Innovation New Jersey
  • Home
  • Our Coalition
    • Contact Us
  • News
  • Resources
    • State Supports
    • Federal Supports
    • Higher Ed Supports
  • Join Us

Innovation News

Everything Innovation. Everything New Jersey.
Follow us and stay connected.

OP-ED: AN INVESTMENT IN STEM IS AN INVESTMENT IN NEW JERSEY’S FUTURE

4/6/2018

0 Comments

 
From NJ Spotlight  By Ann Borowiec

STEM education must be maximized, and we must make sure that women, blacks and Latinos are among those that receive this essential training.

This month, we are celebrating New Jersey’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in honor of NJ STEM Month. Throughout the state, students, schools, parents, businesses, employees, and program providers will be promoting STEM activities and showcasing their work.

There is certainly much to be celebrated. According to U.S. News and World Report, New Jersey is home to 21 of the top 251 STEM high schools nationwide. But to truly maximize our potential and reach more students, as well as meet the workforce needs of the future, we must do even more to educate our children in STEM disciplines. This requires thoughtful change management and collaboration among our state leaders. It is essential that we double down on STEM and cement it as a priority — not only for the present, but also for the future.
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 65 percent of today’s grade-school students will end up in jobs that do not yet exist. We must tackle challenges in teaching, access, equity, and resources to prepare our students for the careers we have yet to imagine and to ensure all students have the opportunity to contribute to our economy.

STEM is already essential

Make no mistake, STEM careers already play an integral role in the continued growth and stability of our national and state economies. In fact, the National Science Foundation found that scientific innovation accounted for approximately half of all economic growth in the United States over the past 50 years. As our economy continues to evolve, STEM careers will play an even more significant role. Nationally, careers in the STEM fields are expected to grow at almost twice the rate of other jobs in the marketplace. But this is not just a problem of the future. There are currently 3 million more STEM jobs than available trained professionals in our country. In New Jersey, there are 1.4 available STEM jobs for every unemployed person. This skills gap will only get worse if we are not intentional about addressing it.

New Jersey has to strengthen its economic-innovation engine to remain competitive. The growing STEM job marketplace needs talent for middle-skills jobs (for example, certifications beyond high school) and jobs that require a college degree. We need to better prepare many more of our New Jersey children for the well-paying jobs in STEM-related industries. These pathways will only be established through a robust commitment to strengthening our education system and improving education-to-employment pipelines.

Placing more emphasis on STEM education is essential to better prepare our children for the future and to support the next generation of innovators. This is the very innovation New Jersey desperately needs to support its pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and chemical industries, to name a few. We also have the opportunity to capture new sources of growth supported by technological innovations.

Underserved population

The truth is that New Jersey’s education pipeline is underserving girls and black and Latino students. In computer science, which is one of the fastest-growing job segments within the STEM world, the inequity is apparent. In 2015, only 15 percent of the computer science college graduates in New Jersey were female. In addition, Latino students and Black students made up only 9 percent and 3 percent, respectively, of high school students taking the AP computer science exam in 2016. To help address this, Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget put forward a $2 million grant program to help high schools expand computer science courses, including professional development for teachers. Paired with a loan-forgiveness program for STEM graduates who remain in New Jersey, this budget encourages our state's brightest students to contribute to our STEM economy.

There is still much more to be done. A recently released report by JerseyCAN shines a light on many pockets of innovation and inspiring leaders in STEM education, but the need to scale this work to reach more students is evident. Based on our research, which included conversations with more than 70 experts and organizations, we have identified seven actionable recommendations.

We believe they have the ability to both strengthen our innovation economy and advance equity and excellence in STEM education:
  • Creation of a gubernatorial-sponsored task force to develop a comprehensive plan for strengthening K–12 STEM education in New Jersey.
  • Identify new approaches to addressing the shortage of STEM teachers across the state.
  • Expand access to computer science.
  • Expand access to career and vocational technical training and work-based learning opportunities in STEM fields.
  • Further leverage personalized/blended learning into more classrooms to promote student-led investigation and inquiry.
  • Establish an innovation fund to leverage private and public resources to support pioneers leading evidenced-based innovations.
  • Implement targeted STEM strategies for women and underrepresented minorities.

