SCHEV announces new WBL training modules for educators, students and employers

The State Council of Higher Education in Virginia launched its first two online "readiness" courses. 

The two sets of modules are “Developing an Internship Program” for employers and “Developing Career Readiness Skills” for students (high school and college). 

The student modules are best experienced with the assistance of teachers, faculty and staff at the student's educational institution or support from an internship supervisor or other mentor. 

They hope educators will review the content of the modules and find ways to incorporate them into current interactions with students. 

Instructions for accessing the modules can be found here: https://virginiatop.org/course-catalog/ 

The project was led by Dr. Sam Ratcliffe of VMI. 

New statewide agency focused on Workforce

Perhaps in response to the Chips and Science Act, and related NSF priorities, workforce development is getting more attention.

from Cardinal News    by Markus Schmidt     November 10, 2022

Youngkin to propose new agency for workforce development

The state Labor Secretary made the announcement at a conference in Roanoke.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin will propose establishing a new, centralized state workforce agency to administer workforce development and training programs that currently are distributed across multiple agencies, Virginia Secretary of Labor Bryan Slater told a group of community college staffers and partners at the Hire Ed Conference at the Hotel Roanoke on Thursday.

“As the governor has been saying, workforce development is not operating like it should,” Slater said in an email to Cardinal News after the annual conference, where workforce leaders gather to explore the ways in which Virginia’s community colleges respond to the needs of businesses and individuals in the commonwealth.

With over 113 workforce providers, 250 training providers, and 1,500 training programs across the commonwealth, Virginia needs to centralize its workforce training, Slater said. “We are working to create a workforce operations structure that reaches more Virginians, prioritizes workforce development, and efficiently trains and places Virginians in jobs,” he said.

Jim Babb, the spokesman for Virginia’s Community College System, said that Slater announced that the Youngkin administration will ask the General Assembly to establish the new state workforce agency. 

“The proposed changes may impact about 30 employees at our system office in Richmond. These are people who have responsibilities for administering several federal workforce

More details on teacher hiring and departures.

 from Virginia Mercury.

Virginia report shows more teachers leaving the workforce than entering it.

Data shows school divisions have relied on provisionally licensed teachers to fill vacant positions.

By: Nathaniel Cline - November 7, 2022 6:22 pm

Virginia has more teachers leaving the workforce than newly licensed teachers entering it, according to a report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. 

Data show that 10,900 teachers left the workforce ahead of the current school year, while only 7,208 teachers with first-time licenses were hired. 

The finding was part of a broader study by the commission on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on students and staff in K-12 public schools.

“This is a major, substantial report from a nonpartisan arm of our legislature and it clearly points to the fact that significant new investments are needed to meet student needs and address our major teacher shortage,” said Chad Stewart, a policy analyst for the Virginia Education Association. “And the administration will show us how seriously they’re ready to respond to these recommendations based on what they choose to put into their update to the budget come December.”

JLARC found that “prior to the pandemic, there were about 800 vacant teaching positions statewide, on average.” That number rose “substantially” to about 2,800 vacant positions in October 2021 and 3,300 as of mid-August 2022.

“The majority of divisions (86 of 131) had higher teacher turnover between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school year when compared with before the pandemic,” JLARC found. Turnover increased the most in Highland, King and Queen and Southampton counties, while vacancy rates in fall 2021 were highest in Franklin City, at 32%, and Norfolk, at 17%. 

School divisions have relied on provisionally licensed teachers to fill vacant positions, JLARC found. During the 2021-22 school year, 9.5% of the overall teacher workforce were provisionally licensed teachers, up from 7.7% pre-pandemic. Out-of-field teachers, or those who teach a subject matter that differs from their area of certification, grew from 2.4% of the workforce pre-pandemic to 6.2% in 2021-22.

To address teacher shortages, the commission recommended providing additional funding to school

Virginia reports steep learning loss, teacher departures

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch

by Michael Martz

Virginia report documents steep learning loss, teacher departures

Virginia must make up for steep learning losses in public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the state is losing teachers far faster than it is replacing them, a new study concluded on Monday, challenging lawmakers to invest more funds to retain school staff, while boosting math and reading achievement.  

