I know you will agree that science and math education is critically important to our future as a state and a nation. It is critically important to my company as well. So I am delighted to have this opportunity to talk about some of the perspectives of business this vital area of science education.
First, I need to congratulate you for the outstanding work of the regional collaboratives – and for all of your great successes so far.
Congratulations to Kamil Jbeily and his staff and to each of the directors of the collaboratives. Your work is critical to Texas’ future.
Kamil is passionate about what he does. And so are you. Kamil has even offered to help me overcome my lifelong aversion to Chemistry with some Saturday morning tutoring.
Southwestern Bell’s partnership with the Regional Collaboratives over the past three years has been rewarding to us, and, as you say in your values statements, you reward your partners. We feel that is the case. So I am delighted to be here.

My remarks today concern the business perspective on science education in Texas. Scientists and mathematicians use formulas to solve problems. So let me try to outline a formula -- from the view of at least one Texas corporation – that will get us where we need to be.
Southwestern Bell considers math and science education an integral part of our own particular role in education in Texas. We have recently updated our strategic plan for education in Texas. Science and math support continues to be one of a handful of specific focus areas for us.
For example, for years we have supported programs such as MATHCOUNTS and the Texas Association of Minorities in Engineering.
One of our corporate officers serves on the Governor’s Science and Technology Council and in support of that council’s agenda, this fall we will be underwriting a professional development program for teachers of Advanced Placement courses, particularly in math and science.
There are a few more Southwestern Bell projects dealing with science that I will mention in a moment.
But to be honest we recognize there is a lot more Southwestern Bell can do in this area. And a lot more that the Texas business community can do. With your help, we will try.
It is only natural that we at Southwestern Bell take this interest in what you are doing. Ours is a technologically driven company….in a very competitive industry. We need employees who are well-grounded in science and math. Our customers are much more technologically savvy today than ever before.
Our jobs are more complex. Our services are more complex. It takes a whole lot of science to provide advanced telecommunications services….to move 200 million bits of information in one second over a fiber-optic circuit from its source to its destination…intact.

Southwestern Bell, and our parent company, SBC Communications, are major employers in this state. In total, we employ more than 37,000 people in Texas. We have added about 11,000 people in the past five years alone, and we expect to need thousands more in the next decade.
What kinds of jobs do we offer? Many of them are very high- tech jobs in fields like the installation and maintenance of fiber optic transmission systems and digital switching systems. Even a position like customer service representative is a job that today requires computer skills and other technical knowledge.
Some of our jobs are extremely technical. For example, the network installation and maintenance technician, an entry-level job, requires a very thorough set of knowledge and skills. These employees must be adept at reading and interpreting technical manuals, schematics, blueprints and diagrams. They must have thorough understanding of electrical circuits. And to go farther and advance to the job title of communications technician, our employees must be able to use algebraic and digital logic to solve electronic problems.
If a job applicant comes to us with a solid high school preparation or a community college degree, we can and will provide the advanced training necessary to make that person successful on the job.
But if applicants come to us without those basic skills in science and math, without a familiarity with scientific concepts, and without the problem-solving skills that come with a knowledge of scientific method, they are not likely to make it through our selection process -- and we then simply have to turn them away.And today, for the majority of applicants, that is exactly what we have to do: turn them away.

Our internal job training program at Southwestern Bell cannot possibly replace the basic skills taught all the way back in elementary school in math and science and language arts.
It used to be that a person who wanted a good job went down to the phone company and if there were openings, competed with others in that town for the jobs. Now our job applicants compete with others from across the nation – even around the world – for our jobs.
And we took care of the training. But that is not the case anymore.
So Southwestern Bell looks at this whole area of science education knowing full well that there is a great deal at stake for us.

