing curriculum, then we have some 11 professional development for counselors, then we have 12 professional development for educators, then we have 13 students enrichment programs, summer camps, robotics 14 engineering camps, completely disconnected, and we're at 15 some level still around the fire and we're a people who 16 tell stories, and the stories we tell and where we tell 17 them and who we tell them ultimately carry the day. I 18 think that's what communication is all about. 19 The second comment I would like to make 20 is that I think we're also ready to move beyond the 21 false choice between career and tech ed and academic 22 track. I think we need to break down those silos and 23 merge them because I believe they need to be both, 24 particularly as STEM becomes the basis for most of the
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63 1 future higher value added work in our country. Thank 2 you very much for your observation. 3 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. I 4 just want to make one concluding observation, it has to 5 do with accessibility to jobs, and I think it's still 6 true, if you look at the City of Philadelphia, 40 7 percent of the people who live in this City don't own 8 cars. So unless you have a viable transportation 9 system, you can't move people from where they live to 10 where the jobs are, it simply doesn't happen. Thank 11 you. 12 Solutions that work: Mathematics, 13 Engineering and Science Achievement for PA students. We 14 have our second Panel. 15 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning, Mr. 16 Chairman. 17 I'm Garland Thompson. Many people 18 probably in this room remember me as a journalist. I 19 usually cover events like this. I worked for nine years 20 at the Philadelphia Enquirer as a member of the 21 reporting staff and the Editorial Board. I edited the 22 Philadelphia Tribune during its historic 100th 23 anniversary and still write for them. I was 7 years as 24 a member of the Baltimore Sun Editorial Board and I
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64 1 spent several years learning how to do broadcasting. I 2 also report for WYPR, public radio in Baltimore, 3 Maryland. 4 So I'm sort of a different kind of 5 person, but I also want to tell you something you don't 6 know. I'm the guy that you just talked about. I am the 7 technician. I went in the Navy to learn electronics 8 because I was working for the telephone system and the 9 Navy trained me on how to work on nuclear submarine and 10 conventionals and how to be an electronic specialist and 11 how to do cryptography, the technical end of the 12 cryptography, not the theoretical end. But I came out 13 to become one of those handful that instituted 14 computerized store programmed controlled telephone 15 switches and opened up, what we now call, the 16 information revolution. 17 I'm that guy and I look at it 18 differently. How do we get the technician force that I 19 started my career in if we keep telling our kids they 20 can't? If we keep working from a deficit model. What 21 you heard today was a discussion of needs, and you also 22 heard that we are going to fall behind if we don't keep 23 reaching, but you've heard about really wonderful 24 excellent programs, that's great, but the problem is we
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65 1 need to be systemic, broad and deep. Wonderful, 2 excellent program here in Philadelphia does not equal 3 progress in Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh is the center of 4 bioscience of robotics and a world leader in computer 5 science. 6 A wonderful program in Pittsburgh 7 doesn't equal something that helps a kid in Scranton. 8 We need to be broad, systemic and deep, which is why 9 we're bringing the idea of a math, engineering and 10 science achievement program here to Pennsylvania. 11 I spent years in Baltimore, Maryland and 12 Washington and I sat on the advisory Board in Maryland. 13 I'm sorry that Paula Shelton could not come because 14 Paula is the current Executive Director of Maryland 15 MESA. Now I sat on that Board and I helped to make MESA 16 work. What MESA does is several things, one, it's a 17 program that doesn't cost an awful lot of money to 18 create a bunch of after school science clubs. It uses 19 the facility provided by industry, so that young people 20 and their teachers, which is key, get exposed to what 21 the science and technology workforce and workplaces look 22 like. If we don't tell young people what they look like 23 and how you get there, you have already heard, they 24 don't go.
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66 1 Now, I have to tell you a little story. 2 How did I get to be that person skilled in those 3 technologies and then go back to Temple University and 4 be a writer and then go back to Temple Law School and be 5 a lawyer, then come here before you. 6 I'm the kid who came from the 7 dysfunctional household. My father was a drunk who beat 8 me until 3 o'clock in the morning, the day I had to take 9 the SAT, and got the highest score of my school. My 10 cousin's father was a 6th grade dropout, his mother went 11 to the 8th grade, but he is tenured professor John 12 Linger at the Delaware County Community College. How do 13 I account for him if we keep saying these kids cannot 14 cut it. That's garage. My brother is Dr. Jerry 15 Thompson, Pediatric Dental Surgeon and Master's Degree 16 in Computer Engineering, in Denver, Colorado. He's the 17 person who trained all the teachers in Denver. How do 18 you get Jerry Thompson and have the father that we had 19 and have the broken family that we had? 20 We keep telling our kids they can't do 21 it. I'm the kid who was told that he couldn't do it, 22 when he graduated Valedictorian and Class President and 23 Scholarship winner, by his counselors at his high 24 school, here in Philadelphia. You aren't good enough to
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67 1 be the engineer that you want to be. Had the Navy not 2 intervened, I wouldn't be here today, but there are 3 many, many thousands of Garland Thompsons and Jerry 4 Thompsons and John Lingers replicated across this 5 Commonwealth. 6 Math, engineering and science 7 achievement teaches a kid in elementary school, in 8 middle school, in high school, she can do it, she can be 9 Stephanie Cole-Hill, a MESA graduate in Baltimore, who 10 is the engineer who designed the electrical computerized 11 trigger systems on the cruise missile system that shoots 12 harpoon missiles from Navy ships. How do you get a 13 Stephanie Cole-Hill if you don't tell her in elementary 14 school that she can be that. I'm sorry to take up time, 15 and I can stop here, but I hope you do want to ask some 16 questions about MESA. 17 MR. BERTLEY: Thank you very much. I 18 always have the distinct pleasure of following someone 19 who is an erudite speaker. I will try to be brief. 20 First of all, thank you very much, all 21 of you, for coming here, Chairman Roebuck and the 22 Committee. 23 I'm going to start by answering the 24 question that you, Chairman, raised. What happens to
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68 1 our industry if we don't do something with the pipeline? 2 The one point, and it's unfortunate -- fortunate, but 3 unfortunate, the last Panel was excellent, they covered 4 all the issues I wanted to cover everything, including 5 -- actually, except including the dead cat. 6 The issue is if we don't do something 7 about it, in 2006 Science Magazine published that by 8 2010, which is one year away, 9 percent of the scientist 9 in the world will be Asian. Now, as someone who loves 10 to travel, as a matter of fact, yesterday they talked 11 about traveling to India, Pakistan, et cetera. I love 12 traveling and kudos for the Asian community to be doing 13 that, but in America, with our resources, to be less 14 than 10 percent of that remaining pool is unacceptable 15 and it comes down to education. 16 The answer to our issue lies in the 17 gentleman who has been putting up those hostile 5-minute 18 left, 2-minute left signs, Jeremy. I don't know Jeremy, 19 but I heard his testimony this morning. That's the 20 answer. Exposure and immersion. Here's a young man 21 who's going to Howard University. He's going to move on 22 to Howard or Harvard it wouldn't matter, it's because he 23 had that extreme exposure through racing, which you 24 wouldn't traditionally think was an important STEM
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69 1 initiative, but it actually leads to mathematics and 2 engineering and all of that and that's the solution. 3 Also, we have to break down the silence 4 of STEM and science, almost as if it's this thing that 5 only the elite can achieve. It's as important as 6 reading and writing. Every single thing in the 21st 7 Century and into the future is based on science, 8 everything. 9 The healthcare, the fact that 10 Pennsylvania and Philadelphia is one of the greatest 11 areas for healthcare, that is because of science. 12 Engineering, astronomy, et cetera, it's all because of 13 science and it can't be this oh, those kids are urban 14 kids or that's a population that doesn't have the 15 resources so we'll try to teach them reading and writing 16 but they can't really work towards science, that's 17 ridiculous. It needs to be intersected, it needs to be 18 combined and it need to be treated as important as the 19 ABCs. 20 The most important question is can we do 21 this? Can we make a difference? And I submit to all of 22 you that we absolutely can because we have a precedent. 23 In 1960 there were no women in science. You know, you 24 had Madam Currie, you had a few scholars throughout the
