Congress returned to D.C. after Labor Day and immediately started work to fund the government, raise the federal borrowing limit and supply relief funds to disaster victims.

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations committee approved the FY2018 bill for Labor, HHS and Education. The good news is that the Senate did not follow the Administration’s plan to significantly reduce funding at the U.S. Department of Education and increase options for school choice. The Senate funded the Title II state grants at $2.1 billion dollars, a highly popular grant program which provides resources for teacher and principal training and class-size reduction efforts. The House bill had eliminated this program and the Administration did not request funding (see chart). This is great news for teacher professional learning. The final number for the program will still require a compromise between the Senate and House bill, but the fact that the Senate funded this program is a strong sign it wants the program to continue. Thanks to all who participated in the National Day of Action push to save Title II funding. (Read the letter NSTA and NCTM sent to appropriators here.)

The Title IVA Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants program received $450m, an increase of $50 million from FY2017 levels, but less than the $500 million requested by the House. The President also sought to eliminate this program.

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which provide after school and summer programs for thousands of students, received $1.2 billion. This program was also slated for elimination by the Administration.

Overall, the FY2018 spending bill includes $68.3 billion in funding for the Education Department, which is $29 million above this year’s level.  The Administration’s proposals to create a $250 million private school choice program and a program that would have allowed Title I funds to follow students to the school of their choice was not approved.  The bill does provide $367 million to charter schools, an increase of $25 million.  Read more here.

Update on ESSA

Many states are still facing Sept. 18 deadline to send their Every Student Succeeds Act plans to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for review and approval.

So far, the U.S. Department of Education has approved the ESSA plans from Connecticut, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey and New Mexico, North Dakota, Vermont, Maine, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Oregon, and Tennessee.

To find out what’s going on in your state, check out the Collaborative for Student Success Understanding ESSA website.

This is Us

The National Center for Education Statistics recently released the 2015–16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), a nationally representative sample survey of public K–12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Highlights:

During the 2015–16 school year, there were an estimated 90,400 K–12 public schools in the United States, including 83,500 traditional public and 6,900 public charter schools. These schools served nearly 49.3 million students, with about 46.2 million in traditional public schools and another 3 million in public charter schools.

In the 2015–16 school year, there were an estimated 3,827,100 teachers in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. About 3,608,600 taught in traditional public schools and about 218,500 taught in charter schools. About 80 percent of all public school teachers were nonHispanic White, 9 percent were Hispanic, 7 percent were non-Hispanic Black, and 2 percent were non-Hispanic Asian.

Among public school teachers, 77 percent were female and 23 percent were male. In addition,relatively more women were teachers in primary schools (89 percent) than in middle schools (73 percent), combined schools (70 percent), and high schools (59 percent).

On average, public school teachers had about 14 years of experience. In addition, teachers in traditional public schools had relatively more teaching experience on average (14 years) than teachers in public charter schools (10 years)

The largest percentage of public school teachers listed a master’s degree as their highest degree earned (47 percent), followed by a bachelor’s degree (41 percent).

On average, regular full-time teachers in public schools spent 53 hours per week on all school-related activities, including 27 hours that they were paid to deliver instruction to students during a typical full week. Public school teachers were required to work an average of 38 hours per week to receive their base pay.

In 2015–16, the average base salary of regular full-time teachers in public schools was $55,100. Learn more here.

I #LovePublicEducation

The American Association of School Administrators has launched the “I Love Public Education Campaign,” a year-long effort to highlight why public schools are essential to developing the future generations that will maintain our country’s status as a world leader. Learn more at http://lovepubliceducation.org/

And finally  . . . NSTA mourns the loss of Representative Vernon Ehlers, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 until his retirement in 2010.  Representative Ehlers was a strong champion of science and science education in Congress, and he will be truly missed. Read more about Rep. Ehlers here.

Professional development at the district level is now available for science educators from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Based on new research about the ways students best learn science and how science is best taught, we have a cutting-edge toolkit of innovative professional learning offerings that we can bring to your school or district. Our authors and experts can guide your team to new levels by introducing them to the frameworks and providing them with the hands-on experiences they need to succeed through our District Professional Learning Packages.

The following list is a sample of the teaching strategies NSTA offers:

• Connect science and literacy in the early years with the Picture-Perfect Science
• Capture the vision behind the Uncovering Student Ideas books and learn everything you need to know about using formative assessment probes.
• Take a deep-dive into three-dimensional instruction and the Next Generation Science Standards.
• Introduce your colleagues to the concepts behind Outdoor Science.
• Harness The Power of Questioning.
• Or line up another topic of your choice—including Using Gadgets and Gizmos, Solar Science, Once Upon a Science Book, and many others.

