The end of the teaching profession?

This is a very thoughtful and insightful post by a fellow blogger. Might be worth a look. -Dr. Petrosino 

"No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." - Lily Tomlin.

Anthony Cody has posted an interesting (and chilling) vision of the future of education, predicting that by 2018 all teaching will be strictly controlled, with frequent testing, classes monitored and taped for regular inspection, and teacher evaluation based, among other things, on value-added analyses of student test scores, and videos evaluated by outsiders.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in dialogue/2013/05/dystopia_a_possible_future_of_.html

I wonder if Anthony is being too optimistic.  There may not be any professional teachers left in the schools in 2018.  I suspect that the plan is to vilify and push out teachers, and replace them with temps, part-timers, and technology. The goal, the only goal, is to make a lot of money for the .01%.

The details:

The goal of the war against teachers is to eliminate the concept of teaching as a profession, to be replaced by temps (eg Teach For America) and eventually be replaced largely by technology (ultimate goal of flipped classrooms). The reason is 100% financial – so that the .01% can grab nearly all of the money teachers earn as well as profit from electronic/virtual teaching.

The .01% want as much of the (at least) 500 billion we spend yearly on education as they can get.  

The .01% plan

1.     Keep pressure on teachers by making their lives as difficult as possible and their task totally impossible. The common core standards and tests are a major part of this.

2.     Continue to attack the teaching profession: The message will continue to be that the US is in economic trouble because of bad education, which is because of bad teachers.

3.     The public, media, and politicians will have no sympathy for teachers’ pointing out how difficult teaching has become, This will be seen as whining, and teachers will then resign/quit in greater numbers.

4.     Continue to stress the importance of teacher evaluation, This sends the message that teachers are not doing their job and that there are a lot of bad teachers out there who must be identified and fired. 

5.     Continue to push the idea that TFAs as just as good or better than experienced teachers. 

6.     Do not reward teachers for experience, for years of service. This will also encourage more experienced teachers to retire/resign, creating more room for lower-paid temps in the system.

7.     Gradually increase the percentage of teachers who are temps as teachers retire and as they leave the profession because of frustration, This releases money because experienced teachers cost much more than temps. The result is more money for technology. 

8.     Continue to convince the public that all technology is wonderful. Use this to push  flipped classrooms and glorify the Khan Academy.  The role of teachers will then be diminished to the equivalent of TA’s. This reduces time spent in classrooms (lowers salaries even more), and lowers the status of teachers even more, as well as saving more salary money and increasing teacher frustration.  Hire part-timers (no benefits) to serve as supplements to virtual teaching. This will be promoted as expanded opportunity for jobs, no teaching credential required.  The public will accept this because they will have lost all respect for teacher credentials. 

Look for even more attacks on teachers and teachers unions. This makes sure there is no sympathy for teachers when they complain and no public outcry when teachers leave the profession and are replaced with temps and part-timers.

The above is a reasonable and likely scenario. My conjecture is that in addition, the reformers will continue to expand testing, will charge students for taking the required tests, and in fact make it illegal for students not to take the exams.  

5 great colleges for studying early childhood education- #1 UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Teaching young children is a vital and rewarding part of their development, and given how important the subject is, it’s no surprise that early childhood education degrees are offered at many schools.

While plenty of colleges can offer you teaching credentials, that doesn’t mean all schools are created equal. If you want to build a strong career for yourself in early childhood education, there’s a right school (or schools) out there for you. You just have to find it.

In your search, consider these five great schools offering early childhood education degree programs.

1. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

The University of Texas at Austin, also known as UT Austin, might be perfect if you want to study early childhood education at the graduate level.

UT Austin offers both master’s and doctoral early childhood education degrees, with courses ranging from theory of childhood to introduction to teaching. The programs are both hands-on and analytical, even touching on sociology and theories about play. And UT even has its own elementary school, in east Austin, which acts both as a school and a place for students to apply the knowledge they’ve gained in the classroom.

Plus, the fact that you get to study in the Lone Star State’s quirky capital, which boasts being the “live music capital of the world,” is an added bonus.

2. VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

The beauty of Vanderbilt’s early childhood education programs is how hands-on they are.