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70 1 last 100 years, but in general, women did not pursue 2 science. There was a national effort to change that 3 and, ladies and gentlemen, the women in science 4 percentage, in 1960, was equivalent to the minority 5 percentage in science today. 6 In 2007, the National Science Foundation 7 published that 1.34 to 1 women are getting bachelor's 8 degree over men, that's overall. When you look at 9 science, women are getting bachelor's degrees at 54 10 percent, in sciences to men versus 46 percent. What 11 does that tell you? That if we're interested, if we 12 apply the resources, if we create an excitement, if we 13 create an engagement, if we create an environment, we 14 can help mitigate that and make things better. 15 So you say, okay, that's at the bachelor 16 level, well, let's look at the graduate level. Well, if 17 you look at the Master's level and PhD level, women are 18 getting PhD's at about 48 percent to men 52 percent, in 19 the science. This is only 40 years later. 20 So the point is, it can be done. We 21 have the resources to do it. We just really have to 22 refocus that to a different population. Now if you 23 cross sect women and you look at minority women, they 24 are on the same field as minority men. So Hispanic
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71 1 women and African-American women don't fit in that 40 2 percent and 50 percent. They are at the 1, 2 to 3 3 percent. 4 So somehow our formula has worked to 5 elevate one population, but it needs to be refocused to 6 start getting other populations. I submit to you, we 7 have the resources through the Compact, through the 8 Philadelphia Education Fund and Math/Science 9 Partnership, through the Franklin Institute, through the 10 Philadelphia Biotechnology and Life Science Institute. 11 We have a bunch of resources here in the local 12 Philadelphia area that have the skill set, we need 13 financial support and we to have, as I mentioned, a 14 collective to bring these resources together and I think 15 we do above-board. Thank you. 16 THE CHAIRMAN: Questions from the 17 Committee. Representative Longietti. 18 MEMBER LONGIETTI: Thank you, Mr. 19 Chairman. 20 I guess two sets of questions. One, to 21 Dr. Bertley. Science is Elementary, that's a program 22 that Governor Rendell has initiated through the 23 legislature and we have supported it. It has been 24 around a long time, but I assume you're familiar with
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72 1 the program. Do you think we're headed in the right 2 direction? There is more that need to be done? Can you 3 comment on that? 4 MR. BERTLEY: That's a great question. 5 First of all, I should say I'm the Vice-President of the 6 Franklin Institute. I came here a year and a half ago. 7 I'm absolutely passionate about science, and please 8 don't tell Rendell this, but still I'm an advisor to 9 Deval Patrick on his Life Science Initiative. Now that 10 I have defected to Pennsylvania, I have learned about 11 that program and that program is excellent, but the 12 problem is it's not in all of the class rooms. 13 It's not -- and this is why Ackerman was 14 here, which is fantastic -- 15 LADY FROM THE AUDIENCE: It's in three 16 schools. 17 MR. BERTLEY: Okay. It's in three 18 schools. And as you heard from Dr. Ackerman today, out 19 of 160,000 students in the Philadelphia School District, 20 three schools is not sufficient. It needs to be 21 ubiquitous. It's a great program, as a concept, but the 22 resources need to be applied here, but in terms of its 23 cohesiveness, the District of Philadelphia plays an 24 intricate role and they need to be at the table in this
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73 1 conversation. 2 MEMBER LONGIETTI: The second question. 3 On the MESA program, and I'm interested in that because 4 if this is a problem, as you've indicated, it's not an 5 urban problem exclusively, it's not a suburban problem 6 exclusively. I come from smaller town areas where we 7 don't have all the programs that we would like to have 8 and I'm interested to learn more about MESA and whether 9 or not you use any kind of distance learning programs 10 that started in Baltimore and, I guess, expanded. Is 11 there distance learning used? Is there video 12 conferencing, that type of thing, to try to bring that 13 into the classrooms and into the smaller communities? 14 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Representative 15 Longietti. MESA is a program that started in California 16 40-something odd years ago. In Maryland, it started in 17 two schools in Baltimore City, in 1976, and spread. 18 Today it's in all of the Baltimore City School District 19 and 10 counties. Baltimore is like Philadelphia, it's 20 separate from its county, except that Philadelphia is 21 all of its county. 22 So 11 jurisdictions in Maryland, which 23 is a lot of the State of Maryland, which doesn't have a 24 lot of counties, are covered by MESA. Yes, they do use
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74 1 some distance learning, but they use a lot of specific 2 visits by industry professionals on a really regular 3 basis and they use a lot of field trips. They use a lot 4 of exposure to laboratories, research facilities, 5 factories, production areas so that young people get to 6 see and meet with the people who are doing the work. 7 Engineers and scientists are 1 and 20 8 American workers, technicians is a bigger force than 9 that, and you can't do the work, as indicated earlier, 10 without the technically skilled workers and customer 11 service personnel and salespeople, et cetera. MESA is a 12 program of after school enrichment that does motivation 13 informing in tutorial support and it exposes young 14 people to large venues. 15 Annually, The Black Engineers of the 16 Year Award -- I judge that, I have judged it for 23 17 years now, in Baltimore, Maryland -- brings together 18 thousands of the smartest engineers and scientist in the 19 world, the people who invented the cell phone; Dr. 20 Deane, who invented the IBM PC; the folks behind the 21 Boeing 777 and 787; here, in the Philadelphia area, Dr. 22 Philip Bagian, who developed a new way to control flight 23 in helicopters, right down here in Ridley Township, 24 Pennsylvania. Probably nobody but me, in this room,
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75 1 knows that he did that here in Pennsylvania. 2 We saw him in Baltimore. Doing that in 3 MESA brings kids, thousands of them, and it even brought 4 hundreds from Philadelphia to meet those people during 5 February when the conference is going on. Science 6 fairs, here in Pennsylvania, our colleague, Velda 7 Morris, and her robotics fairs can introduce young 8 people to the notion that science is a tool that they 9 can use and you don't have to be Dr. Einstein to be able 10 to handle it. That's a real critical issue. Business 11 learning works where we can get two-way interaction. 12 So that let's say in Lackawanna County, 13 maybe we don't have Boeing in Lackawanna County, but we 14 can show the young people, in Lackawanna County, what 15 the Boeing factory down in Southeast Pennsylvania looks 16 like, what the workers are doing, let the workers talk 17 to them about how you get those jobs and those careers. 18 That's a critical issue and I do thank you for that. 19 We use that model in Maryland over and 20 over. I'm sorry Paula isn't here to tell you in more 21 detail, but we have presented some written testimony 22 from her and I'd like to follow-up with you and give you 23 some more information about how MESA works. 24 MEMBER LONGIETTI: It makes perfect
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76 1 sense to me the exposure element of it. The most 2 exciting class that I had in college was a Business 3 Policies class where we actually visited 10 different 4 corporations, in the Pittsburgh region, met with their 5 executives, talked about what they do. Researched the 6 companies in advance. I agree with you. It motivates 7 you to become interested in those areas. 8 MR. THOMPSON: And you learn that you 9 can do it. I tell kids about Dr. Mark Hannah, who is 10 the key engineer behind the graphics in the Nintendo 11 Game Boy. And they say, what, you mean he gets paid 12 every time we buy one? Yes, he does. He's a kid from 13 Chicago, like me, who like to tinker with technology. 14 I tell them about people like that. 15 I them about Rodney Atkins of IBM. 16 Rodney has the single biggest development job in the 17 computer industry. Out of $6 billion a year spent on 18 research and development, in IBM, Rodney runs $3 billion 19 worth of all the development. And when you buy an 20 Nintendo Wii or a Play Station or an X-Box, Rodney's 21 technology is in there, and as Rodney says, I own the 22 technology in all those things. 23 I tell kids about him and we can 24 introduce them to Rodney. They can grow up to be
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77 1 Rodney. They can grow up to be somebody like that and 2 that's the key piece, so that we don't have more kids 3 having the experience that I had graduating high school 4 with honors and having their counselors tell them, you 5 can't do it. We have to stop that deficit model and 6 talk about what we can do. 7 MEMBER LONGIETTI: Thank you. 8 MR. BERTLEY: I would like to just piggy 9 back on that, because absolutely that role model concept 10 and that mentorship concept is critical. On top of that 11 there had to be sustainability and longevity. So 12 meeting these individuals fantastic. But when they go 13 back home if they don't have the ideal relationship 14 environment, the support team or the teachers or the 15 systems like the programs that have this longevity piece 16 like the program that Velda does, that's key, that 17 immersion over a long period of time, as we saw, again, 18 with Jeremy. 19 I think we should let Velda Morris 20 testify and we can take a few more questions. 21 MS. MORRIS: Chairman Roebuck and 22 members of the Education Committee. I welcome the 23 opportunity to submit testimony on an issue of great 24 importance to global competitiveness and STEM education.
