Business Higher Education Forum Welcomes AACTE’s Sharon P. Robinson

CONTACT:
Jade Floyd,
amangino@aacte.org
or 202.478.4596

Who:     The Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF) welcomes Sharon P. Robinson, Ed.D., president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for a roundtable discussion during the release of BHEF’s report “Transforming the Recruitment, Retention and Renewal of our Nation’s Mathematics and Science Teaching Workforce”.

What:      Robinson provides front-line perspectives in response to the BHEF report and profiles AACTE’s newly released publication, “Preparing STEM Teachers: The Key to Global Competitiveness”
(http://www.aacte.org/Governmental_Relations/default.aspx) which highlights 50 teacher preparation programs across the country dedicated to increasing the number of effective K-12 STEM educators. AACTE surveyed its members in an effort to discover their unique efforts to prepare STEM teachers. Unlike the field of medicine, where federal funds support medical schools to create preparation programs in high-need fields, no such program exists for preparing teachers. AACTE developed this publication to address the dire need to prepare more qualified math and science educators and recognize the best practices at colleges of education across the country.

When:     Wednesday, July 11 from 2:00-3:15 p.m.

Where:     628 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Why:     The event, co-sponsored by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Senator Michael B. Enzi, features Dr. Robinson, along with Brian Fitzgerald, executive director of BHEF, Charlie Toulmin, senior education policy analyst for the National Governors Association and Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association.

“Our role and responsibility in higher education, as the entity that prepares approximately 80% of new teachers (whether through alternative or regular undergraduate programs), is to make sure that we are preparing high quality STEM teachers and that we are increasing the number of teachers in these fields,” says Sharon P. Robinson. “As this Business Higher Education Forum’s publication correctly points out higher education cannot and should not do this alone. What is particularly helpful about this report is that it lays out the responsibilities for the five major stakeholders in this endeavor. If we are to have any sustained success in the area of improving K-12 STEM education and the quality and quantity of K-12 STEM teachers, we are going to need to combine our resources,” she concludes.

How:     Interviews are available on-site or by phone. Contact Jade Floyd, AACTE communications manager, at 202.478.4596 or jfloyd@aacte.org