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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > August > 03
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Will they arm wrestle over math and science teachers?
Last week I wrote about a new effort to train future science and math teachers that will be part of the new career technology high school that Dayton Public Schools is building to replace Patterson Career Center.
If only the Dayton area could get those future teachers before next fall. That’s because the fall of 2009 will bring the opening of two new science and math oriented high schools here.
The plan for both calls for concentrating high quality teachers of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It’s just that those folks don’t grow on trees.
The other school is tentatively known as the Dayton Regional STEM School. It’s a collaboration supported by local colleges, school districts and Wright Patterson Air Force Base. It will be located on the campus of Wright State University. This will be a college prep program with a goal of turning out engineers and scientists.
Dayton’s high school also will be a STEM school, but with a slightly different focus. The David Ponitz Career Technology Center will have 15 “pathways” for study, somewhat more career tech in nature.
And the two efforts are not very well coordinated. Dayton is not one of the districts partnering on the STEM school at Wright State. The efforts to build the two schools are quite independent of one another.
Which brings me back to hiring. Next spring both schools will be seeking to build a faculty of well-regarded science and math teachers. Each has some advantage. Dayton will have the existing Patterson faculty it can import, but the goal is to add more STEM specialists. The Wright State STEM school will have connections with laboratories at Wright Patt AFB and private business.
But the bottom line is both will be seeking new teachers. So school districts with great science and math teachers ought to treat them like kings and queens this year.
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