Welcome & Introductions

Chris Roe: Welcome to the California STEM Summit 2011. Please join me in welcoming to the stage Chancellor Linda Katehi from the University of California Davis. Linda Katehi: Thank you, Chris, and good afternoon to everyone, thank you so much for being with us here today at the Second Annual California STEM Summit and we are so privileged to have this group, all of you here with us to, in fact, talk about some very important issues around STEM education. I also want to thank the summit's co-convender, Tom Torlakson, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the California STEM Learning Network. I am very proud in fact to be on the board of the STEM Learning Network and I have to say that was one of those appointments that I really felt I would contribute a lot to, what always feel so close to my heart and that is to encourage more students to participate in STEM to learn the STEM fields and then hopefully when they come to college to choose one of the STEM directions has a clear path or as a path of learning for them and personal development. We had used today beside impact very important work around STEM and off course as members of the CSL Network because we really share a major commitment to our state but to our nation as well in terms of finding ways to help our students participate in STEM education and we all know there has been a lot of work in the US for many, many years where we have spoken a lot about the need to get more students to learn STEM and also we have identified the opportunities and the challenges we face in K to 12 specifically STEM education but also in STEM beyond the twelfth grade. There are many opportunities I would say out there and off course we as a country that has led the world in technology and the sciences in general. We're very eager to find ways to encourage more of our kids to follow those fields. [IB] Davis has done a lot of work over many years in fact in around STEM education and what we are doing trying to do most recently is to create a regional center to really bring together the greater Sacramento area the various schools as we try to find programs and methods to really get our kids to learn more about STEM and to participate and to excel as a matter of fact in STEM. So we have more kids that follow STEM fields for their profession and we have many more that show up as under grads in our universities and as--that's also and eventually more to become members of the STEM workforce. We also our home to the California After School Network Program and for STEM that such a great program because for those of you have been involved in discussions around STEM, we have always talked about the difficulty that we are facing in introducing new elements into the K to 12 curriculum. It is then as it is and trying to change it and introduce more topics makes it practically impossible and compromise in fact and the problem for the other discipline subjects that we are teaching. So trying to use if the after school hours as an opportunity to teach STEM to our children has always been identified as a unique opportunity for us and--Davis impact has created a program that focuses on this type of programs. Also we are trying to find unique opportunities in different ways to create partnerships that will help us develop programs that will target students will have an interest and the capability. But a lot of times you know why many, many discussions will end up talking about the pipeline whether it is from grade school to middle school or middle school to high school or high school to college and so forth. We forget to mention that the effort here is to help the main line to learn about STEM disciplines, we want everyone to learn science, we want everyone to learn math, we want everyone to [IB] engineering and technology even those who will eventually decide to go to other disciplines because we are a country that leads in technology and we need to have a public that has the basic, the fundamental education to be able to make smart choices and create appropriate policies that will help our country stay, remain as a leader around the world. At this point I would like to introduce our next speaker and it's Warren Baker, Warren does not really need an introduction, he is very well known in the State of California but in the nation and well known for many things for his commitment to a higher education for the great things that he has done at [IB] and also for his great commitment to STEM so I would like to ask him to come forward and say a few words. Thank you. Warren Baker: Well thank you very much Linda and thank you for greeting to serve one our board, we're delighted to have you join us and thanks for making this wonderful facility available to us. You know the California STEM Summit it aims to really change the trajectory of STEM education and a workforce development in California by catalyzing and launching new public private partnerships to ensure that the California students receive a world class STEM education that prepares them for success in post-secondary education and in the workforce and for our successful lives as Linda pointed out we want everyone to understand and to have some background in science, mathematics and what drives technology. Together over the next day and a half, we will have a chance to better understand what STEM education is and why it so important the key challenge is to implementing STEM education in our schools and colleges and to envision the opportunities and the solutions to this together. We are also here to celebrate some good news and that is that the California students have been making incremental and steady advances in math and in science achievement despite challenging conditions including the enormous financial cut backs that we have had to go through in the state and the schools and the universities and the community colleges. Having said that we our huge debt give thanks to the dedicated educators, the school leaders, the