In the spirit of the Noyce Foundation's interest to encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology and engineering, we would like to draw your attention to the websites listed below, developed and supported by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), IBM and the New York Hall of Science.
Interested in the current surge toward strengthening science education in U.S. schools? Read this article published on the TASC: The After School Corporation website.
Science by Stealth by Lucy N. Friedman & Jane Quinn
How After-School Programs Can Nurture Young Scientists and Boost the Country's
Scientific Literacy (PDF document)
Recently published
The Noyce Foundation supported EdSource in publishing a report which looks at California's workforce needs in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers in relation to the affects of California's standards-based reforms on student achievement in math and science. Visit their website for more information, or download the reports here.
Executive Summary: Math and Science Education for the California Workforce: It Starts with K–12
Math and Science: Gateways to California’s Fastest-growing Careers
Math and Science Teachers: Recruiting and Retaining California’s Workforce
The full report is available for purchase through EdSource's website.
The Noyce Foundation is proud to have been able to contribute to this important report and look forward to seeing its affects on public policy and education reform.
In other news...
The Noyce Foundation and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Launch a New Website: The Practice of Professional Development for Writing
Stanford, CA, July 2007-The Noyce Foundation and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching are helping classroom teachers learn about the key strategies and teaching practices from Noyce's "Every Child a Reader and Writer" (ECRW) initiative through a new multimedia website. Created to strengthen literacy achievement in K-5 students, the site offers professional development for elementary grade teachers.
From 2000 through 2007, ECRW worked to improve the teaching of writing and to bring intensive early literacy professional development to teachers, schools and districts through a writing workshop approach. Over the past year, teachers who participated in an ECRW unit design seminar on narrative writing worked with the Carnegie Foundation to document their teaching practice. Since 1998, the Carnegie Foundation has led an effort to capture the dynamics of teachers' practice through the use of new technologies. Using Carnegie's expertise in technology and the work of ECRW teachers, the two organizations have made professional development more accessible.
The website offers concrete examples of instructional strategies for teaching the significance of narrative writing through resource materials, examples of student work, and video clips of the participating teachers working with their linguistically diverse classrooms in kindergarten, second and fifth grades.
"Teachers are hungry for different educators' approaches to the teaching of writing," says Noyce Foundation Executive Director Ron Ottinger. "This website allows teachers, literacy coaches, principals and curriculum directors far beyond the ECRW implementation sites access to online multimedia professional learning opportunities. Educators at all levels who want to teach writing effectively can now see the practices of the writing workshop."
"This online teaching tool is extremely significant in that it expands from watching a particular teacher to examining effective practices across grade levels and in multiple settings," says Ann Lieberman, Carnegie senior scholar and co-director of the Goldman-Carnegie Quest Program that advances similar work. "Contrary to professional development models predicated on 'best practices,' this project rests on the assertion that there can be multiple ways to translate strong ideas about literacy teaching."
The foundations' joint efforts are part of the burgeoning movement to reframe professional development, moving teacher learning and teacher knowledge from margin to center in the advancement of the profession.
"To learn from the expertise in their ranks, teachers must make their inquiry into their teaching practices public, invite others to provide critique, and then build upon their own and others' work to elevate the knowledge base of teaching professionals," says Lieberman. "If we offer supports that will encourage these learning communities to grow, in the process we will create the conditions for more open and collaborative school cultures."
To access the website go to www.insidewritingworkshop.org.
More Recent News...
In June our Executive Director Ron Ottinger attended the 2007 National 4-H Curriculum Summit. Click here to see his address to the summit!
Our trustee, Dr. Pendred Noyce, recently wrote an article with Robert Richardson, co-board member of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE), about the need for education reform to prepare students for the work world by helping them to develop "execution skills" as well as aspiring to high academic standards. Read the article: Success lies beyond the test in education (PDF document)
Great news for the Silicon Valley Math Initiative! Dr. Pendred Noyce, David Foster, Sara Spiegel and Linda Fisher all have articles published by Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI). Penny, David and Sara all collaborated on the much anticipated "Assessing Mathematical Proficiency: Silicon Valley's Mathematice Assessment Collaborative". David also wrote "Making Meaning in Algebra: Examining Students' Understandings and Misconceptions". In addition, Linda wrote "Learning About Fractions from Assessment". Check out the publication on MSRI's website. (10M PDF document)
Noyce Foundation in the news:
Noyce Foundation Supports 4-H SET with $750,000 Matching Grant (PDF document)