Biophysical Society Newsletter - February 2016

5 / 20

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 5
FEBRUARY 2016
NIH Releases a Five-Year
Strategic Plan
The Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD)
at NIH approved a strategic plan, NIH-Wide
Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2016–2020: Turning
Discovery Into Health, at its meeting on December
10, 2015. The plan was requested by Congress
in the FY 2014 spending bill. While purposefully
broad in scope in order to allow for the agency to
pursue unexpected opportunities and to not con-
flict with the strategic plans of individual institutes
and centers, the plan focuses on four objectives: 1)
Advancing opportunities in biomedical research,
2) fostering innovation through NIH priority
setting, 3) enhancing scientific stewardship, and
4) developing the "science of science" to excel as
a federal science agency. The NIH intends to
treat the plan as a “living document,” meaning it
is open for refinement throughout the five-year pe-
riod. The strategic plan can be read in its entirety
at
nih/strategic-plan-fy2016-2020-508.pdf.
A New Education Law
in the United States
In a major act of bipartisanship, Congress passed
the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which
replaces the 12-year-old No Child Left Behind Act
and authorizes the US Department of Education.
While much of the media coverage of the new
law has focused on its move away from required
testing and how the federal government provides
education grant funding to the states, the bill also
has several provisions related to STEM education:
• Mandated testing in science and math.
Students are required to take annual math
tests in grades three through eight and once
in high school, and science tests three times
between grades three and 12. Required test-
ing is viewed as an indicator that the subject is
important, and also provides some guarantee
that time will be devoted to the subjects dur-
ing school.
• The establishment of a nationwide STEM
Master Teacher Corps. This program will be
funded through a competitive grant program
open to states. The purpose is “to elevate the
status of the science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics teaching profession by rec-
ognizing, rewarding, attracting, and retaining
outstanding science, technology, engineer-
ing, and mathematics teachers, particularly in
high-need and rural schools."
• The inclusion of engineering concepts in
state science assessments. The bill allows
states to use federal funding to refine science
assessments to include engineering skills.
• Alternative certification for STEM teach-
ers. States will be permitted to use federal
funds to create alternative career paths for
STEM teachers.
• Permits differential pay. States can use fed-
eral funds to pay higher salaries to teachers in
high-needs subjects, including STEM fields.
• Professional development for STEM teach-
ers. Schools can partner with colleges and
universities to provide professional develop-
ment for teachers.
While the STEM community has shown support
and approval for the new law, it has expressed dis-
appointment that the bill does not reauthorize the
Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program,
a grant program that funds partnerships between
STEM departments at institutions of higher edu-
cation and high-need school districts. It is possible
that programs funded under MSP will be able to
continue through funding from a larger umbrella
grant program included in ESSA.
In order to work out the details and allow time
for districts and states to transition to the new
requirements, many components of the law do
not take effect until the 2017-2018 school year.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chairman of
the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Com-
mittee, which has oversight over the Department
of Education, has announced plans to hold several
hearings on the law’s implementation in early
2016. Alexander served as the US Secretary of
Education from 1991 to 1993.