business partners, community based groups that are working together and working harder and smarter to ensure our students are prepared to fully participate in the innovation economy and the society that we live in and at some point to California. However, as we look at our competition whether it be among other states or internationally we know that we must do more as California still legs behind with dramatic achievement and opportunity gaps among California students. California now ranks 43rd or lower among all states in the NEEP math and science proficiency exams for grades four and eight, that's not news to any view I'm sure. The preparation and the level of student interest in STEM are inadequate to meet the California workforce needs as well when we look way of the growth is going to be in the future. In 2001 there are about half a million ninth graders in California, the graduating class was 355,000 students from those students that started out at the ninth grade, 165,000 were college ready from 500,000 in a ninth grade. 35,000 majored in STEM fields and 21,000 four percent of those ninth grader has made it into STEM fields. That's only part of the story, there are significant gaps and achievement in participation rates in the STEM fields exist among various groups of students and these gaps exist and the fastest growing segments of our population. It is these students who will be our future workforce, California has an estimated STEM workforce of more than one million today representing 13 percent of the total national STEM workforce and demand is growing the way in which we can engage these students needs to be focus on and I hope that over the next two days we have an opportunity to look at how we go forward. Many of you perhaps saw interesting article yesterday in the front page in the New York Times that really criticize the current use of technology and teaching math and science in the K-12 system. It points out and I think correctly that we need to be very careful as we innovate in the use of technology we know of extraordinary examples were success occurs but it must be based upon the learning research and the [IB] of sciences and we must set up experiments, research to assess the results of that in a very at a base that looks at the evidence and as a research based to move this forward. I think that the Times article yesterday really raised that issue, it's also something that was raised by California Council of Science and Technology and the request from the legislator to look at innovation in California an innovation particularly in the classroom. The report innovate to innovation is now on the hands of the legislature but it looks at the digital design of the classroom and certainly recommends that we begin with what we know from the [IB] of sciences and learning research and begin to give an opportunity a broader opportunity for our students to engage technology because we do know that when students are engaged there are many other things that evolve as a result of this and they learn team work, they learn how to work together, they learn better in technology can facilitate that if it is designed properly and used properly in the classroom environment. So those things are important because we will not have the work force that California needs if we do not engage students and encourage them to participate at much higher rates and a focus needs to be on those communities that are undeserved as I mentioned the fastest growing communities in our stake. If these students who are these future workforce are not address we will see a significant problem of maintaining the innovations society in California and moving forward, the workforce as we know fuels the cybernetic growth of Silicon Valley provides the launch pad for the aero space, you know industry helps create magic of the entertainment industry, catalyzes the next generation and potentially life saving discoveries and new industries in the life and agricultural sciences, green and clean technology, information technology and communications as a world of opportunity out there we have to make sure our California students can take the advantage of it. Millions more California use STEM knowledge and skills in their jobs, information technology in their home and almost all the Californians whether they know or not use what they learn about science, mathematics technology in their daily lives. Discovery and innovation in science technology engineering and mathematics is happening at the intersection of this disciplines and requires a new approach to education and training. One that is problem based, hands on inquiry, learn by doing or perhaps even trans-disciplinary, the new approach is what STEM education means. It is these facts in the mind of California decided to create California STEM Learning Network. In 2009, Cal Poly received an initial planning grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to initiate a statewide planning process to create a statewide network to advance STEM education in California. California was one of five states selected as part of this effort with the support and participation of the SD Bechtel Foundation and the California Council for Science and Technology. A plan was develop to create the California STEM Learning Network was statewide regional alliances. Many of you were part of the kick off meeting in April 2010 at Caltech to hear the results of that planning process and to lend your support and ideas and commitments to help launch a network, the California STEM Learning Network was officially launch in July 1, 2010 with the generous support of the Steven D. Bechtel Junior Foundation to whom this effort owes a huge debt of gratitude for it's leadership and it's vision, Lauren Dachs who's president of the foundation and Susan Harvey and her STEM team are here with us today and I will remind you that they have been involved in this from the very beginning back in 2009. You'll learn more about the progress in a few minutes