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78 1 I'm Velda Morris, I'm the Co-Chair for the Urban STEM 2 Strategy Group. I'm also the Philadelphia Boosting 3 Engineering Science and Technology Hub Director, where 4 students who want to compete in BEST Robotics along the 5 East Coast border must come through our Philadelphia 6 BEST Hub. 7 I'm also the Robotics Educational 8 Specialist for the School District of Philadelphia. The 9 Secondary Robotics Initiative is one of the largest 10 urban research based robotics programs in the United 11 States, which comprise of 50 middle schools and high 12 schools that offer professional development for teachers 13 in STEM as well as robotics activity for over 750 14 students yearly. The students are involved in 15 STEM-related activities and are provided access to 16 national competition that involve students that don't 17 look like them. 18 Additionally, programs like SRI bring 19 cutting edge smart technology to life in the form of 20 age-appropriate, real world, project based learning, in 21 order to equitably increase their involvement and the 22 involvement of all students. Students become more 23 cooperative in sharing when they have a role and will 24 stay engaged for extended periods of time in science and
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79 1 mathematics, thus leading them to become more proficient 2 in the area of science and mathematics to help ensure 3 student's success, it's important that we place an 4 emphasis on formal and informal lessons, which involve 5 authentic, hands-on learning activities that engage 6 students to be motivated in courses that they find and 7 their friends find very difficult. 8 We have to involve students in more 9 mentoring, more apprenticeships, externships for our 10 teachers. So I'm happy that the industry 11 representatives were talking about opening their doors 12 so that they can come into their plants as well as them 13 going into the school. That's absolutely crucial. When 14 I started the program with the University of 15 Pennsylvania, in 2000, on special assignment, it was 16 essential, it wasn't that our students weren't 17 interested, they didn't have access. You need access 18 over a long period of time and we know that industry 19 talks about the value or the return on their dollar, and 20 I understand that, but it does take a longer period of 21 time than two or three years. 22 And we can leverage that with resources 23 through legislation, not just grant funding, but real 24 legislation that speaks to these students and these
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80 1 programs that have authentic learning opportunities for 2 the students. That they know that they don't have to 3 worry about funding from year to year. They don't have 4 to worry about businesses not wanting to participate and 5 connect to them. 6 I think that it's not a question of 7 whether we should do it. We must do it. Thank you. 8 MEMBER MILNE: Dr. Bertley, I wanted to 9 turn to your observation about the portion of science 10 degree holders and graduate degree credentials that will 11 be outside the United States, what do you think accounts 12 for some of this? Just in your experience, what do you 13 think is the difference that other cultures are doing 14 that we're somehow not replicating here? What maybe 15 accounts for some of these diverse trends? 16 MR. BERTLEY: Sure. It's a multifaceted 17 issue. One is hunger. China, India, Pakistan are very 18 hungry to initialize and move the bar forward. B, they 19 do not separate science technology with reading and 20 writing. It's a fundamental part of the education from 21 kindergarten through. So that just drives the entire 22 society, those nations to push really hard. 23 Feed population. You're dealing with 24 countries that have much bigger populations than the
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81 1 United States of America, and so combined with 2 statistical possibility to produce science with a kind 3 of nationwide understanding that this is the direction 4 you need to go, you're going to get a much more 5 formidable aggregate of persons pursuing those sciences. 6 If we look over at the United States of 7 America, there unfortunately, has become a complacency. 8 We're content with some aspect, we're content with 9 mediocrity, and B, we import a lot of our scientists, 10 especially as post-doc. I've done a post-doc myself at 11 Harvard. There was a group of international persons 12 that was that skill set working at the post-doctorate 13 level. Well, they want to stay in the United States of 14 America. So once they finish a post-doc, they get 15 picked up by a company in our Pennsylvania corridor, in 16 the Massachusetts area and in California and they stay 17 and they immigrate here and that's wonderful. I'm all 18 for that, et cetera, but that helps explain why those 19 numbers are growing while "home grown" American 20 scientists are diminishing. 21 MR. THOMPSON: I would add another point 22 and that is that those countries have a really heavy 23 infrastructure need. They don't have the wired 24 infrastructure, in China, that we have in our telephone
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82 1 system, in our cable TV system. They don't have the 2 roads. They don't have the railroads. They don't have 3 all the things that we take for granted in American. 4 While we're taking them for granted, we have to deal 5 with the fact that the American Society For Civil 6 Engineers said we need $2.2 trillion worth of 7 investment, just to keep that infrastructure up and make 8 it work in this century. 9 And while they're asking for $2.2 10 trillion worth of investment, they're also asking for 11 thousands of new engineers and technical workers to do 12 the work that we don't have because we're retiring two 13 generations of workers. So we have to get hungry too. 14 MS. HOOK: Can I comment on that? 15 THE CHAIRMAN: Time out. It's between 16 the Panel and the Committee not the audience. We'll 17 allow some comments perhaps afterwards if we have enough 18 time. 19 MEMBER GRUCELA: We're all really 20 well-intentioned here and it seems like we have the 21 goals that we want to achieve, but I'm seeing here a 22 lack or resources and I know there is federal stimulus 23 money, and this question came up yesterday in one of our 24 classroom situations we were talking.
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83 1 And I'm also interested in Mr. Thompson, 2 because I believe in what you said. I was very 3 interested in your background and it seems to me we have 4 to get the really younger kids in elementary school and 5 tell them they can succeed. I think that's kind of like 6 where we may start. 7 When you have 270 schools and only three 8 have the Science is Elementary Program and when you have 9 -- I understand some of the schools have no labs and 10 we're talking about science, and the schools we saw 11 yesterday had labs and seemed very progressive and 12 seemed to be really on the mark, but that was like two 13 schools that we saw yesterday out of almost 270 here. 14 I guess, maybe with this federal 15 stimulus money -- I'm not sure, like I said yesterday, 16 I'm not exactly sure how all this money is coming down. 17 I guess it's mostly local, as I understand from the 18 Executive Director yesterday, but I would imagine we 19 need to address these resources not only from a point of 20 motivate young people like Jeremy. I would be 21 interested in -- I think he said his mom had a lot to do 22 with what he wanted to do or get started. Then quite 23 the opposite from your testimony and your background. 24 I guess my question is, How do we bridge
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84 1 this gap? Is there something that's happening to 2 provide the resources, besides bringing people in to 3 talk? I was always fascinated by science, but I don't 4 know why I never got past the fascination. I think 5 sometimes it was the teachers I had, quite honestly, but 6 I'm still trying to figure out how the television works, 7 but it just seems to me that there is a resource need 8 here, and the motivation need in the elementary schools, 9 especially, again, if you get to these young people when 10 they're in elementary school and get them interested in 11 something like science, they're not going to get 12 interested if they have no labs or if they don't have 13 any of those programs. 14 I guess, I'm asking -- maybe I'm asking 15 the wrong people. With some of this stimulus money, can 16 we bridge this gap? 17 MR. THOMPSON: Representative Grucela, 18 that's a wonderful question. We have talked, in the 19 Urban Studies Strategy Group, with a number of people in 20 Harrisburg about the possibility of getting the 21 resources, but a program like MESA doesn't use very 22 large resources. It uses a small stipend to the teacher 23 who manages that school's MESA club. It uses a lot of 24 corporate support where a school doesn't have a
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85 1 laboratory, you'll get corporate sponsorships that not 2 only provide money revenues to what ever local MESA 3 program, but also to bring young people into its own 4 laboratory so that the sponsor brings the kids to the 5 laboratory and they see laboratory work up close they 6 get their hands on laboratory work, and they can go back 7 and talk about it. So they get that kind of help. 8 What we're really talking about is a 9 program that leverages, not only what support the state 10 can provide or a school system can provide, because MESA 11 is across the school system, but also leverages 12 corporate support and there is large interest in that 13 happening. 14 If you look at some of the stuff that we 15 have found, in California, the oldest MESA, we have lots 16 and lots of individual corporations that say we're going 17 to sponsor the MESA program in Ventura County or we're 18 going to sponsor the one in LA County, we're going to 19 sponsor the one in San Francisco. We have different 20 corporations that come to the table in different parts 21 of that state. That could be true in Pennsylvania too 22 and we expect it to be, so that every individual MESA 23 group is not struggling on its own budget with no help 24 from anybody else.