I don’t think that all Texas businesses have the same perspectives we do on the most important issues and the most effective ways to raise scientific literacy among Texas students -- but here are some thoughts on that from at least one corporation: Southwestern Bell.
First, accountability is king. The Texas accountability system, with the TAAS test underlying it, has produced significant success for our state .and accountability will help move science education forward.
I’m sure you are aware that in the last legislative session, there was a concerted effort – backed by businesses – to enhance the TAAS testing system. At one point, SB 103 would have included a science test at the fifth, seventh and 10^th grades as well as in a new exit test in the 11^th grade.
Many of you in this room were part of the lobbying effort for SB103. We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we can take heart in the new 5^th grade TAAS science test and the fact that the 10^th and 11^th grade tests will include science.
We all know that what gets tested, gets taught. And the stakes for schools and school districts in teaching science will be very high stakes indeed. Technology-based companies like mine are glad to see this and proud of the fact that we supported these changes at the legislature.

So, in creating our formula for success, we start with accountability.

Second, let’s add in the issue of teacher shortages in science education – a huge issue that must be addressed by all of us collectively.
It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this problem. A few months ago, the Texas Center for Educational Research published a study on the teacher shortage in Texas --- as study in collaboration with the TEA, the Higher Ed Coordinating Board, SBEC, and Region 20 ESC. If you haven’t seen that report, I commend it to you.
In 1998, out of 686,000 students taking science in the 7^th and 8^th grades in Texas, 23 percent of them were taught by individuals not certified to teach science. In the 9^th through 12 grades, 16 percent of 920,000 students were taught science courses by teachers not certified in those subjects. The statistics for math are very similar.
Looking at this another way: In 7^th and 8^th grade math classrooms in Texas last year, almost one out of three teachers were not certified to teach that particular level of math. For science at the 7^th and 8^th grades, about one out of four teachers were not certified at that level.

Not only are we not recruiting and preparing enough new science teachers, our teacher retention statistics are troubling, too. For science teachers in Texas, the average number of years in the classroom is about four for beginning Chemistry --- and a bit better for Physics and Biology.
This shortage is not new to you, but my point is that the business community is just now getting focused on this. We have been not nearly engaged enough in dealing with this….and we should be. The problem has to be attacked on several levels.

The TCER study recommends a few ways:

(1) On the recruiting side, we must work harder on creating financial incentives. Things like scholarships. Loan forgiveness. The new TEXAS grants program, which is modeled along the lines of the Hope Scholarships in Georgia, will provide millions in grants to students who plan to teach in critical shortage areas -- shortage areas defined by academic discipline and by geography. The Higher Ed Coordinating Board is writing rules for these grants right now.
Innovative recruiting efforts must be pursued…. like the program at UT-Austin where students enrolled in the College of Natural Sciences are recruited early in their college careers and given opportunity to teach science classes in Austin elementary schools – and inspiring many of them to teach science when they graduate.

(2) Also on the recruiting side, there are some interesting efforts to communicate job openings to potential teachers using technology. The SBEC Information and Support Center is certainly a step in the right direction. Also, Region 13 ESC has a resume-screening service that districts in that region can use to publicize teaching jobs and allow prospective teachers to submit their resumes….electronically.

(3) Alternative certification is growing bigger, with 27 institutions now offering approved alternative certification programs in Texas. That’s very good news. The Troops to Teachers kind of program has great potential.

(4) On the teacher retention side, all indications are that teachers need more and better training and support early in their careers.

You are certainly quite aware of that, but the research I’ve seen shows that the lack of support in early teaching years is the biggest factor – even above pay and benefits – in teachers leaving the classroom.

To all those kinds of initiatives in filling the certified teacher shortage, I would add a couple more:
First, the use of distance learning technologies to bring certified teachers to students electronically. We are not doing enough with this. In Texas we are fortunate to have the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund…the TIF. Since 1995, the TIF has been provided $150 million per year, most of it available to K-12 schools for technology…and the TIF will exist for 10 years, or a total of $1.5 billion. The assessment to the TIF from Southwestern Bell alone is $45 million per year. It is time for TIF to begin using for distance learning programs rather than just classroom connectivity, and that is just what TIF is going to do.

Second, there is a need for statewide leadership and coordination of efforts in addressing this dilemma. Like almost everything else in education in Texas, at least from our viewpoint in the private sector, the decentralized authority structure and the fragmented array of programs and initiatives is frustrating. It must be more frustrating you than it is for us.

