Continuing the Dialogue: Taking Action

Chris Roe: For a few wrap-up comments--and I think he's gonna actually take some questions and answers, hopefully from the group as well. Thank you. Welcome back. Tom Torlakson: Thank you, Chris. How you all doing? Still got that energy? A little less kinetic energy but lots of potential energy. Again, delighted to be here and shouldn't we say thanks in a big way to Warren Baker for his leadership in STEM and working in this area for so long and for Chris, your outstanding leadership pulling this conference together, the details, organizing all the workshops, so, tremendous leadership. Let's hear it for Chris and Warren and STEM Learning Network. So we are the network, we are the team. Again, I'm honored and delighted to be a co-sponsor with you on this and we have some homework to do. I ask you to just think of two dates: 2012 and 2026. Put your mind around 2026 for a second. But, so we mentioned yesterday the team theme, You are the network, you are the team. The questions you've answered, I've got a look at the survey that went on in terms of some of the outcomes of the workshop. So you've been doing it, looking it, where to go from here and improving teacher pathways, looking at the central questions around science and math and technology and engineering and out of school time and so forth. So I see a theme of partnerships with each other, K-12 and higher education partnerships, key partnerships with business. And overall, as Gerald Solomon said in the last panel, giving our students the skill set, giving our students the habit of being life-long learners, of learning to learn and being problem solvers and critical thinkers so they can be adaptable to the needs of the economy, the needs of the world they will live in. And I liked it that I heard it more than once during the time I was here. I wasn't able to be here exactly for all of the full day and a half but I really liked the emphasis on, not only workforce preparation or preparation for the global economy, but again, preparation for the future citizens to have the skills and knowledge and discerning capacity to be able to research, be able to think for themselves and future consumers. So these are the life-long learners we're aiming to help along the way. And I was delighted and always go back to those Aha moments and as the last panel mentioned, just seeing the delight of young people when they get it, when they get engaged in science and math and technology. What did you think of that exposition last night? Wasn't that cool? That was really great. Let's put our hands together, some kinetic energy for the students of California, the bright, bright students. Boy, in taking solar kids to different parts of the world where there's no electricity and using the light gizmo and gadgets to help with delivery of kits and emergencies, medical emergencies in the middle of the night, taking a bicycle and making that a blender. Did any of you guys have some of that milk shake that you could ride the bike and it blends fruit in the back of the bike? And then there was the students who figured out how to use vegetable oil and incinerated it and melted aluminum with it. And so there was a lot of very engaging and creative things going on. I mentioned 2012 because we have homework to do between now and 2012. We plan to have a second STEM summit and want a lot of partners in the team theme, Together, everyone accomplishes more. We want to invite you all during this next 12 months to be engaged, reach out from where we are today, link arms, share ideas with others that we know want to be partners in this. I see a couple of things that we can do in the immediate future, just in terms of, you know, the raw politics, raw reality of resources. We have an American Jobs Acts. I'll urge you to write your congressmen and women throughout the state and your state legislators. I have done that. I'm doing a press conference tomorrow because we have about six and a half billion dollars of federal money we could get. We need to in 2012 have that money to go to work. 2.8 billion of it would be for school facilities so we can build new science lab, we can get our schools wired, the technology and capacity into our schools that we need. So I just urge you individually and collectively through your groups to engage in that and be an advocate for the American Jobs Act. That's really important. By the way, there's 2.8 billion for facilities and 3.7 billion for 37,000 teachers. You know we've lost about 40,000 teachers in the last three years. And the teacher pipeline, the young people we want to become teachers and some career changers we want to take from the professional world to become teachers, it was 80,000 a year ago. A year and a half ago, it's 45,000. The pipeline is shrinking because of some of the background. So again, resources are important, I just urge us to think about that and then 2012 on November, I'm pushing for a bond issue working with the coalition of others. Again, a state bond issue for school construction could help us modernize our classrooms, get the science labs we need, get the wiring we need and capacity for technology. There may also be a November ballot. I