from Chris Roe the objective, executive, chief executive of CSL Net. But first there some people we need to recognize our summit sponsors, Chevron our presenting sponsor for the event, the leading corporate partner in advancing STEM education in California, the Bechtel Corporation has provided generous support for the event and it's committed to advancing STEM education here in California and around the world. The Hasting Simmons Foundation for additional support for the conference, in kind contributions from Google, from the workshop this morning and Power Noodle for the technology and the support that we will get to help with the breakout sessions that will have today and tomorrow. In addition, to the SD Bechtel Foundation, were thankful to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their initial planning grant and the Patel Memorial Institute for the generous support of CSL Net and other STEM Networks in Ohio, New York, North Carolina and in Texas and the Samueli Foundation for their support and their participation in the formation of CSL Net. So I'm pleased to announce today the generous support of two new founders to help advance CSL Network, the James Irvine Foundation will support CSL Net's planning work to advance STEM visual, virtual education and the development of engineering pathways as well as support for the expansion of CSL Net's regional STEM Networks. This will help in a very important and difficult area to address in STEM education and the Hasting Simmons Foundation will support efforts to promote early math learning and preparedness. Like Chris will introduce our regional and state partners during his remarks in a few minutes but we're fortunate to have a number of terrific partners in the CSL Net including the California Department of Education and Superintendent Tom Torlakson. So it's my pleasure to introduce Tom, he was elected to a four year term in California's 27th State Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 2nd 2010, as chief of California's Public School System and leader of the California Department of Education, Superintendent Torlakson applies his experience as a science teacher, a high school coach, a state policy maker to fight for our students and improve our states public education. During his 10 year in the California State Legislature, Tom has acted to protect education funding, improves student nutrition and physical education and sure of school safety. He's champion legislation to increase funding for textbooks, computers and other instructional materials and efforts to close the digital divide extremely important issue and eliminate the achievement gap and reduce the drop out rate. In 1998, Torlakson authored a legislation leading to the development of the largest system of after school programs in the nation and as Linda pointed out this is an opportunity for STEM to expand its reach, to provide students more opportunities to understand a STEM issues. In 2006 he authored a bill that led to 300 percent expansion in these programs so that they now reach 4,000 schools around the state. He authored the Quality Education Improvement Act in 2006 which dedicates nearly 3 billion to our laws performing schools. He's played a key role negotiating and authoring the 9 billion dollar proposition won a bond measure in 1998 which has led to public votes supporting over 36 billion to build new schools and improve existing school buildings. Tom is great to have you here and see you again. Tom Torlakson: Great to be here Warren. Thank you. Thank you very much for the generous introduction Warren and it's a great day, right? Good afternoon, good energy? There was a lot of kinetic energy, clap your hands, more kinetic energy, but what I see, what I see most of all besides the chance because of the weather to, we could have a science lesson, talk about precipitation and conversation of operation and water energy cycle inter connects, but what I see most of all besides the kinetic energy that was here before we settle down a little bit, to listen to presentation I see a tremendous amount of potential energy. You have potential energy out there? We need it, we need it. So I'm excited as a science teacher myself to be here, we have a great set of speakers, panelist. We have the students to see, to hear from, to have them inspire us with the great work they're doing. As a science teacher there's nothing that got me more excited than seeing my students you know the light bulbs going off and just getting so curious and exploring and taking back from experiences we had a desire for further learning whether it was you know, in the community garden we had next to our classroom or looking at the little critters and a drop upon water from us schema pond or back packing climbing half dome, white water rafting for 45 days up in the Sears where the students could really you know hands on experience the world that they were studying and come back they wanna study even in more detail and Warren and I are just mentioning the [IB] program I was just at Hudson school so it's like traveling around the state I'm continually inspired and rev up about what's going on despite the budget cut backs we see students exploring, thriving and teachers teaching their heart out and giving it their all and Hudson Middle School down in Long Beach, the Mayor Bob Foster just had a celebration their team of new scientist to be won for the second time the national competition on wind energy and it was you know just how to take some parameters of moving a certain object, lifting it a certain way generating electricity from wind energy and they did a great job and so you go to high tech high in San Diego and you see students discovering new critters that weren't known in San Diego Bay you go to Aragon High School and see the students working on technology, bio technology, you see our students engaging you see a teachers doing a fabulous job. In addition to my own experience at that level I have a new title besides superintendent