SERIES PURPOSE --
The National Science Board - composed of 24 eminent scientists,
engineers, and educators - serves not only as the governing body
of the National Science Foundation (NSF), but also as policy advisor
to the President and Congress. The National Science Board Committee
on Education and Human Resources undertook a series of three field
hearings beginning in the Spring of 1998 to enable Board interaction
with NSF's performers and partners in various geographic regions.
The hearing topics and dates are as follows:
Enriching Lives through Informal Education
Los Angeles, CA, May 29, 1998
Dr. James Powell, Board Liaison
Hearing Agenda
Press Release, June 1, 1998
What Matters in K-12 Mathematics and Science? Effective Strategies
for Reform and Student Achievement
Chicago, IL, July 20, 1998
Dr. Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, Board Liaison
Hearing Prospectus and Agenda
Highlights of the NSB Field Hearing
(NSB98-154) Failing our Children: Implications of the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study
All One System: Developing Human Capital and Infrastructure for
Science and Engineering
San Juan, PR, October 7, 1998
Dr. Richard Tapia, Board Liaison
Hearing Agenda
Media Advisory
Each hearing:
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illuminates the range, depth, and complexity
of projects supported under NSFs Education and Training
portfolio;
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engages the Board in discussion with the broader
science, engineering, and education communities over the products
of NSF's investments;
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focuses national attention on NSF's impacts
on educational systems around the U.S.; and
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underscores the importance of the Board's role
in shaping NSF programming and ongoing national policy debates.
THE PUERTO RICO HEARING --
Puerto Rico has done a remarkable job of synergistically
combining and connecting Federal and private resources to improve
education and build research capability. Through an array of NSF
programs -- notably, the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research (EPSCoR), Statewide Systemic Initiatives (SSI), Minority
Institutions of Excellence (MIE), Centers for Research and Education
in Science and Technology (CREST), and Alliances for Minority Participation
(AMP) -- the University of Puerto Rico has become a clearinghouse
for interventions in the service of reform. And although this may
be due to a unique intersection of history and demography, NSF believes
it is a model for what is possible when the education and training
of students is valued, and leaders think and act systemically to
serve them all. Today, the University is the premier producer of
Hispanic Ph.D.s in science and engineering.
This hearing will focus on the "human capital"
generated through the interconnection of actors in the formal education
system, kindergarten through graduate school and beyond. Atypical
for higher education in general, colleges and universities in Puerto
Rico complement and reinforce the K-12 teaching and learning of
science and mathematics in developing human resources.
Among the questions to be addressed through presentations
on activities pursued with at least partial support from NSF are:
1. How has a vision of rigorous academic preparation
of all students guided development of an education infrastructure
through NSF-sponsored projects?
2. What kinds of partnerships, especially with the industrial
sector, connected, extended, and solidified distinct NSF projects?
3. What organizational entities within the political and educational
sectors -- e.g., the Governor's office and resource centers --
have facilitated the adoption/adaptation of reforms?
4. How have research and evaluation informed ongoing efforts and
helped to document and communicate the impacts of interventions
on research and education at all system levels?
5. What has Puerto Rico done to integrate research and education
that deserves to be emulated, institutionalized, and scaled-up
in other U.S. school districts and communities?
6. How, in sum, has NSF played a catalytic role in mobilizing
communities of educators and researchers to develop human capital
through improved teaching, learning, and production of knowledge
in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology?
7. What are the limits to generalizing from the Puerto Rico experience?
PRINCIPALS AND STAFF SUPPORT
A combination of NSB principals and NSF staff plan
and execute the hearings. A subset of NSB members participate as
moderators on panels that hear invited testimony and pose questions.
A member of the EHR Committee serves as NSB liaison, in coordination
with a Local Arrangements Committee, NSB staff liaison, and designated
NSF program director. OLPA provides national media support to ensure
coverage of each event. The lineup for Puerto Rico is:
NSB/EHR Committee Chairman: |
Dr. Bob H. Suzuki
President
California State Polytechnic University
Pomona, CA |
NSB Liaison: |
Dr. Richard Tapia
Professor of Computational & Applied Mathematics
Rice University
Houston, TX |
NSB Staff Liaison: |
Dr. Daryl Chubin, 703/306-2000, or dchubin@nsf.gov |
NSF Program Staff: |
Dr. A. James Hicks |
OLPA Staff: |
Mr. K. Lee Herring |
OUTCOMES
A summary of each hearing will be produced, distributed
to all NSB/EHR Committee members, and posted at the NSB website.
A synthesis report on the series of hearings will be prepared after
the Puerto Rico hearing.
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