At Vanderbilt University, which is located in Nashville, Tennessee, even first-year students in the undergraduate program are observing and participating in local schools and agencies, as well as in experimental classrooms on the campus itself. 

READ MORE: See data-based rankings from College Factual

The undergraduate program is combined with a second major in child studies, offered by Peabody College, which means you get two degrees from two schools. And the graduate program not only focuses on early childhood education, but also special education, giving you a larger range of services and knowledge.

As you can see, Vanderbilt really does offer a comprehensive educational experience.

3. UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

It’s all about flexibility at the University of Cincinnati.

You can study early childhood education online or on the University of Cincinnati campus. If you choose the online option, you can earn an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in early childhood education anywhere and anytime you want. And if you pursue the bachelor’s degree program in early childhood education on campus, you enjoy small classes and extensive field experience in a variety of classrooms, especially high-needs schools in the city, since the school has an urban mission.

It’s a great option for anyone anywhere, not just people who live in or plan to live in Cincinnati.

4. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

New York University (also known as NYU) offers its early childhood education students a lot of variety.

At the undergraduate level, you can earn a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and early childhood special education (they’re combined), even obtaining teacher certification in the process. At the graduate level, you can earn a master’s degree in early childhood education or a Ph.D. in early childhood education and childhood education. (They’re also combined.) 

Study abroad is not only highly encouraged, but made easily possible, as NYU offers courses in London and Accra, Ghana. You also get to both learn about and teach in a variety of environments.

Not to mention, you can’t go wrong studying in New York City, where you can experience an incredible city and be amid several diverse opportunities. The Big Apple is a great city to study, live and teach.

5. ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

Arizona State University (ASU) has some of the most interesting early childhood education programs in the country.

For one, the Master of Education in early childhood education is offered fully online, with a combination of online coursework, applied activities and in-person clinical experiences.

The Bachelor of Arts in Education for Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education program is offered at ASU’s Tempe, Ariz. campus and includes “a senior year residency collaborative student teaching experience that begins with an early childhood apprenticeship in a PreK-3 classroom at a partner school, as well as an early childhood special education setting.” 

And both programs don’t merely emphasize fulfilling the child’s educational needs, but also his or her emotional and social needs.

Plus, the programs lead to teacher certification, which means upon graduation you can land a job. Not every program out there includes that, especially online programs. You can do a whole lot worse than ASU.

These are just five of the many great early childhood education programs out there. As it’s such a common program, there are dozens — even hundreds — of options available. 

If you start your search with these five, you’re off to a great start when it comes to finding the right program.

Jon Fortenbury is an Austin-based writer who covers higher education, health and culture. He’s been published by the likes of the Huffington Post and The Atlantic and is a featured contributor to Schools.com. Follow him on Twitter.

This article comes from The USA TODAY College partner network. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of USA TODAY. You understand that we have no obligation to monitor any discussion forums, blogs, photo- or video-sharing pages, or other areas of the Site through which users can supply information or material. However, we reserve the right at all times, in our sole discretion, to screen content submitted by users and to edit, move, delete, and/or refuse to accept any content that in our judgment violates these Terms of Service or is otherwise unacceptable or inappropriate, whether for legal or other reasons.

UTeach Commitment to Expand College Access at White House Event

UTeach recently joined President Obama, the First Lady, and Vice President Biden along with hundreds of college presidents and other higher education leaders to announce new actions to help more students prepare for and graduate from college.

The White House College Opportunity Day of Action helps to support the President’s commitment to partner with colleges and universities, business leaders, and nonprofits to support students across the country to help our nation reach its goal of leading the world in college attainment.

UTeach, through the UTeach Institute in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), pledges to support the preparation of secondary science and mathematics teachers at 44 universities throughout the United States, growing the total number of UTeach alumni by an additional 6,000 teachers by 2020.

“With each new university joining UTeach,” says Dr. Marder, our community of scientists, mathematicians, science and math teachers, and former and future teachers grows stronger.”
Today’s participants were asked to commit to new action in one of four areas: building networks of colleges around promoting completion, creating K–16 partnerships around college readiness, investing in high school counselors as part of the First Lady’s Reach Higher initiative, and increasing the number of college graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The President will announce new steps on how his Administration is helping to support these actions, including announcing $10 million to help promote college completion and a $30 million AmeriCorps program that will improve low-income students’ access to college.  Today’s event is the second College Opportunity Day of Action, and will include a progress report on the commitments made at the first day of action on January 14, 2014.

