Tag Archive: STEM


Innovations in Mentoring

Filed Under: National Office, Programs by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
January 31, 2013

Today’s blog post is by Communities In Schools Associate Director of Federal Grants and Initiatives, Megan Robinson.

Communities In Schools staff at national mentoring summit

Left to right: Danya Perry of Communities In Schools of North Carolina, Lori Fickling of Communities In Schools of North Texas, Jade Parker of Communities In Schools of New Orleans, Megan Robinson of Communities In Schools national office, LaShawn Johnson of the national office, and LaTousha Daniels of Communities In Schools of Miami.

As we wrap up National Mentoring Month, I hope you’ve taken time to thank someone who has helped mentor you, or offered your own time to mentor someone who could use extra support or guidance. Mentoring can have a significant impact on young people’s determination and drive to stay in school. This message resonated for me during MENTOR’s National Mentoring Summit held in Washington, D.C. January 24-25. Nearly 650 leaders from youth-serving organizations, government, research and business came together to share innovative program models and research findings to connect young people with mentors so they can stay on the path to successful adulthood.

The Communities In Schools national office was invited to participate in the Summit as a presenter for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) Multi-State Mentoring Initiative. OJJDP awarded Communities In Schools a $2.5 million grant during the Fall of 2011 and we currently have 10 affiliates partnering on the project. Several affiliates, including our technical assistance provider Communities In Schools of North Carolina, joined me at the Summit last week. I was excited to present the accomplishments of our OJJDP affiliates, alongside Communities In Schools of Cape Fear, who presented a unique peer mentoring program that’s being supported by the OJJDP grant.

Our OJJDP partnering affiliates have made over 900 mentoring matches under the grant and we hope to demonstrate to the country how the Communities In Schools model strengthens mentoring relationships and leads to deeper connections between students and their mentors. When Communities In Schools site coordinators provide case management that includes things like parental engagement activities and ensuring basic needs like nutrition and medical care are met, mentors can focus on what they do best – being trusted friends, confidantes and champions to our students.

The OJJDP grant is allowing affiliates to build and expand innovative program designs including school-to-work initiatives for high school students, transition programs for adjudicated youth, and STEM projects with middle school and university students. The MENTOR Summit provided an engaging platform for us to share our efforts and learn from other programs around the country.

Thank you to our OJJDP partnering affiliates for recruiting and training hundreds of dedicated mentors and for building creative mentoring programs that are helping students reach their goals.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
October 5, 2012
Arne Duncan

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Huffington Post: In remarks to the National Press Club on Tuesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called for educators across America to move their curricula away from textbooks and towards e-books.

E-books offer numerous advantages for students and educators. They can contain interactive videos and games to help students understand lessons, and schools can save money and get updated editions of textbooks distributed faster. Some countries, such as South Korea, have already jumped into the digital revolution and pledged to eliminate traditional paper textbooks by 2015.

But can districts, already burdened by budget cuts, overcome the initial startup costs of getting e-readers into students’ hands? Do you think moving from paper to digital textbooks is a feasible goal? Share your thoughts in our comments section.

New York Times: Last month, The U.S. News & World Report published its annual college ratings report. To no one’s surprise, Harvard and Princeton were tied for first.

In an enlightening op-ed, Joe Nocera asks readers to stop and think about the value we place on college rankings. Schools that want to be at the top of the list know how to “game the rankings,” as Nocera put it, and it creates an undue anxiety for students to get into what the list considers to be a “good” school. In addition, schools lower in the rankings now need to compete for students’ attention, which means they need to spend more money. Where does that money come from? Tuitions.

Slate: Last month, researchers from Yale University released the results of a study showing how professors (both male and female) across scientific disciplines discriminate against female students. In response, The New York Times convened a symposium of U.S. scientific leaders to discuss the situation and formulate a response.

Some suggestions included engaging students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects at an earlier age, before bias sets in, and implementing training programs for professors to highlight the prevalence of sexism in science and build awareness around the issue.

But overall, the symposium discussion focused on how not only to close the STEM gender imbalance, but the imbalance for women across the entire spectrum of education. Read a full recap of the symposium on Slate.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
September 14, 2012

Dr. Erika Ebbel Angle. Photo courtesy Science from Scientists

Huffington Post: If you’re watching local television in Massachusetts, there’s a chance you’ll come across “The Dr. Erika Show.” This show, filmed in front of a live audience of children, stars Erika Ebbel Angle, a MIT graduate with a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Boston University and the founder of the nonprofit organization Science from Scientists. She also happens to be Miss Massachusetts, and wears a tiara with her white lab coat.

Many girls who attend “The Dr. Erika Show” tapings tell the producers afterwards that they want to be “princess scientists” like Ebbel Angle. For years, educators have been trying to make STEM subjects appealing and accessible to girls. Is having a spokesperson with both brains and beauty the answer? Not according to some women currently working in science fields, who say telling girls they need to be both smart and beautiful to find a career in STEM subjects is too much pressure. What do you think? Read the Huffington Post article and share your thoughts in our comments section.

