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Mark your calendars:
BHEF's Summer 2010 Member Meeting in Washington, DC
June 24 - 25, 2010
More information about:
The CRI: An Agenda for Educational Success
The STEM Initiative
Questions or commentary?
info@bhef.com
202.367.1189
Newsletter editor
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February/March 2010
News from BHEF
Winter Meeting Wrap-Up
BHEF members convened on February 5 for BHEF’s 2010 winter meeting at Raytheon Company’s Space and Airborne Systems Headquarters facility in El Segundo, California. The meeting featured keynote speaker U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter, as well as presentations by Michael Cohen, president, Achieve, Inc; Michael McPherson, president, Spencer Foundation; Debra Stewart, president, Council on Graduate Schools; and Charles Vest, president, National Academy of Engineering.
The meeting provided an integrated view of the challenges faced in American P-12, undergraduate, and graduate education and discussion focused on how to address the most important issues at each major point in this “education pipeline.” Members should have received a detailed meeting wrap-up memo earlier this week. Please contact us if you did not.
BHEF released its 2009 Annual Report at the meeting. Click here to read and download a PDF version. Please consider sharing this report, which summarizes BHEF’s numerous accomplishments over the past year, with colleagues and thought leaders.
Business Coalition for Student Achievement
BHEF formally joined the Business Coalition for Student Achievement (BCSA) and signed on to its principles for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which will serve to update the present legislation known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). State Farm Insurance Companies Chairman and CEO Ed Rust and Accenture Chairman and CEO Bill Green, both of whom are BHEF members, are serving as co-chairs of the group along with Craig Barrett of Intel. BCSA developed the set of principles with the contention that the business community’s perspective on reauthorization will be a critical part of the debate over how to improve NCLB. In fact, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has reached out to BCSA as part of a “listening tour” on NCLB.
BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model
BHEF recently demonstrated a prototype Web-based version of the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model currently in development to policy and advocacy staff members from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as representatives from the U.S. Department of Education and the White House STEM Initiative known as “Educate to Innovate.” The model was well received and the attendees agreed that it has great potential to assist policymakers and corporations in developing and advancing strategies that can strengthen STEM education. Since the meeting, BHEF has answered several follow-up questions and provided additional information to the attendees.
Together with Ohio State’s Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy and Battelle Memorial Institute, BHEF will hold a March 3 kick-off event for the state-based STEM project known as STEManalytics. Ohio will serve as the pilot for the project; this event will introduce the project and include representatives from other states that are engaged in large-scale state-based STEM education reform efforts, including those funded by the National Governor’s Association and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Advocacy
BHEF issued a statement of support in response to the January 12 speech, “A New Path Forward: Four Approaches To Quality Teaching And Better Schools,” by American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, regarding AFT’s comprehensive reform plan to ensure that the nation’s schools are staffed with nothing less than the best teachers. Click here to read the news release.
BHEF also commended President Obama for announcing that he would seek $1.35 billion in additional funding in his FY 2011 budget request for the Race to the Top fund, which would also allow school districts to compete for this funding. Click here to read the news release.All BHEF news releases can be found here.
Member News
BHEF welcomes new members Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor, SUNY, and Rear Admiral Nevin P. Carr, Jr., Chief of Naval Research, U.S. Office of Naval Research. Zimpher recently was mentioned in a Chronicle of Higher Education article about internationalizing campuses. BHEF also welcomes back Walt Havenstein in his new role as CEO of Science Applications International Corporation.
ISIE II
Hilary Pennington of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be the keynote luncheon speaker at the second Institute for Strategic Investment in Education (ISIE II): Capitalizing on Corporate Philanthropy, to be held April 7-9 at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). BHEF, in conjunction with HGSE, will host the event to help corporate and private philanthropists make the most of their education investments. Please take action today by signing up a member of your corporate philanthropy staff to attend this event. Register and review a list of participating faculty members and panelists by clicking here.
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