Expanding opportunity for more students to enroll and succeed in college, especially low-income and underrepresented students, is vital to building a strong economy and a strong middle class. Today, only 9 percent of those born in the lowest family income quartile attain a bachelor’s degree by age 25, compared to 54 percent in the top quartile. In an effort to expand college access, the Obama Administration has increased Pell scholarships by $1,000 a year, created the new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth up to $10,000 over four years of college, limited student loan payments to 10 percent of income, and laid out an ambitious agenda to reduce college costs and promote innovation and competition.

Atlanta Schools Committee to Recommend Charter System Status- Following Lead of New Orleans and Other Districts Around the Country

Icy Hudson River- Hoboken, NJ (February 2015)

Referencing some success in New Orleans with their version of an "all charter" district, the City of Atlanta, GA is now considering reformulating into an all charter district itself. Earlier this month, the Atlanta Board of Education posted documentation outlining some of its justification and thinking on the matter. The following is an initial reporting on this issue from Molly Bloom of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that does a good job of presenting some specific details. Similar considerations of becoming all charter districts are being considered in Seattle and Portland, Oregon as well as Cincinnati, OH, four small districts in California, and  York City, New York.

   Cleveland, Houston, and New York City are all using chartering as a strategy to create schools to serve children who would otherwise be stuck in failed schools. In those districts, charter schools make their own decisions about staffing and methods of instruction, while the larger number of conventional public schools run as before. But, a charter district is not just a district with a few charter schools; it is a district with only charter schools. And this model provides potential benefits for all school districts, especially those that are distressed or chronically low-performing. -Dr. Petrosino 

An advisory committee to Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen plans to recommend the district pursue “charter system” status, an organizational structure that gives the district more freedom from some state laws — and potentially a little more money — in exchange for greater state accountability, according to the agenda for Monday’s board meeting.

Becoming a “charter system” is one of three options open to school districts across Georgia. Districts can also choose a model called “Investing in Educational Excellence,” or “IE2,” or reject both the charter and IE2 models.

The district administration has “examined the options,” according to board agenda materials for Monday’s meeting.

“We believe charter system offers the greatest opportunity for improving all of our Atlanta Public Schools,” the agenda item read.

District officials said Monday evening the charter system recommendation was from the advisory committee — not the superintendent.

The General Assembly adopted these new models in the late 2000s, after districts complained that state rules were tying them down.

But Georgia districts have a big financial incentive to pursue either charter status or “IE2.”

Rejecting both options may cause them to lose money-saving waivers that have allowed them to exceed state caps on class sizes and to cut attendance calendars below the minimum 180 days. The waivers, popular during the recession, are still used in most of Georgia’s 180 districts as a way to balance budgets.

In charter systems, officials must re-engineer central offices to support decision-making by local school governance councils. Under IE2 there’s no requirement for those governance councils. Both types of systems get waivers.

If approved, the Atlanta School District would begin operating as a charter system by the 2016-17 school year.

Full Agenda for Hoboken Board of Education Meeting- Tuesday, February 10, 2015

HOBOKEN BOARD OF EDUCATION
158 FOURTH STREET, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030
(MEETING HELD IN DEMAREST AUDITORIUM, 158 FOURTH STREET, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030)
7:00 P.M.

  HBOE_Feb102015

Decentralized thinking and understanding of evolution in K-12 evolution education (2015) Anthony J Petrosino, Margaret M Lucero and Michele J Mann

1966 9th Grade- Demarest Junior HS Hoboken, NJ

The following is a paper that was just published in Evolution: Education and Outreach. This article builds on some previous work that was conducted and adds some components of what is necessary to understand evolution. We have begun to see emerging evidence and increasing interest from the social and technological sciences in the concept of decentralized systems. In cognitive psychology and the learning sciences we have seen a gradual but steady shift from individual cognition and individual differences research to research that focuses on distributed cognition and distributed expertise (Bruer 1993; White and Pagurek 1998; Bransford et al. 2000). In technological areas such as the Internet, communication networks (White and Pagurek 1998; White et al. 1998) and robotics (Beni and Wang 1993; Beni 2005) systems are now decentralized and designed to mimic collective behavior.