for January to now for the last year and nine months I had another title it's [IB] and some people thought I was going into the music industry or do some rapping along the way to help raise money for schools. Better way in turns out I'm a grandfather and so that's the delight. How many of you hear have you know you're all too young out there anybody else out there have grandchildren? Isn't it delight but whether they're your grandchildren, your nieces, your nephews, I mean little Anthony came in the world, my oldest daughter and her husband he's eight pounds and now he's 28 growing and growing constantly curious, yearning for learning, he is just a ball of energy non-stop exploring the world around him and isn't that what were about today, isn't that sparking innovation, keeping that creativity alive and so for my grandson Anthony I'm an optimist, are you all optimist out there? You have that potential energy and that feeling of hope? This is what we need. And I see this conference as a key point, a jumping off point of major first step towards bringing together the team we need to shape STEM Education in California in the 21st century, the spark, the innovation to have a resurgence and an expansion, a renaissance if you will of science education it's for the future workforce for those students that I visit that we know are out there that will be the inventors of great inventions to make life more meaningful and safer and healthier would all cure diseases, they'll have all these great things but it's also important for as our great Chancellor Linda Katehi said, it's very important for citizenship, for having better citizen, better inform citizens making their choices and for better inform the consumers. I know like all of you I was saddened that Steve Jobs passing, what an icon, what a great leader, what a visionary in science and technology whether contributor to our public schools somewhere in California today right now the future Steve Jobs is in the California classroom. Are we ready for her or him? Are we fostering the innovation sparking the creativity and providing that stimulated learning environment. Were not where we know we should be and I invite us to take from today a team effort, a partnerships that Warren and Linda mentioned, we need to build them broader, stronger, deeper throughout California with this keying focus on STEM education and so I want you to be part of that team on an ongoing basis some of you know I'm a coach as well as a science teacher at T-E-A-M means together everyone accomplishes more T-E-A-M and we need you to be part of the teams and I'll describe three teams that we have that are going forward and we need you to stay close to those teams if you're not a direct member to those teams. So even if we've dealt with the budget crisis, the loss of 20 to 25 percent of the funding to our K12 schools and devastating hits to our UC's and CSU's, we couldn't sit still right coz we are optimist, we embraced the future and need to work together towards that. We brought together 59 leaders in a transition committee, we had Linda Darling-Hammond as one of my co-chairs, David Rattray from the LA Chamber of Commerce and they hammered out a blue print for grade schools with STEM Education as a key part of this and so that would be a central part of my work as superintendent representing the six and the quarter million students, 10,000 schools in California is to focus on what we can do to have this renaissance really occur and have all the resources, we need to make it really happen so that is a key issue, in the report we also focus on across subject matter 21st century learning skills, the teamwork, the communication, the partnering, problem solving, critical thinking but off course that's what STEM does in it's heart and all those everything from the scientific method to being able to do smart research, all of that is critical in STEM but it has a cross benefit, across all subject matters. We have one initiative of what we coming out of that we're calling and I was glad to meet Susan and talk about the work they've been doing over the last year that is called No Child Left Offline so we will have a note, we want wonder why computing capacity in every single classroom in California we want it that digital divide clothes after school hours and at home and we have a plan and we need some of you to join us in that plan to accomplish them. It's clear that California if we do not train the next generation of science and engineers, many of those jobs will go to other states and other nations and as was pointed out we're behind where we should be, 15 of 20 of the jobs of the new economy, the good paying job is off course are in the STEM area, we've been told we'll be a million degree short by the year 2025 in high school graduates and college graduates needed to enter the workforce and fill these jobs. So what are some of the teams that we have that will be helping shape this internally and in the department, I have 25,000 employees, we had different divisions working in the STEM area but not all united so we've created an integrated team internally and had a keying focus, we had a strategic planning process and brought together the experts from various divisions to create an office of STEM learning so we're very pleased that that's taking place. We also put in to be one of the lead states in developing the new science course standards and we will join at 19 other states in a process and we will have an advisory committee of 50 or 60 educators, leaders, scientists who will help us interact and shape that new national standard. I think it's very important to having these kinda course standards, we've done it math, we've done it in English language arts but we need absolutely need to do this in science and we'll need your help, so we will be a lead partner in that. As a legislator before, this job I fought to have an evaluation of STEM Education in California. My legislation has passed and is focus the legislatures, semi