Congressional Black Caucus hosts town hall meeting, workshop focused on education
Eleven Members of the U.S. House of Representatives visited Dallas on October 12-14 as part of the Congressional Black Caucus Political Leadership and Education Institute’s (CBCI) Southern Region Outreach Conference. The CBCI regularly sponsors a series of outreach events around the country for the CBC members to hear from the public on education and other issues.
TI Senior Vice President Phil Ritter and Rep. James Clyburn, Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives, toured one of TI's semiconductor manufacturing facilities after the Town Hall meeting. |
Among the members participating were Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), and event co-chairs Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX, Dallas) and Al Green (D-TX, Houston).
On October 13, the CBCI held a Town Hall discussion at Yvonne Ewell Townview Center on the theme of “Education for Innovation Readiness.” The audience was comprised of Dallas area officials, educators, parents and students.
Rep. Johnson opened the discussion, citing the National Academies’ Rising Above the Gathering Storm report that sounded the alarm about U.S. competitiveness. She commented, “I have a real concern about our country not producing enough science, technology, engineering and math students. India and China are producing large numbers of graduates, and our country will lose its competitive edge if we do not.”
She noted that Congress recently passed the AmericaCOMPETES legislation, which was signed into law in August. AmericaCOMPETES provides a roadmap for increasing investments in basic research and improving math and science education to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. workforce.
Melendy Lovett, president of Education Technology, TI, moderated a panel during the Town Hall Meeting. |
Texas Instruments’ Melendy Lovett, President of Education Technology, and Torrence Robinson, Director of Public Affairs, moderated the Town Hall’s two panels on “Closing the Disparities Gap” and “Teacher Preparedness.” Panelists included Tom Luce, CEO, National Math and Science Initiative; Gerald McElvy, President, Exxon Mobil Foundation; Darrell Davis, Laboratory Director, Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of Justice; Dr. Geoff Orsak, Dean of Engineering, Southern Methodist University; Dr. John Price, Vice Provost of University of North Texas; Terry Steele, Public Affairs Director, IBM; and Alice Black, Principal of Townview.
Melendy cited the continued achievement gap between African-American, Hispanic and Caucasian students in reading and math that had closed very little in the past 17 years. “At this rate it could take until the year 2080 to close the gap. We need to do things differently,” she observed.
Melendy highlighted the results of the middle school MathForward program that TI launched in Richardson ISD. The majority of participants were African-American or Hispanic and most were from economically disadvantaged circumstances. In the first year of the program, 33 percent of the intervention pilot students who failed the Texas math achievement exam previous years passed and increased their scores by six points or more. Those without intervention passed at a rate of 19 percent and had scores decline one point. MathForward has now been replicated in other districts in Texas, Ohio and Florida.
On closing the achievement gap, Tom Luce remarked, “We can do it, we know how. Now we need to scale the programs that we know work.” He demonstrated the results of the Advanced Placement (AP) incentive program, which has produced a ten-fold increase in the number of minority students taking and passing AP exams.
In leading the discussion on the preparation of teachers, Robinson commented “recruitment and retention of qualified teachers, particularly in the science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, is probably one of the biggest challenges we face in education.”
Dr. Orsak emphasized the need for innovative approaches to teaching, such as the Infinity Project, which uses products such as cell phones and MP3 players to teach students engineering, math and science concepts. “Students actually created their own cell phones, and were able to place calls to each other—this type of activity makes the concepts come alive,” commented Dr. Orsak.
At the end of the discussion, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) observed that while African-Americans account for over 40 percent of the Ph.D.s in education, they represent less than one percent of Ph.D.s in computer science and similarly low numbers for other physical science and engineering fields.
Following the Town Hall discussion, the Members of Congress visited TI’s DMOS6 facility, one of the world’s most advanced 300mm semiconductor manufacturing plants, where they were able to see the real-world applications of the earlier education discussion.
“Investing in education to create a diverse workforce is critical to our country’s economic success,” noted Gerald Borders, TI Director of Public Affairs. “We must ensure all Americans are equipped with the strong math and science skills needed to compete in the technology era.”
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