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86 1 It really does involve a lot of 2 corporate attention and because I spent so many years 3 working with it in Maryland, I'm kind of familiar with 4 having to go out and lobby for it. Really, you're 5 usually pushing on open doors in that way. You're not 6 fighting uphill to make that happen. 7 MS. MORRIS: But you still need, I 8 think, the stimulus money would help, in that MESA being 9 the umbrella, you still have other programs that you 10 still have to feed and those students still have to go 11 back to their schools where there is a need for 12 laboratory materials and hardware and the classroom 13 designed in such that they remain motivated and 14 interested in science and math. 15 MR. THOMPSON: I agree. Don't ever let 16 me say that they don't actually need the resources in 17 the school. 18 MR. BERTLEY: And I would like to add to 19 that. Again, as a scientist, you can't be a scientist 20 without a lab and I'm a person who was fortunate to be 21 able to go through internships, et cetera, which are 22 wonderful. So companies that open their doors and give 23 you that access, that's fantastic, but just so it's 24 crystal clear here, the majority of high schools in the
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87 1 City of Philadelphia do not have what are functional 2 laboratories. 3 Masterman is 51st in the nation. One of 4 the best schools with the strongest program, and I 5 implore you to walk through the school. You will be 6 amazed at how they pull that off with little to no 7 laboratory. So the school you went to yesterday, 8 absolutely, there are labs there. Those are new schools 9 that were built three years ago with the specific 10 understanding they would need labs, but it's critical 11 that the schools themselves have labs and have a strong 12 science program. 13 It's like saying the school shouldn't 14 have a library because they can access the free library 15 or access a library at a University, so therefore, we 16 won't have libraries in school. Absolutely 17 unacceptable. The schools need to have strong labs if 18 we want to make a dent on this science education piece. 19 MEMBER GRUCELA: I want to comment on 20 that. I'm getting somewhat of an understanding of the 21 Philadelphia school system, but I guess after 8th grade, 22 a lot of what we saw or see are sometimes our magnet 23 schools and then all the students would get to that 24 particular school, but it seems like from 9th grade on
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88 1 -- and I go back to Mr. Thompson about getting the young 2 person -- I didn't see any science. I know it wasn't on 3 our schedule, it's not a fault or anything, but in the 4 elementary schools, what about in the elementary schools 5 before -- or is it there? I don't know. Maybe it 6 already is there so that a student says, Well, I do want 7 to go to that particular science academy school or I 8 want to go to the school of the future or I want to put 9 my name into this particular school that has a special 10 kind of thing, a magnet school. 11 Is it there in the elementary schools, 12 because I really believe it's so true that when you get 13 the young people -- that's kind of where I think it 14 really does start. I'm just curious about how the 15 elementary school science maybe started in Philadelphia. 16 MR. BERTLEY: Great point. I will say a 17 brief remark and then I'll turn it over. 18 Studies have shown definitely that the 19 pipeline where students drop out of science isn't high 20 school, it's in middle school and late elementary 21 school. So it's absolutely critical for the elementary 22 school and middle schools to have strong science 23 programs to keep that excitement, drive that passion 24 that we spoke about and then provide a future
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89 1 environment as they navigate to high school. That's 2 absolutely critical when you talk about grade 4 and 3 grade 5 and grade 6 as the pipeline hole where students 4 fall out of science because they think they can't do it, 5 they're not interested, et cetera. 6 MR. THOMPSON: It is also absolutely 7 critical, as the good doctor said, to manage the feeder 8 issue. MESA, as it works, does not go into an 9 elementary school that doesn't feed into a MESA middle 10 school, that doesn't feed into a MESA high school. So 11 once we've acquainted this young person, this Jeremy the 12 second, with the notion that he and she can do science 13 related jobs, can have a career and can have fun with 14 science, we don't pass that young person off to a school 15 where they have no idea about how to keep the momentum 16 going. We pass that young person onto a school where 17 they're waiting to receive her and him so we can 18 continue that progress. So that young person goes to 19 elementary school to middle school, to high school, to 20 college. 21 In California, the MESA program in is 22 the community college system and it's also in the 23 University. In Maryland, it started simply in 24 elementary, middle and high school and now it's reaching
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90 1 into the community college. In Pennsylvania, we have to 2 catch up with that. MESA is in eight states and those 3 eight states have shaped their MESA programs according 4 to the conditions in their jurisdiction. We have that 5 to do here, too, but we're all excited about the fun of 6 being able to do that to acquaint young people with the 7 notion of, yes, they can, and here is how they can. 8 That's the piece that's been missing. 9 MR. BERTLEY: If I can just add one more 10 point. The other issue, and you brought it up again, is 11 the teacher capacity and the excitement. Just so it's 12 clear, in general, in the country 60 percent of middle 13 school science teachers do not have a science degree. 14 80 percent of high school science teachers do not have a 15 science degree or were trained for science. 16 So you're talking about persons who 17 don't have the skill set, therefore they're not 18 empowered with knowledge, so they can't really excite 19 the students. They're leading our student scientists. 20 So you have organizations here like the Philadelphia 21 Education Fund and the Math Science Correlation, the 22 Franklin Institute. We have wonderful professional 23 development programs where we try to make teachers 24 better and of course we work primarily with the School
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91 1 District of Philadelphia. 2 So that professional development piece 3 speaks exactly to what you're talking about, getting 4 competent teachers and then excited teachers to keep 5 that spark going through high school. 6 MR. THOMPSON: To your point, the MESA's 7 do have teacher training academies to upscale teachers 8 who may not have that science background, but have the 9 interest to make it work so that the teacher isn't 10 flying blind. The teacher has help, not only from the 11 industry, but also within the education establishment. 12 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. 13 Onto our third and final Panel, 14 Education's Responses to the Crisis of Accelerating 15 Minority Student Math and Science Achievement. 16 MR. COX: Good morning. My name is 17 Stephen Cox. I am the Project Director for the Greater 18 Philadelphia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority 19 Participation. 20 In the way of background, I am a native 21 Philadelphian. I grew up in an area of the City where 22 there were no scientists or engineers. I am a physicist 23 and biomedical engineer by training. Currently, as the 24 Co-PI for the Greater Philadelphia Louis Stokes Alliance
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92 1 for Minority Participation, I hold together a coalition 2 of nine universities with a focused effort of doubling 3 the number of African-American, Latino and Native 4 American students getting degrees in engineering and 5 science and moving on to graduate school and faculty 6 positions. 7 To my left and to my right are students 8 who are currently a thesis away from a PhD. So they are 9 a product that I have been trying to produce over the 10 last 15 or 20 years. I'll give them a chance to talk if 11 we have the time. 12 The beginning of this process happened 13 in 1990, when I was asked to take over an NSF Grant, 14 known as the Confidential Regional Center for 15 Minorities. The focus was to introduce the concept of 16 science and technology to communities in and around the 17 Delaware Valley. As a function of that, we pulled 18 together a coalition of 17 colleges and universities, 19 minorities, professional organizations, school districts 20 and stakeholders who were interested in the outcome that 21 this work would create for their industry, much as the 22 gentlemen who were in the first Panel, talking about 23 what their needs were. 24 The value of a blueprint for them was we
