Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited

written by the National Academy of Sciences

In the five years that have passed since Rising Above the Gathering Storm was issued, much has changed in our nation and world. Despite the many positive responses to the initial report, including congressional hearings and legislative proposals, America's competitive position in the world now faces even greater challenges, exacerbated by the economic turmoil of the last few years and by the rapid and persistent worldwide advance of education, knowledge, innovation, investment, and industrial infrastructure. Indeed the governments of many other countries in Europe and Asia have themselves acknowledged and aggressively pursued many of the key recommendations of Rising Above the Gathering Storm, often more vigorously than has the U.S. We also sense that in the face of so many other daunting near-term challenges, U.S. government and industry are letting the crucial strategic issues of U.S. competitiveness slip below the surface.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12999.html

Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics

written by Stamatis Vokos

Preliminary results from the joint APS/AAPT/AIP National Task Force on the Professional Preparation of Physics Teachers.

http://www.compadre.org/PTEC/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8868&DocID=1191

The Role of Colleges and Universities in the Preparation of Future Teachers

published by the Physics Teacher Education Coalition
written by Monica Plisch

Physics teachers suffer the highest rate of attrition of any subject area, and are often under-qualified for their positions; as there is a statistical correlation between teacher expertise and student achievement, PTEC and PhysTEC are working to increase the number of qualified physics teachers and to improve the quality of physical science teacher education.

http://phystec.org/presentations/080308_plisch.pdf

Rising Above the Gathering Storm [PTEC 2007 Conference]

written by Cherry Murray

This presentation is a summary of the report of the National Academies' Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century, "Gathering Storm", and some of its subsequent response. The author was a member of this committee, which was created in 2005 to respond to the request by Senators Lamar Alexander and Jeff Bingaman, with endorsement of Representatives Sherwood Boehlert and Bart Gordon. The task of the committee was to delineate the top ten actions, in priority order, that federal policymakers could take to enhance the science and technology enterprise so that the US can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st century.

http://www.compadre.org/PTEC/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=4958&DocID=237

A Crisis in Teacher Preparation: National Problem, Local Solutions

written by Theodore Hodapp
published by the Physics Teacher Education Coalition

The primary goals of the PhysTEC program are to demonstrate and provide models for increasing the number of highly qualified high school physics teachers, to improve the quality of K-8 physical science teacher education, to spread best-practice ideas throughout the community, and to work toward transforming physics departments to re-engage in the preparation of physics teachers. On average, member sites have exhibited a two-fold increase in secondary physics teacher production since 2002.

http://phystec.org/presentations/080128_hodapp.pdf