Published by the

Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education

Issue Sponsor:

3M and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

This Week's Topics:

1. SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
2. REFORM TEACHING AND EQUITY IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
3. NEW GAO REPORT EXAMINES COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AMONG MINORITY STUDENTS
4. FIRST UNVEILS NEW GAME
5. SPRING 2008 NASA QUEST CRATERING THE MOON CHALLENGE
6. 2008 AMERICAN STARS OF TEACHING PROGRAM SEEKS NOMINATIONS
7. INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
8. EXXONMOBIL EDUCATION ALLIANCE PROGRAM GIVES $1.75 MILLION TO LOCAL SCHOOLS
9. PREVIOUS ISSUES

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On January 8, 2007, key education leaders in Congress joined President Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and to discuss ways to improve the law, which was scheduled to be reauthorized in 2007. But after a year of hearings and debate in Congress and little apparent negotiation between Congress and the president during that time, the NCLB reauthorization remains unfinished. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia issued the following statement: "Whether moved by the 1.2 million students who dropped out of school last year, or our nation's continued slide in international math and science rankings, the U.S. Congress and the President must reauthorize NCLB and make key changes that will help the law better address the unique challenges facing the nation's middle and high school students. The 7,000 students who drop out of high school every school day demand immediate action."

In her testimony before the joint committee session of Florida's Committee on K-12, Schools and Learning Council and the Committees on Education Innovation and Career Preparation, 21st Century Competitiveness, and Postsecondary Education, Secretary Spellings underscored the accomplishments of No Child Left Behind. "Six years after No Child Left Behind changed the education game in this nation, we can be proud of where it has brought us," she said. "The law's core principles, based on tried and true efforts in places like Florida, now guide our conversation on education. Now all 50 states and the District of Columbia have assessment systems, report disaggregated data, and target federal resources to serve their neediest students." More details about NCLB are online. 

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College enrollment among minority students has grown rapidly since the 2000-01 school year, though African-American and Hispanic students are increasingly likely to enroll in two-year colleges rather than four-year colleges, according to a new report prepared for U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA). Miller is the author of legislation that would address rising college prices by encouraging colleges to rein in price increases, ensuring that states maintain their commitments to higher education funding, and providing students and families with consumer friendly information on college pricing and the factors driving tuition increases. That bill, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137), is expected to be considered by the House early in 2008. The report, from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), found that overall, college enrollment among Hispanic students grew by 25 percent between 2000-01 and 2006-07; among African-American students, it grew by 15 percent; among Asian-American/Pacific-Islander students, it grew by 15 percent; and among white students, it grew by 3 percent. Last year, African-American and Hispanic college students were more likely to attend two-year public colleges than they were ten years ago.

According to the report, between the 1995-96 and 2006-07 school years, Hispanic student enrollments in two-year schools increased by four percentage points, while enrollments in four-year schools declined by two percentage points. During the same time, African-American student enrollments in two-year schools increased by three percentage points, while enrollments in four-year schools decreased by three percentage points. Today, nearly 60 percent of all Hispanic students are enrolled in two-year colleges, as are 50 percent of African-American students and 43 percent of white students. Also according to the GAO, while tuition and fees rose among all institutions of higher education over the past twelve years, tuition and fees at two-year public colleges increased by the smallest dollar amount, while tuition at two-year private colleges increased by the smallest percentage. For a copy of the GAO report, click here; click here for more information on the College Opportunity and Affordability Act.

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Just like on Earth, water is a crucial resource on the Moon. It will not be practical to transport to space the amount of water needed for human consumption and exploration. It is critical to find natural resources, such as water, on the Moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission will begin the search for water, leveraging the information we learned from the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions, which found indirect but not conclusive evidence of water. In an attempt to find water on the moon, scientists at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA are currently developing a spacecraft they'll deliberately crash into the Moon. A second craft will fly through the lunar dust plume released from the crash and send data back to Earth for analysis.

Now, as part of a new NASA Quest Challenge, student teams can join in the process by designing a lunar impact simulator and determining the optimal impact angle that would give NASA the most information from the crash. NASA Quest is a project that allows the public to share the excitement of NASA's authentic scientific and engineering pursuits like flying in the Shuttle and the International Space Station, exploring distant planets with amazing spacecraft, and building the aircraft of the future. Background materials and a teachers' guide are available online for this new quest. To browse additional information about this mission and read news as it breaks, click here. Registration begins February 2008; more details about the NASA Quest Challenge are online.

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This issue of the TCEB is made possible by grants from:

3M

3M is a diversified technology company committed to providing practical
and ingenious solutions to help customers succeed.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)'s Education Programs office
serves the education and research missions of NREL and the Department of Energy
in several major areas including K-12 student competitions and programs,
undergraduate research internships, teacher research internships, teacher
professional development workshops, and consumer outreach.

To find out how your organization can sponsor the TCEB or support the Triangle Coalition in other ways, visit www.trianglecoalition.org/support.htm __________________________________________________________________________

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