The ability to use technology both in the classroom and the workplace has become a 21st century necessity. Educators today need to stay on top of this new-age game and provide students with the information and skills they need to compete in our fast paced, internet-driven world. Fortunately, Virginians have the luxury of living in a state that makes STEM education—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—a priority at both the college and secondary level so that its graduates can compete, and thrive, in any industry. To prove it, the Virginia Department of Education announced in May of this year that it will award more than $2.7 million in grants to 17 partnerships between school divisions, colleges and universities to increase content knowledge and improve classroom skills of teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Teacher content knowledge is a critical component of effective instruction,” VDOE Superintendent of Public Instruction, Patricia I. Wright, said in a news release. “Knowledgeable and confident teachers are essential to prepare students for post-secondary studies and STEM-related careers.”
Virginia industry is supporting the VDOE’s push for robust STEM education too with grants like the $25,000 given by the Verizon Foundation earlier this year to support a teacher education program on the college level that focuses on the implementation of the iPad in the classroom. And that’s not all. Many smaller businesses across the Commonwealth are helping to make technology education possible at colleges small and large, urban and rural, by funding the acquisition of technology-enhanced learning tools.
But universities are not the only ones keeping their foot lodged in the door of innovation and bringing it back to the classroom. Virginia boasts many secondary schools that do a superb job of preparing students to perform to their potential in the state’s top-ranked schools: Teachers throughout the state have received awards for their leadership in technology. Virginia can be proud of its efforts to put high quality instruction and technology integrated classrooms among its top priorities, and remain confident that we will continue to graduate some of the best and brightest students in the country today.
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