The study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission confirmed steep declines in 4th grade math and reading achievement, but also documented a widening gap between the number of qualified teachers leaving and entering the profession that's on the front line of helping students recover from their losses.

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STEAM PLUS 2- Day Seminar Series for Middle and High School Students

 Sign up here.  Multiple dates !

Gov. Youngkin wants every high school student to graduate with a credential or associate degree

 from Cardinal News by Susan Cameron (October 26, 2022)

The Governor announced the initiative in Bristol; more is expected in December.

Every student who graduates from a Virginia high school should do so with a credential or associate degree that would allow them to “immediately be prepared to go right into life,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in Bristol on Wednesday.

The governor said he plans to announce in December he is seeking a budget amendment to fund expanding the program so that a credential or associate degree is a graduation requirement.

Doing so would “change lives and opportunities,” Youngkin told Cardinal News. “So, I believe that we have both the capabilities to expand that extensively. And there’s no reason why it couldn’t be incorporated into our graduation requirements.”

Youngkin appeared at the Bristol Train Station as part of a Speaker Series co-sponsored by Cardinal News and the Bristol Chamber of Commerce. The event, which focused on economic development in Southwest Virginia, drew more than 100, including the Southwest Virginia legislative delegation and local government, education and business officials. Other co-sponsors were the United Company, and the Train Station.

Opinion: We need more people to go to college

 from the Washington Post, by Catherine Rampell.

(from NoVaSTEMlearning: read the comments on the Post website.)

It’s become somewhat unfashionable to say this, but: We actually need more people going to, and ultimately graduating from, college.

Enrollment in higher education is plummeting, and K-12 students are falling behind on key skills needed to succeed in college and later in life. The issue is broader than dismal new reading and math scores for youths. These trends threaten our future workforce and, ultimately, the U.S. economy.

New preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that college enrollment has nosedived in recent years. From fall 2019 (the last full semester pre-pandemic) through fall 2022, undergraduate enrollment declined more than 7 percent; for freshmen alone, it tanked more than 10 percent.

Graduate enrollment is up a bit over this period, about 2 percent. But when it comes to quickly moving Americans into the middle class, trends in undergraduate enrollment (especially for associate’s degrees) arguably matter more.

Worryingly, the biggest declines in enrollment the past few years have been in these programs. More detailed spring semester data show that community college enrollment dropped nearly 17 percent from 2020 to 2022.

What’s happening? Usually when the economy is bad, higher education does well, and vice versa. Enrollment last peaked in 2010, for instance, in the wake of the financial crisis. When job opportunities are scarce, people seek shelter in the higher-education system, where they can upgrade their skills and

Free Cybersecurity Basics Course for Virginia public school educators

Virginia Cyber Range + VVA

Free self-paced Cybersecurity Basics Course for Educators

Educators in the Commonwealth can gain a foundational understanding of cybersecurity through a new professional learning course from Virtual Virginia and the Virginia Cyber Range. 

The Intro to Cybersecurity course is available at no cost to Virginia public school educators. Participants will learn cybersecurity concepts and the basics of using the Virginia Cyber Range resource, which allows educators and students to safely complete hands-on cybersecurity exercises in virtual environments.

Participants who successfully complete the course will earn a certificate worth three hours of professional learning.

Enroll in Intro to Cybersecurity 

For questions about Intro to Cybersecurity and other professional learning opportunities, contact Professional Learning Coordinator Steven Sproles at steven.sproles@virtualva.org.

The new Python Editor for micro:bit teaching, learning, and tinkering

The #microbit Python Editor from @microbit_edu is designed to help students who are learning to code using a text-based language. It's full of tools to help you spend more time teaching, from modelling programming tasks to testing and developing code #edtechteachers #csteachers #coding

Morgan State STEM Expo - Saturday October 29, 9am - 2pm

 

Upcoming STEM and Dyslexia Events from the Dyslexic Edge

 Fall 2022 events from the Dyslexic Edge, emphasizing STEM academic and career pathways. Read more at www.thedyslexicedge.org.

