The Two Million Minutes Blog

In New Orleans: Seeing the Education Innovations Post-Katrina

At the invitation of the Boston College Center For Corporate Citizenship, I am visiting New Orleans attending a Summit Meeting on how business can help transform U.S. education.

Yesterday we toured Jefferson Parish and visited several schools and then had an evening discussion with New Orleans Superintendent Paul Vallas - formerly superintendent of Chicago Public Schools and Philadelphia Public Schools.

He was quite impressive in his focus on fixing the fundamentals in American education:

1- recruit the best talent at all levels, regardless of where they come from - "we should give the colleges of educations some serious competition by certifying highly talented people and teaching them to teach"

2- implement a rigorous instructional system that is high standard and can be followed to teach effectively even by the weakest teacher,

3- time on task - give students adequate time to be taught, to learn and to master core subjects -"stop wasting kids time and taxpayer money on 'frivolous' electives."

The New Orleans Recovery District, which he leads, has 70 schools - already 35 of them of Charter Schools and he indicated he wants to get to 80% Charter.

Vallas added - "But don't just charter any provider; I recruited the best charter school providers from around the country. And I'm not afraid to yank their charter if the don't deliver year over year student improvement - fired one charter school last week."

We have a packed agenda - I'll blog more soon.

OSU Frosh Gettin Suspicious They Ain't Learnin Much in High School

Oregon State University is a comprehensive, public, research-extensive university and a member of the Oregon University System serving as the state's land-, sea-, space- and sun-grant institution - one of  only two universities with such designation in the country. OSU works in partnership with the P-12 school system to provide access to high quality educational programs.

Course: Math 111 - College Algebra - Polynomial equations and inequalities, polynomial functions and graphs, inverse functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, elementary mathematical modeling and applications.

Textbook: CUSTOM EDITION/COLLEGE ALGEBRA FOR MTH 111 AT OSU

From the Oregon State University's Student Newspaper - April 20, 2009

Math 111 continues to be slippery slope for OSU students Problems with Math 111 are believed to stem from students' inadequate grade school teaching in math

By: Shanna Woodruff

Posted: 4/20/09

Is there any hope for college algebra?

Math 111 [algebra] has been rumored throughout campus to be one of the most failed classes at Oregon State.

"I heard from everyone that I talked to about Math 111, that it was the number one failed class in the university, so I got in the mindset that I was going to fail, and I did," said Mark Stockhoff, a freshman in new media communications and business.

The issues relating to this rumor may be caused by the math placement test, poor math education before college, class size and student effort put into the class.

"We have a placement test, which we ask folks to take, and up until last year, only about 50 percent of entering freshmen placed into a college math course," said Math 111 instructor Peter Argyres.

To address the poor scores, the math department worked to create an online test that wasn't proctored to allow students to take the test in an easier environment and time frame, but the jump in scores was so significant that it was determined students had cheated on the math test.

"I got like a 98 percent in Math 105," said Cody Zimmer, a sophomore in microbiology who was placed in Math 105 by the math placement test. "[That class] doesn't prepare you at all for Math 111."

After 10 years of teaching the course, Argyres said he felt that many students go into the course feeling they can just memorize things, but he said it's really all about understanding concepts. He said he feels that this issue originates in elementary school.

"If you never had to memorize your times tables, how do you factor a number with a calculator?" Argyres said. "I see people fail Math 111 for arithmetic issues all the time."

When students never learned the basic information appropriately in high school, or earlier, it is significantly more difficult for them to succeed when they get to college algebra.

"Mathematics is densely a foreign language with a foreign spelling routine with all these different symbols," Argyres said. "Part of [understanding the language] is understanding what we mean by the symbols."

Another difficult part for students tends to be the class size and how quickly the class moves.

With more than 280 students in the classroom, it can be very overwhelming for many students.

"This is a sign of under-funding, because if they put more money into it, they'd hire more people to teach the class," Argyres said. "We almost lost our phones one year because they were looking for cutbacks."

