[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5267-5268]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION'S LAUNCHING OF 
                     NATIONAL LAB SKILLS SYMPOSIUM

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Madam President, I rise today to honor the Center for 
Excellence in Education, CEE, for launching the first National Lab 
Skills Symposium. As an honorary member of the board of trustees for 
the center, I have witnessed firsthand the important work CEE had 
undertaken, and I could not be more impressed and excited about its 
newest endeavor.
  Improving science education is an essential investment toward the 
future of our Nation and world. Since it was founded in 1983 by Joann 
DiGennaro and the late ADM H.G. Rickover, CEE has been an influential 
leader in championing efforts to provide science, technology, 
engineering, and mathematics initiatives for this Nation's top 
achieving students.
  With over 25 years of experience as a leader in STEM academic 
programs for high school students, CEE understands exactly what it 
takes to prepare future innovators for the 21st century; and it is 
prepared to take further steps to ensure that students develop the 
skills they need. Consequently, after data from both of CEE's world-
renowned scientific enrichment programs, the Research Science Institute 
and the USA Biology Olympiad, demonstrated that even our Nation's best 
and brightest students are receiving inadequate training in laboratory 
skills and practices, CEE initiated the National Lab Skills Symposium 
to address the poor

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quality of instruction and learning in our Nation's science and 
technology labs.
  CEE held its first such symposium from April 8-9, in Washington, DC, 
to discuss best practices in laboratory education and to determine the 
ways in which high school teachers throughout the country can use these 
best practices for the teaching of laboratory skills to students for 
success in STEM careers.
  Before holding the symposium, CEE examined laboratory education 
programs across the United States, seeking those programs that follow 
the most cost-effective, sustainable, and replicable models for 
teaching students practical lab skills. CEE found six programs it 
deemed exemplary, which were recognized at the symposium. These 
programs also served as a framework that attendees, which included 
influential members of academia at the high school and university 
levels, nongovernmental organizations, governmental agency 
representatives, and corporate leaders, could evaluate and reference 
when developing a set of best practices for laboratory education. CEE 
plans to implement the symposium's best practice recommendations in 
several States within 2 years and hopes to eventually adopt them 
nationwide.
  I applaud the efforts of CEE to address the crisis in lab skills, and 
I am confident that this new initiative will help us to ensure that the 
United States fields a talented and diverse workforce in science and 
technology for years to come. I commend CEE's president, Joann 
DiGennaro, for the leadership and vision she has demonstrated in 
putting together the National Lab Skills Symposium. I have no doubt 
that Admiral Rickover is saluting this latest effort.
  I ask that all of my colleagues join me in recognizing the Center for 
Excellence in Education for all it has done to assure the Nation's 
economic growth and national security.

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