Change the Equation's blog

Teenagers are constantly plugged into the fruits of computer scientists' labor, but few have access to courses or teachers that can help them become the next Mark Zuckerberg. But friends in the tech industry are helping to change that. 

Microsoft, a CTEq member company, has started sending its own engineers back into the classroom to lead computer-science courses at schools that would otherwise not have them. The students learn

Although the number of STEM jobs ison the rise, more than half of high-school students don't plan on pursuing careers in STEM, according to a new Harris Interactive and University of the Sciences poll. 

51 percent of the high schoolers surveyed answered that they "definitely" or "probably" won't pursue a career in healthcare or science, an increase of 4.1 percent over last year. Alarmingly, 61 percent of African American students don't see STEM in their futures. 

However, the students' reasons give us clues on how to reverse these numbers and engage more students. Twenty-one percent

In our 2012 Vital Signs, we take a close look at the chances that women and young girls have in STEM.

Here's a dose of good STEM news to start off your weekend: The National Math and Science Initiatve, which trains teachers and then supports students in AP classes, helped drive partner schools to more than double the number of AP tests students passed last year. 

Especially notable were the gains for groups typically underrepresented in STEM -- female, Hispanic, and black students. The Initiative focuses on providing intensive student and teacher support for classes. Their investment paid off: In the schools

One of the biggest concerns in U.S. education today is whether our students are graduating from high school "ready" for college and career. To be ready, obviously, students need to take and understand advanced math and science coursework. But a significant portion of students, our Vital Signs report found, don't even get the chance to take those courses.

Take math like Algebra II, for instance. The course is considered necessary for college.

One of the indicators we're most excited about in our new Vital Signs is how much states spend on per proficient student -- or, as we call it, the return on investment. 

What exactly does that mean? We -- working with the American Institutes for Research -- looked at how well students performed on the 2009 NAEP exam in math and science (some states didn't participate in science, so we just looked at math) and also

Check out our new 2012 STEM Vital Signs!

As the last wave of students returns to school this week, chances are high that they will have a first- or second-year teacher, according to a new analysis put together by University of Pennsylvania researchers. The reason? While Baby Boomers' retirement accounts for some of the new faces, high turnover, especially of math and science teachers, accounts for most of it.

While attrition is not exactly a new problem, the analysis confirmed the increasing pace. In 2007-08 200,000 new teachers led classrooms, up from 65,000 20 years earlier. And according to earlier work by the lead author, math and science teachers are twice as likely to leave for another industry than they are to retirement.

India, home to one of the largest and fastest-growing student populations in the world, has decided to opt out of the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examinations, according to the national government. The reason? They think their students just aren't ready for it.

PISA, administered by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, is given to 15-year-olds every three years and is designed to provide a standard point of comparison for educational systems (Some countries, including India, had regions with enough variance in the educational systems to essentially have two entries). India participated for the first time in the 2009 exam,

Khan Academy -- the nonprofit that hosts an free online library of thousands of educational videos -- recently launched a collection of tutorials on computer science.

According to the introductory video, hosted by John Resig, head of the initiative for KA, and Sal Khan himself, the series is designed so that even someone with no background in computer science could pick up coding. The tutorials start with the basics