think there will be some general revenue source investment opportunity for us to say yes or no the least. As California debate, where are we going with education? Do we want to have it as a high priority where it used to be and come back to the top in the nation in so many different ways? And then again, the summit is coming up. I want to say you're invited to participate and I'll give you three individuals that I want to have them stand up and be recognized who are helping us. We have the STEM team that will be doing, as I said yesterday, advising me, advising the superintendents of the state and my own department. The STEM team we're inviting 30 or 40 of you to come together and be advisors on defining what STEM is, what the pilot project should look like, what the general curriculum should look like throughout the state. And in that regard, we have Stacey Christopher, if you would just stand. She's on my team with CDE. So you can reach her as one of the people you could contact if you're interested in being part of that STEM team. And then we have the Next Generation Science Standards team, La Fontaine, please stand and be recognized. Thank you. And Jim Greco is here but he's right outside of the door in a math conference call but you know Jim, he is the new head of our office of STEM education in the Department of Education. So we highlighted this and raised it to a level where we have a specific office and he's our main contact there. And again, share the success stories as we go forward for the next year, that we are serious about STEM education in California and we are bound and determined to move ahead. Share the success stories of the students who are doing well, the programs that are doing well. You know, 70% of the voters in California do not have kids in our schools. 70% of the voters in California don't know what we're doing, the magical, marvelous things that are going on and they don't know some of the needs we have. So please be active in sharing them. And then finally where did 2026 come from? That's when my grandson, some of you remember yesterday, I also have a nickname, Papa T, he will be graduating from high school and getting ready to go to college. And so for me, that date is important and it should be for all of us in terms of generally the kids that are going to be entering school very soon to have a vibrant education that's stimulating, engaging, that allows them to continue their natural curiosity and you know, wonder at the world and drive to make it better. And so that's what I hope that we will have that quality education including a vibrant and engaging STEM education so that Anthony, when he gets to be 17, will be ready for college and the world prepared well to go on. So I am very delighted again to be here, to I think, answer questions if you'd like or hear additional comments because I was not able to participate in all the workshops. But I am delighted with each and every one of you. Now just for a little kinetic energy, I'm just gonna have you stand for a second and shake the hand of someone next to you and congratulate them for being here for the whole day and a half and being an optimist and being and optimist and someone with positive potential energy. And if you want, you can even hug someone next to you, that's even more kinetic energy. That's movement, you can do that, it's okay. We have a team here. Let's be the team that brings STEM into a renaissance and invigorating and engaging way that has never been before. Now that wasn'tyou like that. Let's be the team that will create this renaissance in STEM education. Now some of you, I see, actually want to start running. You want real kinetic energy but I think Chris might have one more thing for you. But you do have really, really positive energy. I would be happy to take any comments or any questions for a just a few more minutes and then I think Chris you want to do some more wrap up, correct? Are there any words of wisdom as this hour or do you really want to get going and exercise that kinetic energy? Yes? Audience member: [inaudible] Torlakson: Well I'm thrilled with what you're doing. Thank you, thank you. Thank each and every one of you because I'm thrilled with what you're doing. Yes? Hi. [Laughter] Alright, this is a serious question. Audience member: I want to thank you for underscoring the significance of the American Jobs Act. So wanna say a very special thank you to the Bechtel Foundation for supporting two extraordinarily significant initiatives which have one already and one kind of in the hopper, which have enabled teachers who were laid off, particularly elementary teachers, so many, to get foundational level, general science or math credentials and be reemployed. And I wanna just say to all of you so you know that school districts throughout the state who had lain off teachers want to bring them back and the areas where they need them are math and science. And in fact, the secretary of labor is sending an assistant out to learn about the national model that Bechtel supported. Torlakson: Thank you for recognizing Bechtel and all other corporations that help our schools. And just to underscore that point, just a little bit further besides the actual