  Petrosino Et Al. 2015 Decentralized Thinking

Weighting game HoLa charter school school board bicker over low income lottery - Hoboken Reporter

Lamport & Holt Line, S.S. "Vauban"
Pier 14 Hoboken, Smoking Room. 1925

A new front has opened in the simmering legal battle between the Hoboken Board of Education and the Hoboken Dual Language Charter School (HoLa) over HoLa’s state-approved expansion to seventh and eighth grades.

After the New Jersey Department of Education granted HoLa’s expansion last year, the Hoboken school board filed a challenge before the state education commissioner and in appellate court. One of the key issues raised by board members in public comments is that HoLa has a much whiter and more affluent student body than the city’s traditional public schools.

This past December, HoLa found a possible resolution to this aspect of the controversy: they sought state permission to include a low-income preference in their admissions lottery for the 2015-16 school year. 

HoLa’s proposed changes are known as a weighted lottery. But in a Jan. 7 letter provided to The Hoboken Reporter, Eric Harrison, the school board’s special counsel, advised against granting HoLa’s request for the 2015-16 cycle, citing state laws he said the charter’s application violates.

HoLa board president Barbara Martinez sharply criticized the school board, arguing that a weighted lottery would have been approved if it had come out in support.

The state did not approve a weighted lottery in time, and the HoLa’s lottery for next school year took place on Jan. 9.

A strongly-worded Jan. 11 editorial in The Star-Ledger called the school board’s opposition to HoLa’s proposal “preposterous” and hypocritical.

HoLa blames board

HoLa, which teaches students in both Spanish and English, has been seeking to install a weighted lottery for at least a year. The school nevertheless maintains that its student population already adequately reflects the diversity of Hoboken’s general school age population, as is required of charter schools by state law.

Reliable data on Hoboken’s school-age demographics does not currently exist, but HoLa’s population roughly matched the racial makeup of the city in the 2010 U.S. Census. That said, the school district as a whole has a higher percentage of minorities than the general population of Hoboken.
_____________
“I personally am glad that HoLa has recognized that the current system does not create acceptable results.”—Ruth Tyroler
____________ According to Martinez, HoLa has pursued a number of strategies aimed at increasing its minority and low-income enrollment, including knocking on doors in public and subsidized housing, putting up posters in western Hoboken, and speaking to parents outside of Hoboken preschool programs.

A weighted lottery would make HoLa’s low-income preference explicit by giving children who reside in the public housing, qualify for welfare, or qualify for free or reduced price lunch double the chances in its random lottery.

In November, Martinez told The Hoboken Reporter that HoLa’s Board of Trustees wanted to institute a weighted lottery but could not because of the Hoboken school board’s ongoing lawsuit.

Another issue, it seems, was a lack of legal guidance from the state DOE. But according to Martinez, the agency finally issued guidelines for weighted lottery requests by charter schools in early December. A spokesman for the DOE said that specific guidelines for HoLa had been issued at the school’s request.

On Dec. 10, the HoLa board unanimously authorized Martinez to apply for a weighted lottery for 2015-16. She submitted her application to the state on Dec. 23, requesting a determination by Dec. 31.

After receiving notice of this application on Jan. 5, the school board’s lawyer Eric Harrison advised in a letter to Commissioner Hespe that “the Department of Education should not consider HoLa’s amendment request at this time.”

District school boards are statutorily guaranteed 60 days to comment on proposed changes by local charters. But Martinez says Hoboken could have cancelled out that delay by supporting HoLa’s charter amendment.

She believes the weighted lottery would have been approved but for Hoboken’s opposition.

“If this conflict with the district is really about access to charter schools for low income students,” Martinez said, “we are dumbfounded as to why the Hoboken Board of Ed would stand in the way of a lottery preference that would give low income students greater access to a popular charter school.”

Will HoLa expand next year?

At its first regular meeting of the year this past Tuesday, and in communications before and after, the school board said they were not opposed to the idea of a weighted lottery, only to its introduction on such short notice and prior to the resolution of its legal challenge of HoLa’s expansion.

