Anderson@Large

STEM Education: Who’s Go Daddy’s Daddy?

I spent Saturday in New York City, where the World Science Festival was in full swing.

I had planned to attend the panel discussion, “Rhythms on the Brain: Music, Memory, and Emotion,” to hear the scientific explanation of why we sing the blues. With black male joblessness at 17.5 percent and black teen unemployment at 40.7 percent, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know why black folks sing the blues.

Instead, I took the ferry to Governors Island to explore the wonders of science with the next generation of inventors and innovators. As I walked around Governors Island, it was a pleasure to see the delight on their faces.

The World Science Festival is “designed to make the esoteric understandable and the familiar fascinating.” It is undeniable that African American children are fascinated with the esoteric. But that fascination fades by middle school. So educators, policymakers and advocates must reimagine STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to restore its cool factor.

The Internet Generation is familiar with GoDaddy.com from its ubiquitous Super Bowl ads. It would be cool if students knew Go Daddy’s daddy is a black man, Emmit McHenry, the founder of Network Solutions, the go-to website for domain name registration in the 1990s.

Time magazine recently asked: The Future of Innovation: Can America Keep Pace?

We need innovation urgently. But if we are to get the U.S. back to work, we need perhaps even more urgently to rebuild American education, reform our training system, revive high-end manufacturing, focus on new growth industries and rebuild our infrastructure. In fact, finding new ways to do these old tasks might be the greatest and most important innovation of all.

Indeed, throwing money at the problem is not the solution. Education spending has doubled in the last decade. Meanwhile, the United States has fallen to 17th in science literacy and 25th in math literacy.

Studies show there is a link between performance on math and science assessment tests and economic growth. Given the changing demographics, it is an economic imperative that we encourage interest in STEM education among underrepresented students.

Young Black Voters Turned Out in 2010

A newly released analysis of Census data by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that young black voters had the highest youth turnout rate in the 2010 midterm elections.

CIRCLE reported:

In 2010, young African Americans voted at a rate of 27.5%. This was an increase from the 2006 Midterm elections, when 24.0% of young African Americans had voted. The relatively strong showing continues a trend from 2008, when young African Americans showed the highest turnout rate among any youth racial/ethnic group since 1972. Despite lower levels of turnout all around, young African American voters are still relatively engaged politically.

As Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, reminds us, “Don’t believe the hype.” In every election, black voters show up and turn out.

Read more: The Youth Vote in 2010: Final Estimates Based on Census Data

Redistricting Help Wanted in Pennsylvania

I am tracking redistricting in a number of states, including California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.

Yesterday, the Census Bureau shipped redistricting data to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and state legislative leaders. With P.L. 94-171 data in hand, redistricting will begin in earnest. Or it will once the fifth member is appointed to the Legislative Reapportionment Commission that will redraw congressional and state legislative districts.

The legislative leaders have posted a help wanted sign for the fifth member, who will chair the commission. In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said:

Redistricting is a once-a-decade exercise, and among the most important issues we will address in 2011. One of my goals is for this to be the most open and transparent redistricting process in the history of Pennsylvania. A public search for someone to chair the Commission is the best first step in making that happen.

House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody added:

The determination of fair districts of equal population will take months, but it begins with the selection of a fifth member to chair the LRC. It is a huge responsibility and I hope that many interested people will ask for consideration.

Applications are due no later than April 4. For more info, visit Tracking Change.

House Democrats May be Cooked in 2012

In the 2012 elections, there will be a higher turnout of minority and young voters than in November. Still, political analyst Charlie Cook thinks House Democrats' goose may be cooked.

For info on the redistricting process in your state, check out Tracking Change.

Drawing the Lines

The Census Bureau has begun to roll out redistricting data. So far, 2010 Census results have been released for 12 states, including Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia.

With the release of the P.L. 94-171 redistricting data -- race, Hispanic or Latino origin, voting age population and housing occupancy status -- the political games will begin.

Yes, data of any kind can make one's eyes glaze over. But get over it. For the first time, we the people can get into the game and draw our own lines. We now have access to free web-based mapping tools to draw congressional and state legislative boundaries.

In Florida, for instance, the public will be able to build their own plans and submit them to the state legislature.

A popular public mapping tool, DistrictBuilder, was developed by George Mason University and Azavea, a Philadelphia-based software firm that specializes in geographic data analysis.

Advocacy groups can use social media to educate the public about why they should care about redistricting, foster participation in the process, and promote transparency.

The upcoming public hearings will provide opportunities to compare citizen-generated plans with the legislature's proposed map. The public will be empowered to question whether the legislature's plan is intended to draw communities of interest or protect incumbents.

For more info, check out Redistricting the Nation.

Redistricting Matters

Beginning in early February, the Census Bureau will release redistricting data to the states. The data will include counts of total persons by race, Hispanic origin and voting age for each legislative district and voting district, down to the block level.

Once the data sets are released, redistricting will kick into high gear.

Last week, I attended a Brookings Institution briefing on public participation in the redistricting process. Thomas Mann provided an overview of how this round of redistricting will be more transparent.

For info about DIY redistricting, check out the Public Mapping Project.

For background info about the redistricting process, go to Tracking Change. You can also join the conversation on Tracking Change's Facebook page.

Portrait of America 2010

Today at 11 am ET, the Census Bureau will release the first official data from the 2010 Census, “A New Portrait of America, First 2010 Census Results.” The data will include the resident population for the nation and the states, and congressional apportionment numbers for each state.

The Bureau has compiled some FAQ about reapportionment, which is mandated by Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.

Reapportionment is a zero-sum process. C-SPAN.org notes:

The 2010 census could affect the presidential race by creating imbalances in the electoral college votes, and the composition of Congress based partly on the number of seats a state has in the House. It takes 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency.

The Census Bureau is required by law to release information pertaining to the national and state populations to the President by December 31.

This video provides an overview of reapportionment.

The press conference will air live on C-SPAN3. A live stream of the announcement will be available here.

UPDATE: Don’t mess with Texas. Already the second largest congressional delegation, the Lone Star state will gain four additional House seats.