From The Statehouse 2005 No. 32
by Jennifer Garrison
Dec. 11, 2005
FROM THE STATEHOUSE – ARTICLE 32
On July 1, 2005 the e-Tech Ohio Commission was founded. There are 13 Commissioners, 4 of which are legislators. I was one of two House Members appointed as a Commissioner to this agency. One of the responsibilities of this agency is to promote access to and use of all forms of educational technology to our schools.
Two weeks ago the Commission held an all day retreat where our mission was debated. As part of the preparation, I read Cyber-infrastructure for Education and Learning for the Future. I would like to share some interesting statistics I discovered. 38% of Bachelor’s degrees in China were awarded in engineering as opposed to less than 6% in the United States. In the decade 1990-2000, India increased its number of students enrolled in college by 92%. During this same time period, science and engineering enrollments in the United States at colleges and universities declined. Additionally, the computer science field shows declining enrollment.
International indicators of pre-college students’ progress paint a more disturbing picture. The Third International Mathematics and Science Study show the mathematics performance among U.S. eighth-grade students is lower than that of fourteen other countries. This puts U.S. eighth graders well behind the highest performing countries.
As many of you know, education is the issue that inspired me to run for the Ohio House. I am busy working on a school funding formula. Part of the picture will rely more on distance learning in the schools. In particular, more AP college courses need to be available at all the high schools in this area. Washington, Guernsey, Noble, Muskingum, and Monroe counties tax base make it more difficult to offer the course selection we want for our children’s education. I would like to see more math, science, technology, and foreign language courses offered in all the high schools. Our schools are doing all they can with the resources they have. This is merely another resource that will cost the schools less.
The Chairman of e-Tech Ohio Commission is William Sams, who also is the Chief Information Officer at Ohio University. Mr. Sams and I spoke about offering more choices for our students in Appalachia. I would like to share with you an exciting project Ohio University is facilitating.
Ohio University is partnering with Apex Learning out of California to offer interactive on-line courses through the student’s home school. The students remain in their school when attending a course. Ohio University is helping to make the courses more affordable to districts with enrollment fees and text book expenses. By OU acting as a consolidator the school districts have a stronger buying power than they would if they dealt directly with Apex Learning or another content provider. In addition to the economic benefits, the districts also benefit from Ohio University serving as a locally based system for technical support issues.
The distance learning courses are not meant to substitute for a course many students are taking. It is meant to be a cost effective way to offer a course, not offered today because too few students desire taking the course. Many school districts are evaluating offering more distance learning options in the home school today. I encourage them to do so.
Mr. Sams and I shared this information with all School District Superintendents and Technology Directors in Washington County this week. Higher education institutions have a real benefit to offering these on-line AP courses to the high schools--- a better prepared student at the onset of college.
We need to equip our students to compete internationally today. The current statistics are troubling. More advanced sciences, math and technology courses need to be available in the high schools. This may be a viable option to incorporate into the current curriculum. Please feel free to contact me with your comments on this subject.
You can reach Jennifer Garrison at her Columbus office at 614-644-8728 or in the district at 740-373-2414 or by e-mail at jennifer@jennifergarrison.com. Her website is www.jennifergarrison.com