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93 1 need to know how can we get a student from kindergarten 2 to graduate school? At that time we developed this 3 blueprint and the outgrowth of that blueprint are the 4 folks that are sitting to my left and to my immediate 5 right. It was a comprehensive look at elementary 6 school, middle school and high school. What are the 7 barriers, how do you overcome the barriers and what are 8 one of the key lynchpins in making this a reality. 9 Beyond the shadow of reason doubt, what has been shown, 10 and its been evidenced by everybody who have spoken here 11 today, is that you must believe that all students can 12 learn. 13 There is a common belief that in the 14 underrepresented communities, in suburban areas and also 15 in rural areas that students do not have the capacity to 16 be involved with science, engineering math and 17 technology. I have worked for General Electric, 18 Westinghouse, the Philadelphia Education Fund and PIDC. 19 My technical background has allowed me to travel around 20 the world and influence a lot of people. So what I 21 knew, beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt, is if a kid 22 coming from South Philadelphia and Lower West 23 Philadelphia, what they call the bottom, can have this 24 kind of impact, then all the students can do that. It
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94 1 is not just unique to me. 2 Part of my conversation today was to 3 identify that if we are going to make a difference, 4 clearly it has to be longitudinal, it has to be 5 strategic. 450,000 for two years is not going to change 6 anything since -- it's interesting because Dr. Joseph 7 Brodogna, is here in the audience, who is Deputy 8 Director of NSF and has been a strategic partner in 9 making this happen over the last 20 years. 10 So I'm saying from 1990 until today, I 11 have been responsible for graduating over 7,000 12 baccalaureate degrees, engineers, African-American, 13 Latino and Native Americans; 300 Masters degrees and 140 14 PhD's. There are 270 students who are in PhD programs 15 right now who will exit in the next two or three years. 16 This did not happen just because of 17 Steve Cox. It happened because of institutional 18 partners and presidents who had signed off on making 19 this a primary commitment of their agenda in the region. 20 It was led by Dr. Constantine Papadakis, 21 President of Drexel University who, unfortunately, just 22 passed, but who was a stalwart and he was the type of 23 person who believed the if you want to make something 24 happen, you have to do it. You don't talk about it, you
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95 1 don't debate the issue. Come up with a strategy, put 2 some money where your mouth is and make it happen, and 3 that's what has happened thus far. 4 There are approximately 36 alliances 5 across the country like the one that I operate. My 6 Alliance consist of Temple Drexel, University of 7 Pennsylvania, University of Delaware, Lincoln, Cheyney, 8 Delaware State, Community College and the New Jersey 9 Institute of Technology. We are in three states. We 10 operate cooperatively. We meet monthly, and we look 11 strategically at how can we change our future. 12 We started out with 200 students getting 13 baccalaureate degrees, when we started in 1994 annually. 14 We now have 600 students a year who are graduating with 15 degrees in science and technology, and that only 16 happened because each institution had to look at its 17 capacity to make this change happen. It was not always 18 money. Sometimes it was counseling. Sometimes it was 19 people not saying that, well, you really should be in 20 that particular disciplinary theory, it's out of reach 21 or your background doesn't necessarily support that you 22 can do this successfully. 23 So we have made a conscientious effort 24 to change the mindset of institutions. Now, I have been
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96 1 extremely successful in our outcomes at the 2 undergraduate and graduate level, but what I realized is 3 that the hose is being choked at the bottom end. I 4 really need to have the kids K to 12 so that I can do my 5 magic in undergraduate and graduate school. 6 When we started the CRCM, my focus was 7 primarily K to 12, so I understand the challenges of 8 teachers, I understand the challenges of the School 9 District; however, good things that have worked in 10 Philadelphia for years, with the change of 11 administrations get lost in the mix so that you wind up 12 redoing the process all over again, reinventing the 13 wheel. 14 My primary point -- there are two 15 points -- one is that a sustained effort over a period 16 of time, minimally seven to ten years, is the kind of 17 thing that is going to make a difference. In other 18 states across the country that have alliances, the Louis 19 Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, the states 20 have identified a line item in the budget to support the 21 budget effort because they realize that it works. If 22 you have faculty that sustain themselves and 23 institutions that are willing to support this effort, 24 you can have that kind of impact.
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97 1 The other item is to address another 2 issue with elementary schools and middle schools. I was 3 approached by Congressman Chaka Fattah, who asked me to 4 build a mobile science lab that elementary school and 5 middle school kids did not have labs that were available 6 to them. So we built a mobile science lab that services 7 approximately 20 schools a year. It's a full bus, it's 8 a wet lab, it can do anything that you can do in any 9 other lab in any of the universities in the City. 10 It's another alternative. It's a method 11 of trying to get the message out that our students can 12 learn if given the right kind of facilities and 13 opportunities that they can achieve. 14 I brought my graduate students with me 15 only as support to show what the product can be, 16 however, they both have opinions and have also said that 17 while they are excellent scientists in their own right, 18 that they realize that the greater need for their skills 19 and the way that they can impact more people is to take 20 what they have learned back to the classrooms. 21 I'm suppose to address school 22 psychology, but I also work at a College of Education 23 and I have to tell you that the K12 CRCM system also 24 produces most of the folks who come to Temple to get
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98 1 teacher certification, and the lack of math and science 2 background and enthusiasm affects our ability to train 3 teachers who are good at that as well. So I certainly 4 would encourage you guys to commit to education. 5 MS. FIORELLO: I'm Dr. Cathy Fiorello. 6 I'm the Director of the School Psychology Program at 7 Temple University, and as I listened to this morning, I 8 sort of rewrote my comments to make them briefer so that 9 we can focus more on questions if you guys want. 10 Let me tell you two characteristics of 11 school psychologists and how that's relevant to what 12 we're talking about. 13 One is that we train child advocates and 14 one is that we train assessment experts. One of the big 15 issues in urban schools, whether we're talking about 16 STEM or whether we're talking about general achievement, 17 is the achievement gap between majority culture students 18 and children of color and bilingual children. 19 Children of color and bilingual kids are 20 over-represented in special education, they are 21 underrepresented in not only formal programs for the 22 gifted, but in charter schools for anything that uses 23 testing or assessment as a gatekeeper for higher 24 achievement.