In November, New Jersey Commissioner of Education David Hespe requested the chance to take another look at the state’s March 2014 approval of two additional grades for HoLa, which was decided just before he took over as acting commissioner.

In a motion before an appellate judge, the state Department of Education said “it would be beneficial for the commissioner to more closely inspect the demographic statistics surrounding the relevant community in this matter and how HoLa’s admissions policy may involve that community.”

Ever since the DOE’s motion was granted, the school board’s lawyer Eric Harrison said he has heard nary a peep from the agency about its how its review process will unfold or when it might be complete.

This includes no response to Harrison’s request that the DOE stay HoLa’s expansion to seventh and eighth grade until it had made its decision (Martinez said the DOE has denied the stay for seventh grade).

Filed too late?

While in this state of legal limbo, Harrison said he could not support any action by HoLa that implicitly or explicitly advances its expansion. Since the HoLa’s proposed weighted lottery would apply to the 2015-16 school year, the first to potentially include a seventh grade, Harrison said writing a letter endorsing a weighted lottery could later be used to argue that he had assented to HoLa’s expansion, crippling the school board’s case.

Harrison also questioned the timing of HoLa’s application for a weighted lottery. The document was sent to the DOE on Dec. 23 and requested a ruling by Dec. 31. 

According to the New Jersey Administrative Code, charter amendment requests that increase enrollment in a given school year must be made by Dec. 1 of the previous school year.

The school board is also guaranteed 60 days to comment on proposed changes to district charter schools. According to Harrison, it only learned of HoLa’s application on Jan. 5, the day HoLa’s 2015-16 lottery application period closed.

“This is about rule of law and respect for the rule of law and allowing the legal process to play out fairly for all sides,” said Harrison.

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, Trustee Jennifer Evans called submitting an application two days before Christmas and expecting a determination by New Year’s Eve “optimistic, to say the least.”

Bad press

Members of the Hoboken Board of Education rejected the strong language contained in The Star-Ledger’s editorial on HoLa’s weighted lottery. The essay accused Hoboken public schools, among other things, of “[refusing] to allow what is right.”

“As an educator for the past 44 years…I am astonished at the way in which articles and editorials in the press, particularly The Star-Ledger, misstate and misrepresent the facts,” said Hoboken school superintendent Dr. Richard Brockel in a prepared statement delivered by his deputy. “We are all in the business of educating children, so to suggest anything that would appear as though the Board of Education is not acting in that interest is wrong.”

“I do feel that this editorial is beyond the pale,” said Evans. “I also think that it does a great disservice to our community.”

The board voted 7-1 to authorize its president Ruth Tyroler to send a letter to the editor of The Star-Ledger defending its actions. Trustee Peter Biancamano voted in opposition, and Trustee Leon Gold was absent.

Rhetoric aside, several board members said they were open to the use of a weighted lottery both at HoLa and in the district schools. According to Trustee Irene Sobolov, former Hoboken Public Schools Superintendent Mark Toback spoke in favor of a pursuing a weighted lottery system for all of Hoboken’s schools last year. 

As pointed out by HoLa members and in a Hoboken Reporter story last year, de facto segregation appears to exist in the traditional public schools as well. One of its schools in southwest Hoboken has a disproportionate concentration of economically disadvantaged and minority students.

Tyroler and Sobolov expressed interest in a universal enrollment system, in which students can apply for all district public schools including charters in one application. Such a system was implemented in Newark in 2013.

Despite all the vitriol surrounding HoLa’s expansion, Tyroler said she considered HoLa’s support of a weighted lottery a potential point of agreement.

“I personally am glad that HoLa has recognized that the current system does not create acceptable results,” she said.

Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.

Designs on the Future of High-school Engineering: UTeachEngineering

The following is an article about one of my NSF funded projects known as "UTeach Engineering" -Dr. Petrosino 

What started as a teacher training program morphed into a year-long, high school engineering course and multiple professional development opportunities

President Obama tours a classroom at Manor New Technology High School in Manor, Texas. Credit and Larger Version

In May of 2013, President Barack Obama kicked off his Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour with a visit to Austin, Texas. First on the agenda--a visit to Manor New Technology High School, a school committed to preparing students for the high-tech, digital world. One of the highlights of the visit was a demonstration by TEXplosion, the school's award-winning robotics team. Although their competition robot was in transit from the world championships, they delivered with their practice bot, "Yolotron." 

