Oct. 2011. Sample letter from a high school science teacher.
A crisis is brewing as funds dry up for professional development Modeling Workshops for high school science teachers in [your Congressman’s district] and across our nation. As you know, physics and chemistry are foundational sciences for all other sciences and engineering. Our nation’s economic development and global competitiveness (i.e., jobs) depend on a workforce strong in physical sciences.
Congress needs to understand that it is vital that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) contain the following provisions:
- Keep and strengthen the ESEA Title IIA "Improving Teacher Quality" (ITQ) Program. Give priority to SCIENCE teachers.
- Expand STEM in the impending ESEA reauthorization to schools in ALL socio-economic strata, not just low-income schools … and let universities get STEM grants for statewide programs for high school teachers in hard-to-staff subjects.
- Authorize the NSF to fund summer institutes like they used to, but require research-validated professional development.
Two-thirds of our nation’s physics teachers did not major in physics. One-half of our chemistry teachers are teaching out of field, as are the vast majority of physical science teachers. The ITQ Program is the ONLY Federal program whereby we can get the professional development help that we need.
[Tell your experience with Modeling Workshops] After many years in engineering and management. I began a career in teaching. With all of my coursework completed toward a PhD in Engineering Science I had content knowledge. But I did not how to teach physics to high school students. After 3 years of night school I earned my third masters degree … this one in teaching. This helped me learn how to teach kids. But how to teach kids physics is another matter: I worked hard to improve my teaching every year for nine years. By far the most important education that I received was a Modeling Workshop last summer: it has completely transformed the way I teach.
This year our students’ posttest scores were 40% higher than students taught with traditional methods, and our AP physics students’ mean posttest score of 82% ranks with the top high schools in the nation. I achieved my goal of making physics accessible to all students. Enrollment in physics electives for next year is up 43%, and enrollment in AP physics has tripled.
But the Modeling Workshops are in danger of dying for lack of funding. Arizona State University has been the leader in helping many universities nationwide get ITQ funding for Modeling Workshops in high school physics, chemistry and physical science . University science departments depend on ITQ funding – it’s the only funding available -- but they are told that they will not get any more funding because “the future of the ITQ program is very uncertain.”
This would be a tragic loss to our state and our nation. Please get the wheels moving in Congress to implement the three provisions listed above. This is a non-partisan issue if there ever was one.