​Taken together, these recommendations can reestablish New Jersey as a leader in innovation. Perhaps more importantly, they will help create greater opportunities for students who are not currently getting them, thereby tapping into their tremendous potential. This will benefit not only individual students, but also boost the economic wellbeing of our state in the long run.
​------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ann Borowiec serves as board co-chair of JerseyCAN:The New Jersey Campaign for Achievement Now. She was previously the chief executive officer of J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management. JerseyCAN is a nonprofit that advocates for all students across the state to have access to high-quality schools and works to improve policies and programs to support equity and excellence in New Jersey education.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Do not miss a single innovative moment and sign up for our newsletter!
    Weekly updates


    Categories

    All
    3D Printing
    Academia
    Acquisitions
    Aerospace
    Agriculture
    AIDS
    Algae
    Alumni
    Animals
    Architecture
    Astrophysics
    Autism
    Awards
    Big Data
    Bioethics
    Biofuel
    Biomedical
    BioNJ
    Bioterrorism
    Bit Coins
    Brain Health
    Business
    Camden
    Cancer
    CCollege
    Cellular
    Centenary
    Chemistry
    ChooseNJ
    Climate Change
    Clinical Trials
    Cloud Tech
    Collaboration
    Computing
    Congress
    Coriell
    Council On Innovation
    Crowdfunding
    Cybersecurity
    DARPA
    Defense
    Degree
    Dementia
    Dental Health
    DOC
    DOD
    DOE
    Drew
    Drones
    Drug Creation
    Einstein's Alley
    Electricity
    Energy
    Engineering
    Entrepreneurship
    Environmental
    FAA
    Fairleigh Dickinson
    FDA
    Federal Budget
    Federal Government
    Federal Labs
    Federal Program
    Finance
    Food Science
    Fort Monmouth
    Fuel Cells
    Funding
    Genome
    Geography
    Geology
    Global Competition
    Google
    Governor Christie
    Grant
    Hackensack
    HackensackUMC
    Health Care
    Healthcare
    HHS
    HINJ
    Hospitals
    Immigration
    Incubator
    Infrastructure
    International
    Internet
    Investor
    IoT
    IP
    IT
    Jobs
    Johnson & Johnson
    K-12
    Kean
    Kessler
    Legislation
    Logistics
    Manufacturing
    Medical Devices
    Med School
    Mental Health
    Mentor
    Microorganisms
    Molecular Biology
    Montclair
    NAS
    Neuroscience
    Newark
    New Jersey
    NIFA
    NIH
    NIST
    NJBDA
    NJBIA
    NJ Chemistry Council
    NJCU
    NJDOLWD
    NJEDA
    NJEDge
    NJHF
    NJII
    NJIT
    NJMEP
    NJPAC
    NJPRO
    NJTC
    Nonprofit
    NSF
    OpEd
    Open Data
    OSHE
    OSTP
    Parasite
    Patents
    Paterson
    Patients
    Perth Amboy
    Pharma
    POTUS
    PPPL
    Princeton
    Prosthetics
    Ranking
    Rare Disease
    R&D Council
    Report
    Resiliency
    Rider
    Robotics
    Rowan
    Rutgers
    SBA
    Seton Hall
    Siemens
    Smart Car
    Smart Cities
    Software
    Solar
    Space
    SSTI
    Startup
    State Government
    STEM
    Stevens
    Stockton
    Subatomic
    Supports
    Sustainability
    Taxes
    TCNJ
    Teachers
    Telecom
    Therapy
    Thermodynamics
    Transportation
    Undergraduate
    USEDA
    Verizon
    Video Game
    Virtual Reality
    Water
    WHO
    William Paterson
    Women In STEM
    Workforce Development

Home   Coalition   News   Resources   Events   Join Us
Picture
Innovation New Jersey Coalition
10 West Lafayette Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
732-729-9619