With budget cuts still continuing, there is little hope that the classes will get any smaller.

The textbook froze about five years ago to get the price down for students, but this has caused the class to lose online support.

"Now, we're re-looking at the text, trying to see if we can get a better text that moves in a more linear fashion as far as the structure of the course, along with online support," Argyres said.

This may cost more money for students, so the math department is looking at doing an "e-text" where students can download homework in PDF form, but nothing has been determined yet.

The math department is aware of the difficulties for students in college algebra and can only recommend that students turn in the homework, go to class, work on math daily and to get help the moment they don't understand.

Zimmer failed the first test, and had to work to maintain a C in the class. "[After the first test] I just spent hours studying and asked the TA lots of questions."

"Go to every lecture, take notes and get tutoring or work in groups to help with the class," Stockhoff said. Stockhoff is currently looking at retaking the class since he did not pass it the first time.

NOTE: Thanks to Sudhakar Kudva for drawing this to my attention - http://tinyurl.com/oregonmath

At Least the Protectionists Have A Catchy Theme Song - Mad in America

While I disagree with protectionists, I have to admit they have a pretty cool theme song - Mad In America.

With unintended irony, the lyrics by the band ETx, describe an immigrant from Finland - a hard working, low wage baker - coming to America in the early 20th century; moving to find a low skill job. Two generations later his descendants are helpless as the jobs move instead of the person; to lower wage workers in China and India.

Lacking an understanding of how competitive advantages must be upgraded over time with more education, constant innovation and personal creativity, the song simply laments reality - that ideas, jobs and capital are mobile.

What many Americans fail to recall is the United States was where people and jobs moved to in the 19th and 20th centuries. We were the cheap laborers with the strong work ethic, the desire for a better life for our children, the commitment to building schools for compulsory education.

Listen to Mad In America

The 21st century demands that America adapt or decline. In the new millennium, we need to up our game - raise our standards of education, invest in advanced R&D and teach our children to be more entrepreneurial. We can't "protect" our way to prosperity. For the 21st century, it is Bob Dylan's lyrics that should guide us:

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Immigration versus Education - the H1B Frenzy

On Capitol Hill, in the White House and increasingly on Main Street America, there is a debate raging, daily more shrill and polarizing, about H1B visas.

There are two camps:

Be American, Hire Americans

vs.

Business Leaders Trying To Survive the Deep Recession
High Tech Entrepreneurs 
Venture Capitalists.

To best evaluate the debate, I recommend The New York Times' well-researched series on the broader immigration issues called Remade in America.

The article quotes one of the most honest and articulate spokesman for the Business Leaders, Dr. Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel.

Dr. Barrett is retiring soon and really has no ax to grind on this topic. He is genuinely concerned about US education and the decline in student interest in math, science and engineering.

He has 30 years of global business experience in one of the largest and most competitive high-tech industries - semiconductors. He was a key executive in the microprocessor battle with Japan - when many on Wall Street assumed the company would be crushed - much as GM has been crushed.

Intel didn't succumb to foreign competition. They invested heavily, innovated globally and came roaring back to become the world leader in silicon technology. Craig has personal experience hiring scientists and engineers around the world, giving him a unique perspective.

In the Times article, Craig is blunt and candid with his views:

“We are watching the decline and fall of the United States as an economic power — not hypothetically, but as we speak,” said Craig Barrett, the chairman of Intel.

Mr. Barrett blames a slouching education system that cannot be easily fixed, but he says a stopgap measure would be to let companies hire more foreign engineers.

“With a snap of the fingers, you can say, ‘I’m going to make it such that those smart kids — and as many of them as want to — can stay in the United States.’ They’re here today, they’re graduating today — and they’re going home today.

There are plenty of people who disagree with Craig. Regrettably, they seem to have a much narrower range of business expertise and little experience starting or funding technology companies. They see "foreigner's brains" as a threat to "American" jobs.

Again from the New York Times:

[Barrett] is opposed by staunch foes of liberalized immigration and by advocates for American-born engineers.