During the demonstration, President Obama spoke with Bobby Garcia, lead mentor for the robotics team and an engineering teacher at Manor New Tech. Since its start five years ago, the team has gone from a somewhat disorganized after-school program to an integral part of the curriculum. This year for the first time, the team won two regional competitions in Texas and earned a spot at the world robotics championships held in St. Louis, Mo., in April. 

Garcia credits the team's turnaround, in part, with his participation in the University of Texas at Austin's (UT Austin) Master of Arts in STEM Education-Engineering (MASEE) program, a 2.5-year mix of residential and online coursework that includes hands-on projects in engineering design methods. The program is part of a larger National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded effort--UTeachEngineering--developed at UT Austin to address both teacher professional development and curriculum creation in engineering at the secondary school level. 

Meeting a need

Five years ago, some high schools in Texas began offering a year-long course in engineering to meet a state requirement of a fourth year of science for secondary school students. However, between 1995 and 2010 only 44 Texas high-school teachers became certified in engineering. With the potential for 10,000 to 20,000 students enrolling in engineering each year to satisfy graduation requirements, UT Austin projected that the state could need as many as 500 engineering teachers.

Aware of the great need, UT Austin's David Allen, a chemical engineering professor, teamed with colleague Richard Crawford, a mechanical engineering professor, and Cheryl Farmer, a program manager. Together with colleagues from UT Austin's Colleges of Natural Sciences and Education and the Austin Independent School District, they applied for an NSF grant to fund the creation of a professional development program for teachers of high-school engineering. "We wanted to be engaged in defining what the high-school course would be like and we wanted the teachers to be authentic in providing that course," Allen says. 

However, a few months into the grant, input from NSF staff and a request from a school district partner for course materials caused the trio to completely revise their approach. "NSF suggested we develop the requested materials with the ideal high school course in mind," explains Farmer, who now serves as UTeachEngineering project director. "The goal was a year-long, high-quality, low-cost curriculum that could be implemented in a variety of settings." 

Creating a course

Rather than create a professional development program, the trio enlisted engineering natural sciences and education faculty, research fellows, practicing engineers--including a NASA engineer--education specialists, and high school teachers, and produced the high-school course, "Engineer Your World." The algebra-based curriculum covers five units--discovering the design process, data acquisition and analysis, reverse engineering of everyday products, systems engineering, and automation and control. 

Enriching these five extended design challenges in mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering are week-long explorations that introduce other disciplines such as chemical and biomedical engineering. "In each unit, students build, create, test, refine and analyze," says Farmer. "The course introduces the practice and process of engineering as well as authentic engineering skills and habits of mind." All of these areas are tied to engaging engineering activities and challenges such as building a pinhole camera for disabled artists. 

In 2011-12, "Engineer Your World" was piloted in seven schools in Texas. That number jumped to 23 schools in eight states for 2012-2013. The plan is to introduce the course in 100 schools in 2013-2014 and double that number in 2014-2015.

While the course includes many challenging opportunities to learn about how engineers think and what they do, the goal of the course is not to turn every student into an engineer, says Farmer. "We are thrilled if our course helps students make an informed decision about what path they choose to follow. We are helping students be more literate about engineering." 

Preparing teachers

Using "Engineer Your World" as a centerpiece, the team returned to their original plan and created several professional development components to complement the course and strengthen the ranks of high-school engineering teachers. UTeachEngineering now includes:

• the MASEE program aimed at teachers who want to become leaders in secondary engineering education,
• an undergraduate certificate program for students in engineering and the natural sciences (students simultaneously obtain their bachelor of science degrees and teaching certificates),
• a certification program for those who hold bachelor's degrees in engineering or science and would like to teach, and
• a two-week summer session and ongoing support for teachers who teach the "Engineer Your World" course. 

Over the next year, UTeachEngineering will add an online learning management system to foster collaboration among current and past participants as well as external resources such as industry mentors. 