member Susan [IB ] will head up the legislative effort and they will do an inventory of where were at with STEM and look at the policy implications of how to bring us to that place of renaissance and expansion of STEM learning, inventorying how far we fall into some areas and how brilliant we are in other areas, what are the resources we need, everything from the computers to the digital materials to the field trip dollars to make it all happen. And then internally with my own team we will have a STEM advisory team that will work as well in parallel tracking hand in hand with the legislative team. So we will be looking at what defines a quality STEM program what is a STEM Education Program, what does it look like? Do we know it when we see it, we sort to have an idea but we really haven't defined it, do we have a comprehensive plan for STEM education? And the answer is we don't have it all together so we need to get it together and that's part of the parallel process of these couple of committees and then we would look to having probably six to 10 pilot projects around the state which would be schools and districts willing to commit to implementing what we believe is the, that vision of and that reality of a quality STEM education program. So that is something to stay tuned to, we also off course wanna link to the after school programs, we wanna link to the vibrant and very with it connected programs whether it's to learn [IB] science or discovery science there or should vote science center or scripts or Monterey Bay Aquarium, they have great resources that are aligned to the standards, aligned to our core mission and we need to figure out together how we link the learning going on in our schools with the after school learning and to this opportunities that we can bring to our youth in California so I would just say we're gonna have great conference, I am really looking forward to it, I'm very excited, I believed that California will emerge from the crisis were in, smarter, stronger and you'll make it so we're STEM smarter and STEM stronger for the future. Thank you very much. Chris Roe: Thank you Tom that was terrific and great to be partnering with you on this effort. Did you wanna take a couple of questions if people had questions or we could take maybe two questions at this point if there are questions from the audience, otherwise you should know that Tom will be back tomorrow afternoon for concluding remarks and we have time then for questions. Question, there's, there's microphones, there's a couple of microphones based around the room. Tom Torlakson: We are aiming for the second STEM Summit that's probably about a year now [IB] plans that talk about so many and then bring together in an even broader [IB] spark plugs that will make it happen so [IB] Chris Roe: Okay, question. Jeff Simon: Hello. My name is Jeff Simon, I'm from Carlsbad and we're developing a new STEM high school here coming online in 2013. My question for you is you mentioned that CSL Net maybe or at least the summit began in 2009, I've got, we've all got these advance devices all over the room and you know everything's already technologically advance in our state and around the world. What's taking so long in your eyes, in your experience and this isn't you know critical or anything just, why aren't we farther ahead on this, at this point? Tom Torlakson: In STEM Education adding new some technology. Jeff Simon: In STEM Education in particular. We're looking models for this new school that were developing and it's like we're gonna have to develop this from the ground up really now in 2011 you know. Tom Torlakson: Can you hear up there [IB] a little bit. Chris Roe: Why don't you come up. Tom Torlakson: Then maybe I can see which mic would be better. Why are we farther long? There are examples of incredibly stimulating, engaging science programs technology schools, but we need take the best of those, one of the things we're going to do through this conference today and through the efforts of my internal team in the department is to develop a list of those best practices in a how-to manual and how-to to do it further. You know when candid part of the answer is we've lost focus in California, the public has lost focus on investing education and that's where we all have a collective duty, responsibility to rivet the public attention, I declare the state of financial emergency when I first took office in January to rivet the public attention to what was going on that we don't have the textbooks, we don't have the digital curriculum, we don't have the computers, we don't have the trained science teachers, we don't have the professional development that we should have as a cutting edge part of the worlds science and technology economy. California we fallen behind, it's embarrassing, we're 47tj in the nation, 47th in the nation the use of technology in our own schools whether it's white boards or laptops or netbooks or iPads. We don't have the equipment in our schools, we're 47th out of 50 states. This is not the California that we believed in and so we need to turn it around also then to an investment strategy, the reason that we've created the legislation to have a legislative task force is it, they will internally in the Senate Assembly put their experts together, legislative leaders, report to Dale Steinberg, president pro tem in the Senate, report what science education should look like and what we need to do to get from the back end to the top, where we belong, where we've been in the past. So it's good to take money, it's gonna take in investment and we need to actually look at some tax increases in my opinion, we've were collecting 10 billion dollars less in taxes today in California than we were 10 years ago. So Californians are lesser levels in an investment today than they were 10 years ago and so we have to have that dialog and I believed it will be at the ballot box ultimately but the legislature needs to help lead the way. Thank you, onward.