State Indicators in Science and Mathematics Education: A Comparison of Iowa and the United States

The first state-by-state data of key indicators of the condition of science and mathematics in schools has been issued in a report from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). This report, State Indicators of Science and Mathematics Education, is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The project identified two objectives: (1) to improve the quality and usefulness of data on science and mathematics education so that state policy makers and program managers can make more informed decisions; and (2) to define and implement a set of indicators, national and state level analyses of progress in improving science and mathematics education in grades 9-12

Education for the 21st Century: Some Needed Changes for Quality Achievements

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An investigation of trends and issues of technology education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the current technology education movement and its impacts, problems, directions, as well as prospects for future development of technology education;A survey questionnaire consisting of three parts was used for collecting the data pertaining to program characteristics, objectives, problems, solutions, and prospects of technology education. Factor analysis was performed to verify the underlying structure of the instrument. Four orthogonal factors were extracted from the analysis for philosophical objectives of technology education. These four factors were: (1) technological literacy, (2) conventional IA objective, (3) intellectual development, and (4) use of tools and machines;Six problem factors derived from factor analysis were labeled as: (1) teaching content, (2) perception of program, (3) teacher education program, (4) student recruitment, (5) facility, and (6) teacher shortage;Six solution factors for solving TE problems were also extracted from factor analysis. They included: (1) curriculum development, (2) public relations, (3) teacher education, (4) perspective teacher recruitment, (5) female student recruitment, and (6) facility planning and innovation;Three prospect factors were extracted from factor analysis and were identified as: (1) program quality and image, (2) facility and curriculum, and (3) graduate and enrollment. These derived factors were used for further hypothesis testing;Eight hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study;Results of the study indicated that the responses of the three subject groups were very uniform. Their perceptions on most of the objective, problem, solution, and prospect factors of technology education were not significantly different from one another;A technology education curriculum development framework was presented along with the teaching scope and sequence for K-12

Efficiency and Equity as Goals for Contemporary U.S. Immigration Policy

As the United States has entered its postindustrial stage of economic development, mass immigration has again become a distinguishing feature of the U.S. economy. In all of its diverse forms, immigration presently accounts for anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of the annual growth of the U.S. labor force. By the turn of the 21st century, it could conceivably comprise all of such growth. Immigration is the one aspect of population and labor force growth that public policy should be able to shape and control. Unfortunately, however, the extant public policies that govern the size and composition of the immigrant and refugee flows are largely unrelated to emerging economic considerations. The revival of mass immigration is not taking place in a vacuum. Indeed, it appears that the labor market is being radically transformed. The demand for labor is increasingly favoring those workers with skill and education. There are diminishing needs for job seekers without these human capital endowments. On the labor supply side, it is unfortunately the case that the United States already has a significant number of adults who are ill-prepared for many jobs that are being created. To assist in this effort to enhance efficiency, immigration policy should be flexible. It should be capable of responding to changing domestic economic conditions. Currently, the nation\u27s immigration policy is dominated by political motivations that give priority to family reunification and humanitarian goals. Immigration can be a short run means to provide skilled and educated workers to fill critical worker shortages. But in the long run, equity considerations derived from the nation\u27s multiracial and multicultural character of the labor force also come into play. It is imperative that citizen workers be prepared for the high quality jobs in the growth industries of its postindustrial economy. Immigration must not inhibit market pressures from encouraging employers to provide better opportunities for training and employment of citizens. The obverse is also true. It is essential that immigration does not provide only workers who can be employed in the declining occupations and industries. With a sizeable adult illiteracy problem already, the nation can ill-afford to increase the pool of unskilled and poorly educated workers, which increases the competition among such workers for the shrinking number of jobs available to them

A Study to Determine the Need to Include Technology Education as a Required Part of General Education and its Effectiveness in Preparing Students for Trade and Industrial Courses

The following questions were considered for this study: 1. Does technology education offer applicable skills need by all students? 2 Are the technology courses in high school primarily preparing students who are continuing to technical education? 3. Do technology classes help non-college bound students prepare for the work place

An Analysis of Performance Differences Between Self-Directed and Teacher-Directed Alternative Education Campuses in Texas

This study was conducted to analyze the performance differences between alternative education campuses in Texas that used teacher-directed strategies and those that used self-directed strategies. The study was also conducted to inform educators of the results these two strategies had achieved with at-risk students during the three years of 2006-2008. The study used the results from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test as reported in the AEIS annual reports from the Texas Education Agency. Alternative education schools were grouped according to the strategy used to educate at-risk students. The results of the statistical tests showed the two strategies had similar performance results and there was no statistical difference between the two. The results offered several implications concerning the ability of at-risk students to achieve in alternative education schools including possible reasons why students who were previously unsuccessful became successful in alternative settings. The report also addressed the number of students who continued to be unsuccessful even when placed on an alternative education campus. Possible reasons for this continued inability to succeed are discussed. Recommendations for further research were listed at the conclusion of the study