Education and technology leaders teamed up on Wednesday, June 12 for POLITICO Pro’s Tech Deep Dive: STEM Policy’s Next Steps, a stimulating conversation about the current state of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, the impact it has on the American work force, and what to expect for STEM policy in 2014. The panelists included Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation at the White House, Becky Pringle, Secretary Treasurer of National Education Association (NEA), Nina Rees, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and Eric Schwarz, Co-founder and CEO of Citizen Schools. The panelists were complimentary of the Obama’s administration’s efforts to STEM fields accessible to all students; however they noted that underfunded schools are stilling facing many resource challenges.
Despite this lack of resources, Tom Kalil stated that the Obama administration is trying to build up STEM education by preparing and recruiting 100,000 new STEM teachers, creating new opportunities to get more K-12 students interested in STEM, and improving STEM performance at the undergraduate level. Adding to Kalil’s statement, Nina Rees commented that the technology community and teachers need to get more students excited about the STEM field and what it can do for them after graduating. Rees further stated that as long as there’s a choice to go to business school or Wall Street, you’re always going to have a mismatch. Eric Schwarz offered a solution to the STEM problem in America: creating a cultural shift in classrooms to a longer school day and more involvement from the technology communities. “In six hours it’s tough to have experiments, field trips, and learn math and reading. [Therefore,] we need to issue a call to those five to ten million STEM professionals to come in and co-teach with teachers,” Schwarz said. Rees also described how testing can help educators evaluate students’ progress and offer a baseline that can then by improved by STEM resources. “I would also argue that with math you either know the answer to that question or you don’t” she said. “As much as testing is maligned these days, I think we’re kind of simplifying the solution to the problem by blaming the test.” As the event came to a close, the panelists made the audience realize that competitive grants do not solve the gaps in low-income schools with inadequate resources. STEM advocates must focus on improving performance at the undergraduate level, where only 40 percent of students who intend to get a STEM degree actually graduate with one. Therefore, “at the end of the day, if we’re going to get where were want to go as a country…it is going to take many more successes for young people in elementary school, middle school and high school,” Schwarz said. (From left) Nina Rees, Becky Pringle and Tom Kalil. Image via POLITICO
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