VT's Alexandria Innovation Campus announces K-12 STEM events for Fall 2022

 See more at https://www.vt.edu/innovationcampus/k12programs.html. 

K-12 STEM AND COMPUTING EVENTS FOR 2022-23

The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus has an exciting line-up of events scheduled for 2022-23 aimed at supporting STEM education and computing in the D.C. Area. 

Use our registration form to volunteer or support any of the events as an individual, a business or a community organization!

Fall 2022

• Oct. 20, 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
  
• STEMposium Parent Night at George Mason Elementary School 
  
• Oct. 29, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
  Virginia Tech K-12 STEM and College Fair at Nannie J. Lee Memorial Recreation Center
  
• Nov. 10, 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
  STEMposium Parent Night at Jefferson Houston PreK–8 IB School

Spring 2023

• Feb. 23, 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
  STEMposium Parent Night at Samuel Tucker Elementary School
• March 6-9, 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm
  Virginia Tech STEM Acceleration and Enrichment Program
• April 20, 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
  STEMposium Parent Night at James K. Polk Elementary School

Summer 2023

• Drone Summer Program
• Quantum Computing for Girls
  VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION

  For additional information on Innovation Campus K-12 prorgams, contact Dr. Pamela O. Gilchrist (pamelag@vt.edu) Director, K-12 Education.

Activity for Observation and Teamwork Communication

 Use these slides:

Fairfax County Youth Leadership Network's META LEADERSHIP Conference November 11-12

 

Leadership Fairfax and Fairfax County Government announce the Youth Leadership Network's META LEADERSHIP Conference      The future is out there, and the youth will lead it! Join us for the Youth Leadership Network Annual Conference – Leadership in the Metaverse – hosted at Virginia Tech Falls Church Campus. Featuring training sessions and experiences for ages 12 to 22 who are interested in improving their leadership skills, building stronger communities and creating a more equitable future. The event also includes a training path for mentors and teachers who work with youth to develop their leadership skills and plan for ways to support the growth of their charges. Collaborators have the opportunity to sponsor an experience, facilitate training sessions and engage in various ways to help support the development of the leaders of the future. Learn how you can collaborate and support this year's conference.   Check Out Meta Leadership

Another win for Chesterfield, Virginia - World's Largest Vertical Farm

Plenty to build 'world's largest indoor vertical farming campus' in Richmond area

Sep. 14th, 2022

Plenty Unlimited Inc., a Bay Area indoor agriculture company, said Wednesday it will build a $300 million vertical farming campus in Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park.

The office of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin billed the project as “the world’s largest indoor vertical farming campus.”

Plenty said it will complete its 120-acre Richmond Farm Campus in phases over the next six years, ultimately creating more than 300 full-time jobs. Its first farm on the site, a dedicated Driscoll’s berry farm to be completed by early 2024, will be the first to grow indoor, vertically farmed strawberries at scale, according to the governor’s announcement. Plenty also indicated it plans to grow leafy greens and tomatoes at its new campus.

Arama Kukutai, CEO of Plenty, said in a statement the “scale and sophistication” of the planned facility will make it possible “to economically grow a variety of produce with superior quality and flavor.”

In January, Plenty announced a $400 million Series E round led by One Madison Group and JS Capital Management, both of New York, as well as

Washington Post: College Major Regrets

 

washingtonpost.com

The most-regretted (and lowest-paying) college majors

By Andrew Van Dam|Sep. 2nd, 2022

Nearly 2 in 5 American college graduates have major regrets.

That is, they regret their major.

The regretters include a healthy population of liberal arts majors, who may be responding to pervasive social cues. When he delivered his 2011 State of the Union address in the shadow of the Great Recession, former president Barack Obama plugged math and science education and called on Americans to “out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.” Since then, the number of new graduates in the arts and humanities has plunged.

Meanwhile, nearly half of humanities and arts majors have studier’s remorse as of 2021. Engineering majors have the fewest regrets: Just 24 percent wish they’d chosen something different, according to a Federal Reserve survey.

As a rule, those who studied STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — are much more likely to believe they made the right choice, while those in social sciences or vocational courses second-guess themselves.  

