Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets
I'm curious though how it would go about doing that.
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Excellent question. This is something a lot of people have thought about beyond the usual "hey Uncle Sam, do something !!".
I will preface the discussion by stating that the following is my opinion based on my gray hair, my worldview, and my view of how the US Constititution allocates powers and responsibilities to the Federal and State governments. Constitutionally education was allocated to the States and remains mostly so. Because of civil and equity rights issues in the 50's, 60's, 70's the Federal sector encroached onto the educational turf and has established a substantial influence in policy matters. Having said all that, I'll proceed.......
If I were writing a policy, here is what I'd do.
Establish the "Teacher STEM Incentive Award Program" administered by the U.S Department of Education.
The award program is simple.
Any public school teacher that coaches a robotics team and takes it to a competition will receive a teacher stipend. The stipend will be listed on a table of stipends that describe the amount of money versus the robotics program. Up to two teachers per team are eligible. The regional director for the robotics competitions would certify that the teacher complied with the requirement which would then trigger US Dept. of Ed. to make the award. No other assessment would be required on a teacher/team basis by US Dept. of Ed, however the department would be authorized to assess the overall program and report accordingly.
I'll pick some stipend amounts out of the air.
FIRST FRC $ 1,500
FIRST FTC $ 1,000
FIRST FLL $ 750
VEX $ 1,000
MATE $ 1,000
and a few other programs
The program sunsets in 5 years, meaning the states have to make arrangements to pick up the slack.
Under the guidelines above the 1st year cost would be under $ 40 M / year.
There is a second way to write this legislation that may be more attractive to teams.
......Offer 1/2 the stipend amount with the stipulation that the state or local district match the amount.
......And offer 1/2 the team registration fee with similiar state / district match.
......And the $ 40 M would still cover this plan.
It may make some mentors cranky but one of the biggest impediments to teacher participation is the lack of incentives. If the Federal sector said I'll put up half if you put up half then that would be substantial progress.
I'm sure I'll get beat up for something here but this is what I think will be a very cost effective program. FIRST has been growing at about 20% a year. I'm not sure we want to grow any faster than 30% a year. Having a shared financial stake will help incentivize teams to manage themselves properly and not view the government as a giant sugar daddy. I'm sure that over time the program could be adapted to give larger stakes in at-risk schools and other tough situations.
I've heard rumors of other proposals that are being considered and for all I know one exists and it will be pushed by the administration when they see fit.
I for one am very interested in a solid proposal that 100 FIRST mentors could sign on to and recommend to the Congress.
This proposal isn't totally without precedent. Several years ago there was a "Teacher Incentive Award" program but it was very broad based and had substantial overhead, both in application and review. This is much more narrow but streamlined and focused.
Potentially - If this all worked out addittional options could be added to incentivize other STEM activities that are not necessarily robotics related but still streamlined, and focused.
Ed
PS - see Corky the Robot clean up the lake right
here
.