But there is no clear lead entity grappling with -- or better yet, accountable for -- the issue of teacher shortages. It’s everybody’s problem and nobody’s at the same time. At this conference, you have discussed scholarship funding, incentive pay and a host of other remedies. I believe it is time now for business and the science education community to sit down together and formulate a legislative agenda for the 2001 session to deal with reducing the teacher shortage.

Moving beyond the teacher shortage issue, let’s talk about professional development. In many ways, high quality professional development of science teachers is the lynch-pin to everything. That’s where the Regional Collaboratives come in. And why you are so important.

From a business perspective, training and continuous improvement is not an option. It is a reality that must be faced and financed.

One more key issue I want to discuss finally. As you have heard throughout this conference, much greater public attention must be drawn to this issue. Parents need to understand the role of science education in preparing their children for the future. The public needs to feel the same urgency.

In a state like Texas where computers, telecommunications, and other high-tech jobs are becoming the foundation of our economy, only 44,000 of more than 700,000 10^th , 11^th and 12^th graders completed a Physics course in 1997. Only 123,000 completed a Chemistry course. Again, that’s out of 700,000 students.

We have to tell the story more powerfully to parents and students. One of the bright lights in this is the Texas Scholars program, which has been organized and advocated by the Texas Business and Education Coalition. To encourage students to take the Recommended High School Program, eighth graders hear the message about course selection and future earnings potential – and how they are tied together. Parents get the message, too. Science courses are not just for kids who want to become scientists or engineers, but for everybody.

Having said all this, what is a formula for success?

Let me try this one:

Accountability and testing …plus teachers multiplied by professional development … plus public awareness …all to the power of teamwork (the exponent) …… equals success for Texas students in science.

As they say, solve for X.

So what is the role of business in solving for X?

First, businesses can educate and motivate their own employees. Example: offering employees information on alternative certification. Southwestern Bell in Texas will be doing that again this year.

We can be an advocate in the political arena. This is exactly what TBEC is all about. And the SB 103 legislation is a great example of this, where TBEC informed businesses about the bill and organized business support for it.

Business is often asked to underwrite projects and programs. That has its place where the monies can truly can be leveraged to make a significant impact. Yet private sector contributions dollars are not a panacea and we can’t think of them that way.

But, done right, they can support strategic programs and can be powerful.

Business can and should help bring public attention to the issue, particularly with parents. A Southwestern Bell example: "Parents as School Partners in Math and Science." Let me describe this a bit. We offer grants of $2000 for programs that involve parents in dealing with the math and science student achievement issues at the campus level. We have put aside $100,000 for these grants this year, and we are now looking at more than 150 applications.

Finally, business can participate in your professional development efforts, bringing our real-world applications to your classrooms. I now you are doing this already in the Regional Collaboratives. We should do more of it.

Before I conclude, let me talk a bit about working with business partners, especially the large corporate types. You have heard these kinds of things before, I am sure, but they are really important to mention here today.

When you approach businesses as partners, tell us about the results you want to obtain and how success is to be measured. We are (often obsessively) concerned about results, not about process.

Don’t assume we know what you are talking about. Spell things out.

Explain how your successful pilot program really will be expanded and replicated. Replication is often a weak spot, and it concerns us.

Look for the unique interests of the business from which you are seeking funding. Before you propose your specific project, learn about what our "hot-buttons" are.

And finally, reward your partners. Your contributors. This is certainly the case with the Regional Collaboratives.

I talked earlier about heroes in science and how important they are. Let me tell you about mine.

In my freshman year in college I took Astronomy. It was taught by none other than Clyde W. Tombaugh, the discoverer of planet Pluto in 1930. When he described his tedious search for a possible new planet, he was inspiring. He talked about comparing thousands of photo images of stars, looking for any evidence of another planet. And we he found it, he was bursting with excitement. Clyde Tombaugh captured the sense of wonder that drives science. He was a hero of science.

Thank you for how you have embraced us at Southwestern Bell. Thank you for what you are doing for the students of Texas.