There doesn’t seem to be much relationship between loans, gender, race or school selectivity and your regrets. Though, as you may have guessed, our analysis of Fed data shows that the higher your income is today, the less you regret the major you chose back in college.

READ MORE (including interactive graphs of majors and salaries)

Arlington Magazine recognition for Northern Virginia teens

 arlingtonmagazine.com

Arlington Magazine Extraordinary Teen Awards 2022

Jun. 30th, 2022

Potomac School graduate and Thinkabit Lab intern, inventor Benjamin Choi. Photo by Skip Brown.

When pandemic lab shutdowns scuttled his plans for a research project on aluminum fuel in the summer of 2020, Benjamin Choi pivoted to a new idea that he could work on from home, using a 3-D printer—a prosthetic arm for amputees that could be controlled by brain signals. He had seen a documentary about mind-controlled prosthetic limbs in third grade and was convinced he could design one that was not only less expensive, but also less invasive.

His prototype, recently featured in Smithsonian Magazine, costs $300 to produce and uses external sensors on the head (in lieu of surgical implants) to

Summer 2022 Camps - free

Shareable link to our Summer 2022 camp registration:  https://bit.ly/VT-Summer2022

(Full descriptions are provided in following pages.)   
All camps are free, and equipment is provided.

All camps are also:

•   9am to noon in-person 
•   hands-on, skills-based experiential learning  
•   allow for some extended participation in afternoons
•   located at our Virginia Tech campus next to West Falls Church Metro (Orange Line)

1. AAUW Wearable Tech (June 27-June 30)   -  suggested ages 12-18  (exceptions considered) 

     Co-sponsored by the Arlington Chapter of the AAUW, this camp was originally designed for girls,
and now welcomes all participants ages 12-18 (MS or HS).  Participants will build simple LED and servo motor circuits that are controlled by programming an Arduino microcontroller.  These skills will be applied to a creative wearable device that uses the same Arduino microcontroller and allows you to program and operate the device. Many other fabrication tools and skills will be introduced, including safety precautions.

2. Urban Agricultural and Environmental Technologies with IoT (August 1-4)  - suggested ages - 14-18 (exceptions considered) 

      Participants will identify real-world, urban agriculture and environmental challenges or problems, research and model potential solutions, and then test and redesign prototypes.  A variety of materials will be complemented with electronics monitoring, sensors and actuators addressing agricultural and environmental needs. Support for county fair or science and engineering fair brainstorming is available. 

Proceed to https://bit.ly/VT-Summer2022 to register.  

Questions? Email STEM@vt.edu or call 571-4828298 

Passing of George Willcox

 I'm passing on the very nice tributes written by Brenda Long and Darla Miller of Virginia ACTE. - Jim

Loss of a friend and colleague.

It is with a sad and heavy heart to inform you of the passing of George Willcox, retired State CTE Director, on Wednesday. George was a stalwart for CTE in Virginia and nationally.  He devoted 47 years to CTE with 41 of those with VDOE, Office of CTE.  George supported Virginia ACTE and the CTE division associations, quality CTE programs for students as well as expanded opportunities for students, and continued to strengthen the relationship with Virginia ACTE and VDOE.  He officially retired on February 1, 2022, and yesterday we lost a great advocate for CTE.  Rest In peace, Our Friend.  You ran a good race.

George provided leadership and support for Technology and Engineering Education for 47 years before his retirement on December 31, 2021. He joined the Department of Education as the advisor for the Technology Student Association in 1978 and served as a supervisor of the program of Technology and Engineering Education until his promotion in 2006. 

Most recently, he served as State Director of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. It is difficult to describe the range of impact he had on Technology and Engineering education, adding engineering courses in the mid 1990’s. He was active in TSA and the International Technology and Engineering Educator’s Association, serving as president in 2006. He was also active in the Virginia Association of Career and Technical Education. His was a giant in the field and will be sorely missed. He is survived by his daughter Angela Minor. Service information is not yet available. 

 A video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NBf7C_ba2dfX7mMQ-6FCA6t-UFy-lQ4g/view?usp=sharing