Education Week: A new study from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed that the United States lags behind most of the world’s leading economies when it comes to providing early-childhood education opportunities. According to the study, which was released this past Tuesday, the United States ranks 28th out of 38 countries in the number of four-year-olds enrolled in preschool.

Early education programs like preschool help children succeed when they enter kindergarten. And according to a paper published in the March edition of Psychological Science, these programs are particularly important for children living in poverty. Home environment is a key variable in knowledge absorption, and when a child is living in a home with few toys, books or other developmental tools, it can inhibit future learning.

GOOD: Tuesday marked the 11th anniversary of 9/11, and it’s still a challenge for teachers to educate their students on the subject. Young people in school today were either toddlers, or not yet born, during the events that transpired that day. How can teachers get across the gravitas of 9/11, when it is still a sensitive subject for so many people?

Last year, The New York Times began to compile a list of resources from its coverage of 9/11 that teachers could use. The newspaper also encouraged teachers to submit their own ideas, and on this year’s anniversary shared some of the best lesson plans they have received.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: Research, What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
July 27, 2012

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Photo courtesy NASA.

Chronicle of Philanthropy: A new study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation revealed that in 2010, 15.7 million children in the United States lived below the poverty line. This is a marked increase from the Foundation’s 2005 study of the same subject, and signifies the long-term effects of the 2007-2009  recession.

As people across the country deal with unemployment or underemployment, their children struggle to gain access to the resources they need to succeed. During the 2010-2011 school year, 87 percent of the 1.26 million children Communities In Schools served were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Our site coordinators work around the clock to make sure students get everything they need to survive and thrive, including food, medical care and clothing. We also make sure their emotional needs are met during this stressful time by providing mentors, counselors and more.

Education Week: This week is the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. In connection with the conference, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new statistics about the spread of HIV and AIDS in the United States and their effect on our youth. As of 2009, people ages 15-29 make up 21 percent of the U.S. population; but they account for 39 percent of all new HIV infections. And according to the CDC, while about half of all teens report they are sexually active, only 60 percent of those having sex report using condoms.

The Education Week article offers an enlightening look at how sex education differs in schools across the United States, and asks whether or not promoting abstinence-only programs is what’s best for today’s students.

GOOD: This week we said goodbye to Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Since her historic journey on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983, Ride has served as a powerful role model for young women with a passion for science, technology, engineering and math. She was a leader in the fight to break down gender barriers and promote the role of women in STEM subjects. Among many speaking engagements and initiatives, in 2001 Ride and other female scientists founded Sally Ride Science, a company dedicated to producing classroom materials and programs for students that promote diversity in the workplace.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: What We're Reading by Tracey Savell Reavis — Leave a comment
June 28, 2012

Secretary of Education Duncan talks about the importance of Title IX at the beginning of the 40th Anniversary celebration game at the Department of the Interior. Photo courtesy Tami A. Heilemann

Slate: A math teacher in Falls Church, Va., is concerned that technology may be impeding the progress students are having in the subject and not helping to give them the math skills they need to succeed in college. And according to a 2011 report by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, 89 percent of high school math teachers think their students are ready for college-level mathematics. But only 26 percent of post-secondary teachers think the students are ready once they get there.

Throughout the Communities In Schools network, there are many programs dedicated to helping students raise their math scores. The Great Leaps Math Program at Mars Hill Elementary, a Communities In Schools of Madison County, N.C. initiative, puts young students in line with early comprehension of the fundamentals. A site coordinator at Communities In Schools of Peninsula, Wash., recruits volunteer mentors to help kids achieve math success. Math labs and proficient tutors sprinkled throughout middle and high schools across the country aim to deepen students’ knowledge and help them prepare for college-level math.

USA Today: Last week our country marked the 40th anniversary of the landmark legislation Title XI, with conferences and celebrations and references to how far women have come since its passing. The legislation called for prohibiting discrimination in any education program that received federal funding. A lot of the talk last week was around women in sports – participation in college athletics has increased from 30,000 to 190,000, and the number of girls participating in high school sports has increased a whopping 1,000 percent. But the advances aren’t so great when the discussion turns to women and participation in science and technology.

The U.S. Education Department’s data for 2009-10 shows that only 17 percent of engineering and 18 percent of computer science-related bachelor’s degrees were earned by women, and that women make up only 25 percent of the STEM workforce.

At Hamilton High School, a Communities In Schools of Los Angeles partner school, the Ladies First club was created with the goal of empowering young women and preparing them to succeed in college and the workplace. Similar initiatives exist in other schools where Communities In Schools continues to play a role in boosting interest and involvement so all young women are better prepared to take on STEM subjects.

The Journal.com: At Communities In Schools, collaboration is woven into our DNA. That’s why the announcement this week made by U.S. Secretary of State Arne Duncan, about designating this coming August as “Connected Educator Month, is in alignment with our model of integrated student services.

More than 50 organizations will participate  in the month-long online event that will include forums and webinars, all with the intention of engaging and providing resources to educators across the country.
Said Duncan, “Every educator needs to be connected with the best digital content, tools and resources in order to enliven the learning environment for students, and to fully connect with peers and experts.”

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