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Project Background
One of the most important
issues facing the State of South Carolina is a per
capita income that is double-digits below the national
average. Further, the rate of wage growth also is below
the national average and so this income gap is growing.
There is a well-established trend between education
level and income. Breaking the poverty cycle in South
Carolina will require higher wage employment which, in
turn, necessitates a higher median level of education
than presently is realized. Education, therefore, is the
foundation for a knowledge-based economy, which is often
characterized by higher wages for its employees.
Appreciating the critical role of innovation in the
American economy, the American Competitiveness
Initiative (ACI) was proposes to
Federally support our Nation’s education system and,
therein, our future ability to maintain our
innovation-based global economic leadership.
As stated in the ACI report
“we must ensure a continuous supply of highly trained
mathematicians, scientists, engineers, technicians, and
scientific support staff as well as a scientifically,
technically, and numerically literate population. By
improving the quality of math, science, and
technological education in our K-12 schools, thus
engaging every child in rigorous courses that teach
important analytical, technical, and problem-solving
skills, we will prepare our citizens to compete more
effectively in the global marketplace.” Particularly in
South Carolina, this is a pipeline issue. We must
engage, enthuse, and sustain this excitement from the
earliest educational levels through College. What is
needed, in part, is a set of activities and pedagogical
tools that are designed to teach in a creative, fun, and
thought-provoking way.
This is more easily said
than done and clearly takes time to make any appreciable
impact. Fortunately, there already exist numerous such
modules. The question then becomes: which activities
would be the most effective in helping to break the
cycle of poverty through education and positioning South
Carolina’s educational enterprise to provide the skilled
workforce at all educational levels needed for a
successful transformation into a knowledge-based
economy?
The National Science
Foundation (NSF) supports the “CAREER:
The Faculty Early Career Development”
Program as its most prestigious award in support of the
early career-development activities of those
teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research
and education. Integral to many recipient’s grants are a
set of out-reach activities for K-12 students and
teachers. There presently are over 20 active CAREER
awardees in South Carolina representing our State’s best
and brightest. What is lacking is a network of these
young scholars and an inventory of and coordination
amongst their educational and out-reach projects to
optimize the potential for State-wide impact.
This
website provides visibility for these preeminent young
scholars and creates an inventory of their educational
materials. The benefit to the CAREER awardees is that
their projects will receive State-wide visibility. The
benefit to the State’s educational (particularly K-12)
enterprise is that they will have access to projects
from the most creative young minds that South Carolina
has to offer. Additionally, such a single resource will
inevitably provide the State much needed – and deserved
– national visibility for its under-appreciated
effectiveness in fostering such innovative young
scholars. This is completely in-line with the goals of
the American
Competitiveness Initiative.
Program Concept
The initial concept for this website came
as part of a public service project requirement that Dr.
Ballato has as a Liberty Fellow (Class of 2007). The
Liberty Fellowship program
seeks to promote outstanding leadership in South
Carolina, empowering the state and its future leaders to
realize their full potential. The program’s mission is
to offer South Carolina’s next generation of leaders the
opportunity to explore the values that sustain them;
cultivate respect for both the ideas and beliefs of
others; and become significant contributors to our
state, and to society at large. For more information,
please see:
http://www.libertyfellowshipsc.org/ |