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99 1 One of the things that we know, from the 2 research, is that the testing programs that we typically 3 use, as school psychologists in urban schools don't 4 work, but that we have excellent alternatives that not 5 everyone is using. We persist, as appealed, in using 6 tests for identifying children for special education and 7 for gifted programs, but don't fairly assess children of 8 color and bilingual children. 9 In the 1970s that was because we didn't 10 have any alternatives. These days that's no longer 11 true. We could very easily replace a system that uses 12 the Wechsler scales -- which we know don't assess 13 children of color and bilingual children fairly -- with 14 something like the Kaufman Assessment Battery For 15 Children, Second Edition, which is technically and 16 psychometrically a better test. Predicts achievement 17 better, identifies cognitive processing better, can be 18 administered fairly to children of color and can be 19 administered bilingually, Spanish/English to the largest 20 number of our bilingual children. Thank you. 21 MS. CLELAND: Good morning. I'm Donna 22 Cleland. I'm the director for professional development 23 of the 21st Century Partnership for STEM education. 24 We're a 501(c)3 a non-profit, which grew out of a NSF
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100 1 grant, a math science partnership grant for $13 million 2 that we're just finishing up right now. It gave us the 3 opportunity to work with 46 school districts and 13 4 universities to partner with them, in terms of trying to 5 increase student achievement in math and science and to 6 bring those voices together in support of teachers. 7 What we did, in the course of those six 8 years, was to learn some things along the way. So we 9 have sort of identified seven things which are part of 10 the testimony that are kind of barriers to the 11 achievement of change within education, and the first 12 two are the ones that I would like to speak to most 13 directly today. 14 One of them is sort of the operational 15 chaos that ensues. In school districts they have to 16 produce a lot of documents for the State, their 17 strategic plan, the special ed plan. They're probably 18 seven or eight different kinds of plans that must be 19 submitted annually to the State and they're all written 20 by different individuals and they are not coherent, as a 21 result and they don't have benchmarks within them. 22 They have no one really who helps them 23 to do that in some sort of a coherent way. There is a 24 phonetic pace of activity there and then those documents
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101 1 go sit on a shelf and they don't influence what happens 2 in the district as a whole. And another thing that we 3 saw too was the paralysis that occurs when there is 4 turnover, especially at the administrative level and the 5 teacher level in the schools. And then there is no 6 institutional memory there any more. Those persons who 7 wrote those plans are gone two years later down the 8 road. 9 We find superintendents last -- it's 10 rare to see one last more than five years anyplace. So 11 what happens then after that is this year of paralysis 12 that occurs. So we watch those two things happen 13 through to the school districts that we worked with, and 14 we had the privilege of working with some that were very 15 functional and some that were very dysfunctional so that 16 we could, sort of, come to understand the cultures there 17 a little better. 18 As a result, what we would like to 19 suggest is a system of regional education labs, which 20 would be funded to be a network of support for these 21 struggling schools and we'd be able to serve them as 22 institutional memory for them, and would be able to help 23 them design coherent plans and to implement those plans 24 across the course of years of times, not much, just a
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102 1 few years of someone's tenure in a particular school 2 district. 3 So we are thinking about these as sort 4 of think tanks that we bring together, just as our 5 partnership brought together higher institutions and 6 people from the business community, these think tanks 7 would do the same. So they would be sort of core 8 connectors, if you will, and then would be focused on a 9 few of the struggling school districts, maybe 20 to 30 10 of them would be their responsibility at a particular 11 time. 12 So we're working so that this kind of a 13 system could network across the State of Pennsylvania. 14 We could then talk to one another about what works and 15 doesn't work systemically. When Mr. Thompson talked 16 about his comment that it needed to be systemic and it 17 needed to be deep, we are seeing this sort of a system 18 that might be able to do that, be systemic across our 19 State share across our state and deepen the work of 20 science across the state as a whole. And it would be 21 then, in support of these wonderful programs that 22 everybody has talked about this morning, in sort of 23 bringing them together with K-12 in a more focused way. 24 And also then it could report to you all
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103 1 about what works and what doesn't, in terms of some data 2 driven decisions about how to spend taxpayer money in 3 effective ways. You would have this sort of objective 4 view of what's working and not working in schools. 5 MEMBER GRUCELA: Thank you. I received 6 a battlefield promotion here. Representative Roebuck 7 had to step out. 8 Questions? Representative Longietti. 9 MEMBER LONGIETTI: Thank you, Mr. 10 Chairman. 11 Dr. Fiorello, just curious what is most, 12 in your view, the reason why there is resistance in 13 moving to the types of assessments that you have 14 identified would more properly assess people of color 15 and bilingual learners? 16 MS. FIORELLO: I think there are a 17 couple of factors, but one of them really is tradition. 18 The Wechsler scale is one of the two main intelligence 19 tests that was originally developed in English and 20 everyone was trained on it and every psychologist is 21 still trained on it. We're comfortable with it. As I 22 said, some of it is just tradition. 23 Some of it is not really understanding 24 the impact. So when I go through with my students the
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104 1 impact that giving a test that scores certain groups of 2 children lower, systematically, has on the rates of 3 placement in special education, the rates of eligibility 4 for gifted programs and just in general teacher and 5 counselor expectations for how these kids can do. I 6 don't want you to think it's just gatekeeping. It's 7 also probably one of the reasons that counselors are 8 telling people you don't have what it takes to be a 9 scientist, to be an engineer is because they are looking 10 at these test scores and saying, Ah, not that smart. 11 So I think we need sort of a systemic 12 understanding of that, not just among the psychologists 13 but also among the Administration, among the teachers. 14 I have had teachers ask for a Wechsler after I have done 15 a full assessment on the child because they haven't 16 heard of the test I gave. Why should they? I'm a 17 psychologist, I picked it. 18 MEMBER LONGIETTI: So at the university 19 level then is there -- I think the first part of your 20 answer indicated, well, that's what they were trained 21 with. So now are we at the point at the university 22 level, at Temple and other universities, where you're 23 training your up and coming school psychologists that 24 there are other exams? In fact, these exams, perhaps,
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105 1 are better used with this population of students and 2 they have better assessments? 3 MS. FIORELLO: Absolutely, our new 4 graduates coming out, obviously, are trained 5 differently, but we also have a lot of outrage, in terms 6 of continuing education, for psychologists who are 7 working both in the district and in the region to try to 8 get the word out. There is a long way to go. 9 MR. COX: I would also like to respond 10 to that. One of the challenges -- what's interesting is 11 when you work with nine universities the cultures are 12 very different in each one. The expectations of faculty 13 around the students of color when they walk in the room 14 has a lot to do with how they perceive responses and 15 questions about content and understanding what the 16 methodology is. 17 What we have tried to do early on is 18 have faculty engage students in undergraduate research 19 so they could get to know the students and get to know 20 how the students learn outside of the classroom 21 environment, so that over time we build up advocacy 22 within the classroom and faculty. This has nothing to 23 do with the new teachers that are coming through the 24 process.
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106 1 I think the good doctor is right on 2 course that we really need to teach differently. People 3 teach the way they were taught. Invariably if you teach 4 the same old strategy, you're going to wind up with the 5 same old outcomes. So they are looking at new ways of 6 understanding the different capacities of students to 7 learn. 8 THE CHAIRMAN: Representative McIlvaine 9 Smith. 10 MEMBER McILVAINE SMITH: Thank you, Mr. 11 Chairman. I wanted to ask the students, as you're 12 approaching your PhD, what made you decide to go to 13 these groups and get into this path? 14 MS. BROWN: My name is Quincy Brown, I'm 15 a fourth year PhD candidate in computer science in 16 Drexel University and my undergraduate degree is 17 actually electrical engineering and I'm a product of the 18 New York City Public School system and I did have the 19 benefit of having a very good preparatory K-12 20 upbringing. I graduated from the Bronx High School of 21 Science and went straight to undergraduate degree at 22 North Carolina, A&T State University. 23 One of the things that I did not have 24 was a personal connection to science and engineering.
