Reports

NSTA Unveils List of the 2019 Best STEM Books

Members of the book review panel, made up of STEM educators and literacy professionals appointed by NSTA, selected 24 books for the list from approximately 374 submissions. The panel based their decision on their extensive knowledge and looked for the very best STEM books that they believed would inspire K-12 students. The list of winning titles includes topics that range from the world’s most important innovations to using divergent thinking to explore outer space or the ocean.

2018 State of Computer Science Education

Code.org names nine varieties of policy that states can create to promote computer science education, and these fall into four categories: policies that create plans and set standards; policies that allocate funding or increase capacity by training teachers; policies that create dedicated computer science positions inside state government agencies; and policies that integrate computer science more tightly into school and university curriculums.

Manufacturing USA Annual Report, FY 2017

Manufacturing USA completed its third year since Congress authorized the program through the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act (Public Law 113-235). This Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Report describes the accomplishments and state of Manufacturing USA, including its 14 member institutes.

Are We Preparing Our Kids for the Jobs of Tomorrow?

The study has significant implications for workforce preparedness and the US economy. By 2020, 77% of all jobs will require some degree of technological skills, and there will be one million more computing jobs than applicants who can fill them. That means there’s a growing need for workers trained in STEM skills but a shortage of graduates who have them. In fact, according to PwC’s annual CEO Survey, 79% of US CEOs are concerned that a shortage of people with key skills could impair their companies’ growth.

2018 NMC Horizon Report

This year’s edition lays out the trends and challenges facing higher education globally in adopting education technologies and creating new ones that support broader improvements in learning and student success. On the short-term horizon: analytics technologies and new learning spaces. Already in demand, they will grow even more prevalent in the next couple of years as academe increasingly focuses on measuring what students are learning and providing them with new educational experiences, such as active-learning classrooms and makerspaces.

Global Innovation Index 2018

After almost a decade of uneven progress, a broad-based global economic growth momentum is now in place. The current challenge is for the global economy to reach a comfortable cruising speed that can be sustained for the next several years.

Manufacturing Prosperity

Because of a confluence of economic and technological forces, the United States now has an opportunity to rebuild its manufacturing base and restore its global competitiveness. But another report will not help. Bold steps commensurate with the scale and importance of the objectives are absolutely necessary. Implementing these bold steps requires a national focal point of responsibility with a comprehensive strategy and significant and sustained public and private investments. Other countries are not standing still. The onus is on us.

Closing The STEM Gap

For years, girls and young women have been a critical missing part of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) studies and careers. The stubborn gender disparity in STEM fields has sparked important debates on the underlying reasons. Some attribute the gender disparity to social and infrastructural factors, lack of mentors and role models, and lack of awareness about what these fields offer in terms of educational and career opportunities.

STEM Education in the U.S.: Where We Are and What We Can Do.

ACT’s fifth and latest edition of its annual STEM report focuses on the more than 2 million students in the 2017 US high school graduating class—60 percent of all the nation’s graduates—who took the ACT® test. The ACT is the only college readiness exam in the US with a full science test and also the only one that reports a STEM score and a STEM College Readiness Benchmark score indicating students’ readiness to succeed in college courses such as calculus, biology, chemistry and physics, which are typically required for a college STEM-related major.

The Roots of STEM Success

In recent years, STEM education--the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--has become a national priority. This focus has, in part, been driven by concerns over international competitiveness, dating back to Sputnik and the space race.