dollars to hire and rehire teachers, one of the other tremendously negative consequences of this last three years has been the almost elimination of professional development. So whether it's using technology, you can have computers and white boards, you can have many of these magical gizmos and gadgets but if you don't have the professional development, it's not gonna get used to its fullest potential or use at all. And so that's a key part of our getting this American Jobs Acts is we can rehire teachers and not have so many full load days which you're cutting out professional development. Anything else? We're ready for Chris. Thanks to the sponsors one more time. For all of the sponsors of today, thank you, and yesterday. Roe: So one more round of applause, a little bit more kinetic energy for Tom Torlakson who's been a great partner, terrific leader. We really appreciate your support and you being here as Leslie so eloquently said. Just, this is really about continuing the conversation but I actually see this more of beginning the conversation. This conversation is going to continue. It's going to continue through the next couple of weeks, the next month or the next year. Somebody said it very eloquently on a panel this group is persistent, we are positive, we are optimistic, we are gonna keep working on this issue. And it's great knowing that we have terrific partners like Tom, Department of Education, our funders who are here today, our regional network partners. I'm very optimistic about what this network can do over the next few weeks and over the next several years to really, to make this happen here in the state of California. So I do want to add one more thanks to our sponsors for the event. Chevron has been our lead sponsor. They've been absolutely amazing to work with. Their team has been terrific. I think we should give them a round of applause for the lead support of this event. They're terrific partners. And also the Bechtel Corporation and the Heising-Simons Foundation for their support as well, and to Google and Powernoodle who've been our supporting contributors for this entire event. They've been absolutely terrific to work with. I also wanted to recognize a few individuals. This event took a tremendous amount of planning and I did not do this alone. I can tell you this was a team effort. We had amazing planning team. Lupita Alcala from Department of Education was on that team, Joan Bissell who you just heard from Cal State University chancellor's office, Debra Mustain from the San Bernardino Alliance, Sue Nolan from the Science OC, Andee Press-Dawson, California AfterSchool Network, Nancy Taylor from San Diego Science Alliance, Amy Wong from Silicon Valley Education Foundation. They had some amazing ideas to make this event what I hope for you was a great event over the last day and a half. So I think we owe them a tremendous round of thanks for their inspiration and their vision to help make this happen. And also, I want to thank all of our panelists, chairs, this was really a team effort. We had some amazing folks over here today. We're very fortunate that this had been on FOR A.tv. I have been getting some emails from folks who have been out there listening. So I know that this has been well-received out there. The event will, has been captured on TV and it will be posted up. Actually you can go up right now and view it. The archives from yesterday and the entire event will be online in catalogs. We can actually go back and play it over and over again to have some feedback, additional feedback about these terrific panels. Finally, just a couple of individuals that I do want to recognize for their contributions. Stephanie Couch, is she still here with us? Stephanie if you could stand up. Can we give Stephanie a round of applause? She was the founding executive director for CSLNet and really helped get us to where we are today. We could not have been here today without Stephanie's leadership and vision to this effort and I wanted to recognize her for those contributions. And finally if my staff is here, they're probably running around. You probably all know Deborah Hunt and Yvonne Choi, if they're outside, if they hear me, if they could come in the room or somebody could go out and grab them. I think we need to give them a big round of applause, they have worked their tails off to make this event happen and I'm very pleased that they're part of my staff. So can we give them a round of applause please? If you see them on your way out, please thank them because they've worked extremely hard. So with that, I'd like to conclude the 2011 California STEM Summit. Thank each and every one of you for coming today. I know it's a lot of time out of your schedule, everybody's busy but I'm really excited about the amazing ideas and energy. I'm looking forward to working with all of you. Here they are, the stars, Deborah, Yvonne, celebrity out there as well, celebrity can come in and all of our volunteers. They have been absolutely phenomenal as been our host here at UC Davis, from the chancellor down to the dean to the student volunteers. We've had just an amazing group and it's been a lot of fun. So thanks and we will talk to you all very soon.