Rethinking the future 

With more students taking high-school level engineering courses than ever before, Allen says programs like UTeachEngineeringcan help prepare students who may eventually teach those engineering courses, along with mainstream engineers who go on to careers through colleges of engineering. Although the number of students taking engineering in high school are rising, the attrition rate in major engineering undergraduate programs is about 50 percent. "We can lure them in but they don't stay," says Lisa Guerra, the NASA engineer who worked on the systems engineering unit of "Engineer Your World." Allen points out that "it's critical for the engineering profession in the U.S. to utilize what's going on in high schools and to consider how we deal with the transition between high school and college." 

For Garcia, his experience with the MASEE program and UTeachEngineering was eye-opening and energizing. Since graduating, he has helped develop two robotics classes for Manor New Tech students and repurposed thousands of dollars worth of equipment and space for the robotics team. "I took the plunge and applied...I was inspired and re-invigorated in teaching engineering. One of the things going right with education is exploring science and math in creative ways." 

--	Susan Reiss, (703) 536-4529 smreiss@verizon.net

InvestigatorsDavid Allen
Cheryl Farmer
Michael Houser
Michael Marder
Richard Crawford
Anthony Petrosino 

Related Institutions/OrganizationsUniversity of Texas at Austin

LocationsTexas 

Related ProgramsMath and Science Partnership
Engineering Education 

Related Awards#0831811 UTeachEngineering: Training Secondary Teachers to Deliver Design-Based Engineering Instruction 

Years Research Conducted2008 - 2014 

Total Grants$12,478,158

Related WebsitesUTeachEngineering: http://www.uteachengineering.org/
Engineer Your World: http://www.engineeryourworld.org/
MASEE Program: http://www.uteachengineering.org/MASEE/aboutMASEE.cfm

"To Whom It May Concern": A Case Study of Advocacy, Hyperbole, and Factual Inaccuracy

Picture from the last tour of the Macy's Thanksgiving
Parade Facility--Hoboken, NJ 

First, I would like to thank the people who contacted me about this issue. It has been brought to a number of people's attention that there is a letter/email circulating on social media and blogs which concerns some issues facing various educational institutions in the town of Hoboken, NJ. Certainly the letter appears to be passionate, advocates for our traditional pubic schools, and seems to come from a concerned parent of a child in the Hoboken public school system. We can not lose sight of the fact that some issues are causing fractures and division in our communities around the issue of public schools, quality, and funding. 

From the Hoboken Board of Education lawsuit

The following is presented simply to help better inform those who may have questions concerning (mis)information included in the letter and surrounding this issue. 

There are two versions. One is a hyperlinked text document and the other is an annotated attachment. 

------------------

Dear Commissioner Hespe,

It is my understanding that you will be reviewing your decision to allow for the expansion of the HoLa Charter School by two grades (7th & 8th). I ask that in your review you take into consideration the financial and segregative impacts such an expansion will have on the local public school district.

I am a Hoboken district parent that loves my child's public school and all that it has to offer.  My family values our warm, diverse learning community and we are concerned about the impact the charter expansion will have on the ongoing success of the Public School District (note; see also HERE and HERE).

The charter expansion will place extreme financial burdens on our budget and will jeopardize the district student's program. Our Public School District educates such a wide variety of students, including the neediest students in our community, 73% who receive free and reduced priced lunches while HoLa Charter school only educates 11% of students impacted by poverty.  The district cannot be expected to continue the progress in achieving higher state test scores while seeing a significant drain on funding.  Under the current formula, charter funding is always guaranteed while the public school children always suffer the cuts.

It is also the State's charter regulations that impede tools a community might use to reduce the segregative impacts, such as weighted lotteries or a universal application

I ask that HoLa forgo their expansion until the funding issues are resolved so that no child has to suffer for the success of another.  I understand HoLa's interest in continued exposure to Spanish; however, their middle school model is a 10% Spanish / 90% English model (note: 90% taught in Spanish for K-2; 50+% Spanish in middle grades).  I don't believe this is a compelling difference to reduce the educational resources of my child and her classmates.

Thank you in advance for taking these important financial and segregative issues into consideration during your review.

Sincerely,

(NAME WITHHELD)

  Final Response Letter

What is the Capacity of the Building Known as "Hoboken High School"?

