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File #: 140215    Version: 0 Name:
Type: Resolution Status: ADOPTED
File created: 3/20/2014 In control: Committee on Education
On agenda: Final action:
Title: Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) educational opportunities for young men and women in the City of Philadelphia and the efforts the City can undertake to increase the opportunities available.
Sponsors: Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Oh, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Bass, Councilmember Henon
Attachments: 1. Signature14021500.pdf
Title
Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) educational opportunities for young men and women in the City of Philadelphia and the efforts the City can undertake to increase the opportunities available.

Body
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia has a vested interest in increasing student interest and success in STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math - and showing students that they can have a future in those fields; and

WHEREAS, Increased success in STEM subjects allows students to eventually become part of the STEM workforce in the Philadelphia area; and

WHEREAS, Only 26% of Pennsylvania high school students are currently interested in STEM; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania will have 314,000 STEM jobs needed to be filled by 2018; and

WHEREAS, 60 percent of US employers are having difficulties finding qualified workers to fill vacancies at STEM companies; and

WHEREAS, At all levels of educational attainment, STEM job holders earn 11 percent higher wages compared with their same-degree counterparts in other jobs; and

WHEREAS, In 2010, the unemployment rate for STEM workers was 5.3 percent; for all other occupations, it was 10 percent; and

WHEREAS, The United States is ranked 25th in Math and 17th in Science among industrialized nations, leading to growing concerns that Americans will be disadvantaged in the new global economy; and

WHEREAS, The Obama Administration has invested $265 million into STEM education, with the goal of graduating one million students into STEM fields over the next decade, along with developing, recruiting, and retaining 100,000 teachers; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby authorize the Committee on Education to hold hearings on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) educational opportunities for young men and women in the City of Philadelphia and the efforts the City can un...

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