You probably have questions about how all of this could work for your district. Let’s see if we can answer them for you.

Q: How do we partner with NSTA to develop a professional learning package that is right for our school district?
A: We discuss your needs and go into detail about the content that we can provide in a series of communications involving e-mail, phone, and face-to-face contact, so that we can better understand what your goals are and how we can help.

Q: How is pricing determined?
A:  Pricing is determined based on the set of events you choose. For example, is it a one- or a two-day program? Is it all face–to-face, or is there an online component as well? For pricing information, contact Kim Stilwell at kstilwell@nsta.org or 703-312-9247.

Q: How can districts transform their elementary science programs using the Picture-Perfect Science books and workshop series?
A: Literacy experts and former science teachers Karen Ansberry and Emily Miller have spent years developing the Picture-Perfect Science series, which is designed to help elementary school teachers save precious teaching time by combining reading and science. These teaching techniques and books have been classroom-tested and reviewed by our experts. Individual teachers tell us that they love the books and that seeing the teaching methods modeled in a workshop takes them to a new level. We now offer a way to share this with many teachers at once.

Q: In addition to onsite professional learning, do you also offer online courses?
A: Yes! Our online courses offer additional opportunities to explore Picture-Perfect Science or the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) professional learning packages and how they can be customized for your particular district’s needs.

Q: What materials do we walk away with after the train-the-trainer sessions?
A:  After attending these sessions, participants come away with the complete presentations to take the concepts back to their school districts along with knowledge of how to present them.

Q: When you come to our district, how is the training conducted?
A:  We send trainers based on how many participants you have, sending one trainer for every 50 participants, so we can address individual questions and concerns thoroughly. The pricing matrix is based on the number of participants as well.

Q: What are formative assessment probes and who uses them?
A:  Learn how to transform your district’s middle school curriculum using Page Keeley’s Uncovering Student Ideas formative assessment probes. These probes—which cover physical, life, Earth, and space sciences, as well as nature of science and unifying themes—are invaluable formative assessment tools you can use either at the beginning of each topic or unit or as you progress through specific lessons.

Q: How can districts transform their high school curriculum using the Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) book and workshop series?
A:  Victor Sampson and his co-authors developed the ADI model to meet the need for all students to become proficient in science by the time they finish high school. The ADI instruction model was designed as a way to make lab activities more authentic and educative for students and thus help teachers promote and support the development of science proficiency. The stages of the model range from question identification, data analysis, and argument development to double-blind peer review and report revision.

Q: Do you come to me, or do I bring my teachers to you?
A:  Our authors and expert trainers can come to you to offer training tailored to your needs, but other face-to-face workshops, as well as online courses and webinars, are available as well.

Q:  Which of your professional learning programs have a Train-the-Trainer component?
A:  Our Picture-Perfect Science, Argument-Driven Inquiry, and NGSS programs all offer a Train-the-Trainer component.

Q: What grade levels are these appropriate for?
A:  We have professional learning packages available for all grade levels.

Q: Who developed them?
A: These professional learning packages were developed by NSTA Press authors, NGSS experts, and NSTA training staff to provide high-quality learning experiences for you and the teachers in your district.

Q: How do these packages work with the Standards?
A: We offer extensive professional learning opportunities around NGSS specifically and three-dimensional instruction more broadly. Engage in a three-dimensional lesson yourself, see a three-dimensional approach in a real classroom, and dig into each of the science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. In addition, our Picture-Perfect STEM package aligns with the Common Core Math Standards.

Learn more about NSTA’s District Professional Learning Packages at www.nsta.org/district or 703-312-9247.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Future NSTA Conferences

• 2017 Area Conferences

  • Baltimore, October 5–7
  • Milwaukee, November 9–11
  • New Orleans, Nov. 30–Dec. 2

  2017 Discover the NGSS “Train the Trainer” Workshops

  • Baltimore, October 6–7
  • Milwaukee, November 10–11
  • New Orleans, Dec. 1–2

  2017 NGSS Administrator Institute

  • Los Angeles, Nov. 15 | Monterey, Nov. 17

  2018 National Conference

  • Atlanta, March 15–18

  2018 STEM Forum & Expo

  • Philadelphia, July 11–13

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