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107 1 None of my parents were college graduates, but the fact 2 that college was where you went after high school is 3 just understood, but even in my undergraduate 4 institution, I was not personally connected with 5 engineering or science and I actually didn't excel at it 6 until undergraduate school and wasn't necessarily told 7 that that was a good option for me because in high 8 school I just didn't excel. 9 But after I graduated I was in the 10 industry for ten years and really gained an 11 understanding of what a science and engineering career 12 is really about and understood better the connection 13 between science technology and engineering and math and 14 research, and then after ten years decided to go back to 15 school to get my PhD in computer science. 16 So my research, having had those 17 experiences, is focused on K-12 education and how 18 computer scientists can design and develop technology to 19 benefit K-12 education. So I think now that I have a 20 personal connection to technology and I understand the 21 impact that I actually have and the benefit that I can 22 do to the field of computer science as well as K-12 23 education, I'm much more motivated than I was before. 24 And as Dr. Cox had mentioned, there is a
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108 1 lot of mindset about who belongs and who doesn't belong 2 and knowing that I bring something to the table that's 3 very unique, than the other 99 percent of the people who 4 are pursuing the same degree that I am, gives me a sense 5 of belonging and a sense of feeling a bit more empowered 6 to say to people, You know what, I do belong here and I 7 can finish. 8 So the programs that he has been 9 mentioning and discusses about longitudinal impact and 10 having support over a number of years is very beneficial 11 because as students enter the pipeline at the 12 undergraduate level, they will face those challenges and 13 if there is no one to turn to or if there is no funding 14 for them to support them, it is very discouraging and 15 that's, unfortunately, why the pipeline gets, kind of, 16 leaky at a college level. 17 MEMBER McILVAINE SMITH: Will you go on 18 to teach then, is that what I understand? 19 MS. BROWN: Not in K-12, but I am 20 interested in tenure track faculty positions, but the 21 difficulty that I have is wanting to keep my research 22 focused on K-12 education so there is a growing sense of 23 the importance of broadening participation in STEM 24 fields within the science community. I hope to work in
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109 1 one of them. 2 MR. DELANEY: My name is David Delaney. 3 I'm also a forth year PhD candidate from Drexel 4 University and electrical computer engineer. For me, I 5 have a story very similar to Quincy's where, you know, 6 parents with limited education, growing up financially 7 -- going through financial difficulties. For me the 8 decision is a direct result of the longevity and the 9 dedication by Dr. Cox and the Alliance for Minority 10 Participation programs, much of the work that the people 11 in this room are doing to let me directly know that I 12 have a place and to provide that place with a direct 13 benefit. 14 Now, I had an affirmative action 15 scholarship to attend undergrad, a full scholarship, 16 tuition and everything paid for, which was fantastic, by 17 Ralph Bunch, who was an early African-American Nobel 18 Prize winner. From that point on I had a job all set 19 ready to go into industry where I was made aware of the 20 Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship through the NSF and 21 the Alliance for Minority Participation. Now, through 22 that direct support, the direct benefit that I was able 23 to initially perceive right off the bat, I said with -- 24 similar to Quincy -- limited interest in science, it
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110 1 didn't make sense for me. I couldn't see the direct 2 benefit. 3 I committed to that and then, again, 4 through lots of guidance and support, struggled through 5 my first few years but finding my place, questioning 6 whether science was right for me and ultimately I was 7 able to, in the energy field and through blending 8 science education and science with societal problems as 9 opposed to the abstract issues with straight technical 10 research. So that being said, I was able to focus my 11 attention and apply myself, and I have recently -- or a 12 year ago received the NSF Greater Research Fellowship, 13 which the most prestigious fellowship in the country for 14 scientific research. 15 So through the longevity and the support 16 of many of these people in this room, I was able to 17 become a product of affirmative action programs and now 18 be sitting in a place where I'm perceived as one of the 19 best in the field based on my fellowship. 20 So because of the field, because of the 21 longevity and people paving the path in front of me, I 22 was able to see that, yes, this can work. Now, 23 similarly, as a result of my work through this field it 24 enabled that I will reach back to the generation behind
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111 1 me and pull them up as well. 2 Similarly, I have a feeling that Jeremy, 3 the young man that spoke earlier, growing up through the 4 system, will understand that that's a part of it. So 5 financially, national security, workforce, all those 6 things that I feel can be directly impacted with great 7 return and benefit through this type of work, and like 8 everybody on this Panel is saying the longevity and 9 dedication to support over time pays off. 10 Where before Dr. Cox was saying he 11 couldn't envision a black scientist in his day. Me, I 12 came into graduate school and finally started to see 13 them. Jeremy is seeing them in high school. And I also 14 go back and try to speak to as many of them as possible 15 and show them from an early age that, yes, they can 16 continue and succeed. So I think with continued efforts 17 in this direction, I do feel that this is an important 18 problem that can be turned around. 19 MEMBER McILVAINE SMITH: What do you 20 plan on doing afterwards? Are you going to teach? I am 21 very interested in this field and this type of work. So 22 similar to Quincy, I am interested in engineering and 23 education regarding participation, awareness and 24 interest in science education.
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112 1 MEMBER McILVAINE: Thank you. 2 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 3 THE CHAIRMAN: If I could just comment 4 on, as I sit here and I look at two students who are in 5 PhD programs at Drexel, where I spent lots of years on 6 the faculty, it's a testimony as to how far one 7 institution has come, in terms of providing an avenue 8 for success for African-American students, who were 9 virtually non-existent when I was on the faculty and 10 certainly there were even fewer faculty members than 11 students. So I think that's a clear indication -- 12 that's not just getting students interested, it's 13 providing the vehicle for success and that is having the 14 institutions themselves open up the opportunity, so 15 you've got to put it all together. 16 MEMBER GRUCELA: Thank you, Mr. 17 Chairman. 18 David, where was home for you? 19 MR. DELANEY: I was born in Queens, New 20 York also. 21 MEMBER GRUCELA: New York. Similar to 22 Quincy. 23 And Dr. Fiorello, so that I understand 24 this correctly. We're still using these tests that are
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113 1 not really good predictors? 2 MS. FIORELLO: They are not as good 3 predictors for children of color and bilingual children. 4 MEMBER GRUCELA: But we're still using 5 them? 6 MS. FIORELLO: That's correct. 7 MEMBER GRUCELA: The obvious question 8 is, Why? 9 MS. FIORELLO: Combination of tradition, 10 marketing, inertia. 11 MEMBER GRUCELA: Who make those 12 decisions? I mean, that doesn't really make any sense 13 to me. I guess, I'm just -- I don't know what I am, but 14 it doesn't make any sense. I mean, I'm a former 15 classroom teacher and if you said to me, you know, 16 you're giving this test that's not predicting correctly, 17 I wouldn't keep using it. I don't understand why you 18 would do that. 19 MS. FIORELLO: It is seen as predicting 20 correctly because it reinforces the biases that we have 21 in most of our systems anyway. So if I give a test, 22 like the Wechsler, which most private schools use for 23 admission, and most of my black kids don't make it in, 24 but I believe that black kids aren't capable of making
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114 1 it in that private school anyway, it's very easy for me 2 to believe that that's a good predictor. 3 MR. COX: It is important to understand 4 that while we're talking about education, all the 5 education that we're talking about is within the United 6 States of America. The thinking around underrepresented 7 students, by and large, is that they just could not 8 participate at this level of the game. 9 So until there are people like, at the 10 Educational Testing Service, who are now people of 11 color, who have gone through undergraduate, and graduate 12 education and looked at the disparities in performance 13 that there is now some changes being made in the types 14 of tests, but, unfortunately, the good doctor and 15 probably many of her colleagues are now having to fight 16 that change within their own institutions because it is 17 just not unilaterally accepted. 18 MS. FIORELLO: You have to understand 19 school psychology programs across the nation still have 20 to use the GRE because that's mandated by the American 21 Psychological Association. Even though we're the 22 organization that does the research that shows the 23 impact. Systems change is hard. 24 MEMBER GRUCELA: I went to college with
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115 1 a kid that got like 700 in the English SATs and he was 2 failing the English course. (Inaudible) and I had like 3 400. So I'm no fan of these tests. 4 You know, we do have this thing taped. 5 We ought to make this available to some of these schools 6 and people, from the beginning of this hearing all the 7 way on down, so they can see these young people and what 8 they have achieved and what they can achieve and hear 9 stories like Mr. Thompson told and we can tell kids that 10 you can make it in this world, not that you can't make 11 it. The positive rather than the negative, but we ought 12 to patent this tape, Jim, and sell it around the country 13 someplace. 14 Seriously, you're doing a great job and 15 these young people are to be commended. I wish you 16 would become teachers. 17 (Applause.) 18 MEMBER GRUCELA: That's for you guys. 19 It's a great profession. I realize you 20 are going to be doctors and I can imagine the impact of 21 a high school student walking in and their teacher is 22 Dr. So-and-so. Congratulations, and they look good. 23 MS. CLELAND: I would like to add. 24 I am one of those science teachers.