From 1962 HHS Dedication Program 

What is the Capacity of the Building Known as "Hoboken High School"? A fairly simple question. But what is the answer? Read on. But it is fair to say that the building now has 3 extra grades and is at less that 42% of its initial capacity as a state of the art comprehensive high school.  -Dr. Petrosino 

At the December 2014 Hoboken Board of Education Meeting, Board Trustee Ruth McAllister (Tyroler) went on and on about the capacity of Hoboken High School. Seems as if she was responding to some discussions and critiques that when Hoboken High School first opened in 1962 it had a capacity of 1500 students and that now it is "half empty." (see the 52:00 mark of the video of the December HBOE meeting for the specific monologue; or transcription below)

Furthermore, during that time, since it was during the "baby boom"-- classes consisted of "30-35 students with students sitting on the window sills." Trustee McAllister (Tyroler) went on for a few more minutes about he fact that there are now media rooms and multimedia studios in Hoboken High School-- but failing to mention that back in 1962 there was an extensive Wood Shop, an Auto Shop, a Photography Studio, and a large Audio Visual Studio (see the 1962 HHS Dedication Program for more details as well as the building diagram below). 

1962 HHS Floor Diagram

To make a long story short-- We know that in 1962 the stated capacity of Hoboken High School was 1500 (see top photo). We also know by looking at the HHS Floor Diagram that there were almost 65 classrooms. Even if the building was at capacity, that would mean less than 24 students per class (65x24=1560). Significantly less than the "35 and sitting on the window sills" as mentioned in Ms. McAllister (Tyroler)'s monologue. 

In the 2009 Audit Report of the Hoboken School District, we learn that the stated capacity of Hoboken High School in 2000 (after the "baby boom") is officially listed as 1484 or a reduction of 18 students (-1.2%) from 1962. 

In the same 2009 Audit Report of the Hoboken School District, we learn that  in 2001 (again, well after the "baby boom"), the stated capacity of Hoboken High School was officially listed as 829 or a reduction of 673 seats from the 1962 capacity and a reduction of 655 seats from the previous year. This corresponds to a stated reduction in capacity of 55.19% from the 1962 levels and 55.9% reduction from the previous year. 

In fact, from 2000 to 2001 the seating capacity of the entire Hoboken School District went from 5214 students to 2763 students or a reduction of about -88.7%

When Hoboken High School opened in 1962 it was a "full three-year senior high school" meaning grades 10, 11, and 12. According to the 2014 ASSA Report (see below), Hoboken had approximately 294 students in grades 10, 11, and 12 or about 19.6% of the 1962 capacity. But, Hoboken High School has undergone 3 different configurations in the past 5 years under the current Board Majority: (9-12; 8-12) and finally as the Hoboken Junior-Senior High School (7-12). According to the 2014 ASAA Report, Hoboken has approximately 629 students in grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 or 41.9% of its 1962 capacity, 42.4% of its 2000 capacity and 75.9% of its 2001- 2014 "diminished" capacity. 

In short, the building commonly known as "Hoboken High School" now has 3 full additional grades from its original configuration and the building is at 41.9% of its 1962 opening capacity, 42.5% of its 2000 capacity, and 75.9% of its 2001 "diminished" capacity. 

2014 ASSA Report- NJDOE 

Board Trustee Ruth McAllister (Tyroler) said at the December 6, 2014 meeting, "we certainly have room for a few students in each grade" but really wanted to get across the point that Hoboken High School is no where near empty. Seems that an objective and data driven discussion on capacity in the building known as Hoboken High School would indicate that the statement made by the Board member  did not mention the 1962, 2000, and 2001 changes to seating capacity, the "special" rooms that existed in 1962-2000, the additional grades added to the building, and the current student enrollment by grade. Add to this that well over 120 of the current 629 students currently in the Hoboken High School building are not from Hoboken ("choice" students), and we need to be somewhat skeptical of Ms. McAllister's (Tyroler) assurances that the building is close to capacity.  

Board Trustee McAllister's (Tyroler) explanation of
Hoboken High School seating capacity

In an unrelated item, Hoboken Charter School and Elysian Charter School received their charter in January of 1997 and opened their doors the following September. 

  HHS Dedication 1962