Tech, education leaders talk STEM challenges

Education and tech leaders lauded the Obama administration’s efforts to open the science, technology, engineering and math fields to more students — but said the resource challenges in underfunded schools remain a major hurdle, Politico reports. Tom Kalil, the White House’s deputy director for technology and innovation, said the Obama administration’s efforts include preparing and recruiting 100,000 new STEM teachers and opening opportunities to get more younger students interested in STEM…

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Education demands tech upgrade

Technology has changed lives in a number of meaningful ways, a Politico opinion column reports. It has unleashed a great transformation that has allowed access to information and services through a swipe or a click. While the new technology has fueled innovation in the consumer sector, widespread and effective usage in our nation’s public schools lags dangerously. Families can order dinner with the click of a button on a smartphone or computer, but teachers are still wiping chalk off blackboards. Newspapers and magazines are delivered to tablets every morning, but students study from texts that become outdated as soon as they are released. Co-workers work in real time to complete complex tasks on opposite coasts, but classrooms often cannot effectively connect subject areas…

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Opinion: Creating bipartisan education reform

The outcome of the midterm elections shows how distraught voters have become with Washington politics, where almost every issue is pitched into a partisan battle between parties and competing ideologies. Fortunately, the administration has an opportunity to show leadership and demonstrate a desire for bipartisan solutions with the new Congress by focusing on President Barack Obama’s American Graduation Initiative, says Thomas Kean of Politico. This program, whose goal is to help an additional five million Americans earn college degrees and certificates in the next decade, can strengthen the U.S. higher education system in years to come.

Indeed, the president said in a recent radio address said that economic growth and creating new jobs for American workers requires “ensuring that our students are getting the best education possible.”

Such a bold objective requires consensus-building–and an all-inclusive approach. As someone with broad experience in government and all aspects of higher education–public, private, not-for-profit and for-profit–I have been disappointed in the “ad-hoc” nature of the administration’s first proposals to achieve the president’s noble vision……Read More