“There are probably two billion people in the world who would like to live in California and work, but not everyone in the world can live here,” said Kim Berry, an engineer who operates a nonprofit advocacy group for American-born technologists. “There are plenty of Americans to do these jobs.”

"[Indian and Chinese visa holders] get little sympathy from Mr. Berry of the Programmers Guild, a nonprofit group with a volunteer staff that lobbies Congress on behalf of American-born high-tech workers.

To Mr. Berry, 50 — who lives in Sacramento, where he was born — it is unfathomable that Google, which receives one million résumés a year, cannot find enough qualified Americans. Further, he says immigrants depress wages."

The data in the New York Times makes very clear that foreign talent is NOT depressing US wages among the highly skilled. Moreover, foreign born highly skilled people make up a disproportionate share of the technical and scientific workforce. In short, we depend on highly skilled workers for our national prosperity. 

            

Two Million Minutes Executive Producer and Indiana Governor Team Up to Recognize Top Young Scientist With $10,000 Award

INDIANAPOLIS (April 4, 2009) - Governor Mitch Daniels today continued his push to bring more recognition to the academic achievement of Hoosier students when he visited the 21^st Annual Hoosier Science and Engineering Fair to surprise Indiana's 2009 Top Young Scientist with a $10,000 cash award, perhaps the largest such award given by any governor.   

"We love basketball, but it won't pay the rent," said Daniels.  "Indiana's economic future and our kid's individual futures depend more than anything else on academic achievement, especially in math and science.  Young people like Chelsea are our true superstars."

Daniels presented Chelsea Arthur of New Prairie High School in New Carlisle with a trophy and check, the largest monetary prize ever awarded at the competition, in recognition of outstanding scientific accomplishment by the highest placing senior among the state's top science and engineering competitors.  

The governor was joined for the presentation by Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett and entrepreneur Bob Compton, who sponsored the award as part of an ongoing effort by Daniels to raise the level of recognition of academic achievement in the state to that of athletic achievement.      

"The intellectual achievements of Indiana's youth, not their athletic achievements, will be the foundation of our economic prosperity in the 21^st century," said Compton, who is also executive producer of Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination, a documentary film that compares and contrasts the high school education experiences of students in India, China and the United States. "Governor Daniels is one of the few national leaders to grasp this fundamental truth and to publicly recognize the academic achievements of Indiana students."

Chelsea's project was titled Using Glass as a Catalyst for Diesel Particulate Filters. She finished first among the high school seniors in the competition and will participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, Nevada in May. Chelsea is the daughter of David and Lori Kimmel, of New Carlisle; her teacher is Kimberly Holifield.

Chelsea was presented with a large replica check, representing the $10,000 she will receive. The award was sponsored by entrepreneur Bob Compton, who approached Daniels about creating it to promote and reward the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, according to the news release.

The money, Chelsea said, will go toward a computer and her tuition at Purdue University, where she plans on a double major in chemical engineering and political science.

More than 17,000 Hoosiers students in grades 1-12 participated in a local science fair this academic year.  Of those, more than 3,500 students participated in regional science fairs with the top 124 students earning a chance to compete at the state science and engineering fair.  All projects are judged by a panel of Indiana scientists on the basis of creative ability, scientific thought, engineering goals, skill and clarity.

"This is among the largest awards presented by any governor for science achievement and sends a clear message that Indiana values science education," said Elizabeth Marincola, president of the Society for Science & the Public.  "Indiana's investment in STEM education is an essential contributor to the economic and intellectual strength of the state. Society for Science & the Public commends the Hoosier Science & Engineering Fair, Governor Daniels, Bob Compton and the state of Indiana for its wise investment in the future."

This is the inaugural year for the Top Young Scientist Award.  In 2007, Daniels created the Hoosier High School Math and Science Awards to recognize the state's top high school talent in math and science based on such information as SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement scores, awards and prizes as well as grades received in math and science courses.  The 2009 winners will be announced in May.