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116 1 It's been about 30 years that way. I think part of the 2 thing with the regional labs that we're suggesting is 3 that they can then be funnels for information like this 4 so that what's known now in the field can then be put 5 into these struggling schools and these places then 6 would have the ability to be in touch with the reality 7 of things and helping the schools with that. 8 MEMBER GRUCELA: I just wanted to 9 comment -- I'd almost forgotten. You're correct about 10 the bureaucratic nature in Harrisburg, what I call the 11 Ivory Tower -- in all the years that I spent teaching -- 12 I was so tempted and I never did, I guess for fear -- I 13 was so tempted a lot of times when we wrote all those 14 plans, after like Page 2 or 3 write "garbage" and draw 15 the T formation for some play for a football play or 16 something because nobody reads them. They sit on these 17 shelves and that's very true. 18 I don't know why in education we do 19 that. I mean, rather than focus on the human element in 20 the classroom -- I never wanted to leave the classroom 21 because I always thought that's where it was in those 22 four walls. 23 You know, we write all these plans and 24 we spend all this time and then it just, like you said,
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117 1 it sort of just sits there. And in my 30 years I went 2 through -- I used to name them, I can't remember them 3 all now -- The Classrooms Without Walls, cooperative 4 learning; outcomes based education. Every time there 5 was a new governor, I had a new program so, yes, we just 6 forget the actual human element to make these young 7 people succeed. So you're right about bureaucracy. 8 MS. FIORELLO: I do want to make the 9 point, though, it's not that the planning is bad, it's 10 not reading the plans. 11 MEMBER GRUCELA: No, no. It's bad, some 12 of the plans are bad too. 13 MR. DELANEY: I have one more comment. 14 Quincy and I appreciate the applause and being commended 15 for what we do, but I'm sure she will agree with me that 16 we would not have been able to do anything without the 17 support and this room being there to show us the way. 18 So equally as much as we have benefited, this type of 19 work needs to -- we are the products of this type of 20 work so it need to be commended as well. 21 THE CHAIRMAN: I think you said 22 something very important about reaching back, that's 23 critical. You advance on the shoulders of others, you 24 don't advance on your own. Of course you're brilliant
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118 1 and bright, although that helps, it is about helping 2 others and reaching back and understanding what you 3 build upon and I think that's critical. 4 Let me just say one thing; in general 5 observations we talked about a lot about science and 6 math and engineering, and certainly they're subjects 7 that I always thought that I've always commented they 8 are subjects that I never particularly liked, as a 9 student. I'll be quite honest about that. I often 10 times says if I was measured as kids today tend to be 11 measured by success in science and math, I would still 12 be in middle school. 13 But I think there is something about 14 this that is important, in that I think there also has 15 to be a sense that there is value in all careers, and 16 that if I'm a history major, which is what I was, I 17 confess, that my choice of history is just as important 18 as a career in science and math. It has value. 19 And I think what is also important is 20 that when we talk about science and math as subjects, 21 that one of the things you ought to be talking about, 22 sure it's good to a doctor or an engineer. It's also 23 important to be a teacher. I think that is what 24 oftentimes is lacking, people who are well-qualified in
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
119 1 the subject matter and also have the enthusiasm for what 2 they're doing and that's what makes people want to be 3 engineers, scientists and other science-related careers. 4 So I think you have to put all of those together as we 5 continue this dialogue. 6 I do see this as the beginning of the 7 discussion about this whole area of STEM education and 8 how we try to enhance and open up opportunities and 9 create a stronger number of young people in those 10 careers as we move forward. I hope we can keep all this 11 in some perspective. 12 Any other concluding comments or 13 observations? 14 If not, I want to thank everyone for 15 their participation this morning. 16 MEMBER McILVAINE SMITH: I would like to 17 say something. 18 THE CHAIRMAN: Oh, no, I'm sorry. 19 MEMBER McILVAINE: I'm a former teacher 20 also. I wanted to say how much I appreciated all of the 21 testimony here today and through all of it I have taken 22 copious notes and I wanted to just sum up a few of the 23 things that I feel that will take back and try to work 24 on.
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
120 1 There has to be more collaboration 2 between all of the participants in our students' 3 education, but also in their success in whatever field 4 that they choose. I'm a visual learner. I'm 5 experiential, so I tend to draw little pictures. You 6 know when -- I guess it was Dr. Bertley who was saying 7 -- he has a wonderful presentation about having the 8 three E's, Excitement, Engagement and Environment and I 9 truly believe that we need to have more experiential 10 learning, and science is a great way to experience 11 learning. 12 I taught environmental education. I was 13 out in the field teaching K through 8th grades and 14 actually getting a kid muddy and wet and turning over 15 rocks to see what kinds of organisms live under those 16 rocks is really where I believe that excitement begins, 17 and through that excitement now they're engaged, and 18 putting them in that environment where a teacher is also 19 excited and is engaged in that kid's learning. But we 20 need those teachers to have a higher education. 21 One thing that I saw at Microsoft School 22 yesterday when we visited, I met a teacher who was not 23 an education major, he has a degree in biology and he is 24 going back for a second degree and I forget in what, but
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
121 1 he really has the higher skills in science that we need 2 to have in the classroom. 3 When I went back to school, in the '90s, 4 as a non-traditional student, I had young students in my 5 class. I was 40-something and they were 20-something 6 and they were taking the math course a third time. If 7 they didn't pass it then, they couldn't graduate to 8 become teachers, thank goodness, but it really bothered 9 me to think that they were taking this, I thought, easy 10 math course a third time. It was just appalling to me. 11 We need our best and brightest to go 12 into the educational field, we need to encourage it 13 through that feeling of success and tapping into the 14 potential of each child. It's not about money and I 15 really am horrified every time we think about, oh we're 16 going to throw more money at the problem. 17 It's having a strategic plan first and 18 that was what I was also impressed about with the 19 Microsoft School. They took quite a few years to plan 20 it strategically before they even decided to put the 21 shovel into the dirt to start building. So it's that 22 kind of foundational thinking that we need to progress. 23 We have got all of these wonderful ideas 24 and one thing that I have found, throughout all of the
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
122 1 years -- my mom was a 32-year veteran of teaching and I 2 helped her in her schools over the years when I was 3 growing up -- we're so quick in education to throw out 4 the old ideas and incorporate the new without any 5 evidence-based outcomes and we really need to -- I 6 remember going back, as I said, in the '90s, no longer 7 did we teach phonics. Phonics is how I learned to spell 8 and read. 9 So we threw that out and we went to 10 whole language learning and I found that kids today 11 don't understand grammar. There is a place for the 12 basics, and you need that basic foundation to build on 13 all of these other ideals that we're striving for. 14 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 15 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Again, I want 16 to thank everyone for being here today. I want to thank 17 my staff and all the members, the Committee members for 18 their participation. 19 I also want to thank Jamie Bracey for 20 pulling together all the various pieces of this, 21 Jeremiah White, who has been very persistent in urging 22 me to do this and a good inspiration in this hearing, 23 and we look forward to continued discussion as we move 24 forward. Thank you.
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
123 1 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 2 was adjourned at 11:42 a.m., this date.) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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24a4fb1e-d30e-48e2-bd13-c6bec69d3610 House of Representatives - Education Committee Hearing/In Re: Stem Education
124 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T E 3 I hereby certify that the 4 5 proceedings and evidence are contained 6 fully and accurately in the 7 8 stenographic notes taken by me on the 9 hearing of the within cause and that 10 11 this is a correct transcript of the 12 same. 13 14 15 ------16 VIRGINIA MACK PROFESSIONAL COURT REPORTER 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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