NSF Makes It Rain: $722K Award To Evaluate Microsoft-Backed TEALS 64
theodp writes: Microsoft has $92 billion in cash parked offshore, so it's kind of surprising to see a $722K National Science Foundation award is going towards validating the efficacy of Microsoft TEALS, the pet program of CEO Satya Nadella that sends volunteer software engineers with no teaching experience into high schools to teach kids and their teachers computer science. Among its Program Changes for 2015, TEALS said it "explicitly commits to provide a core set of curriculum materials that are complete, organized, and adaptable," which should help improve the outcome of the Developing Computer Science Pedagogical Content Knowledge through On-the-Job
Learning NSF study schools are being asked to participate in. Meanwhile, CSTUY, a volunteer organization led by experienced CS teachers (including Slashdot user zamansky), finds itself turning to Kickstarter for $25K to fund Saturday Hacking Sessions. So, as Microsoft-backed Code.org — which has also attracted NSF award money to validate its CS program — is fond of saying: What's wrong with this picture?
(To be fair to TEALS: it may have Microsoft backing, but it's not strictly a Microsoft effort, and also started out as a pure volunteer effort, as founder Kevin Wang explained earlier this year.)
That is not a very big research grant. (Score:2)
It's a five year grant. In my field, that would be barely enough funding to hire one postdoctoral researcher and one graduate student to do the research. That's assuming no equipment or supplies are needed. Typically health insurance and overhead cost a lot.
Re:It's no surprise Microsoft is trying to damage. (Score:4, Insightful)
Not to mention pushing Microsoft development tools and technologies.
Re:It's no surprise Microsoft is trying to damage. (Score:5, Interesting)
Not to mention pushing Microsoft development tools and technologies.
No, it is about teaching computer science and pretty much anybody in the industry can volunteer to be a part of it. But you saw "Microsoft" and immediately projected your own bias rather than actually doing any research or educating yourself about it didn't you. So from the TEALS site [tealsk12.org]:
What’s the curriculum?
Our partner schools select from two TEALS courses: Intro CS (“Introduction to Computer Science Principles”) and AP CS A (“Introduction to Java Programming”).
Intro to CS uses Berkeley's Snap! [berkeley.edu] visual programming language to teach CS fundamentals, not Microsoft tools.
Introduction to Java Programming? That doesn't sound very Microsoft does it. It's actually based on a text [buildingjavaprograms.com] from Washington University.
Seriously it's all on the website, instead of being an ignorant naysayer spreading FUD you could actually contribute.
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There's much more than that in the teals website.
Yes there are a lot of things, including Microsoft, Google and Facebook technologies outside of the core curriculum. But the core curriculum is very platform and vendor agnostic.
Building Java Programs (Score:2)
Is this meant to be a book bought by individuals, or by schools?
The two volumes of Core Java, 10th Edition, will be cheaper together than this when they are published. (90.81 USD from amazon.com or 73.98 GBP from amazon.co.uk)
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Is this meant to be a book bought by individuals, or by schools?
I don't think it's bought by anybody, the course materials are just based on it.
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That's $4.46 per hour.
It's not a salary, it's a stipend. Intended to cover the costs incurred by the volunteers. Clue is even in the URL and mentioned multiple times on the website:
http://www.tealsk12.org/ [tealsk12.org] volunteers/FAQ/
92B (Score:2)
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that is documented independently.
So? The $92B is not only parked overseas, it was earned overseas, by mostly non-Americans selling to other non-Americans. And it will be reinvested overseas, along with trillions of dollars parked by other corporations, creating jobs for non-Americans, because our idiotic tax laws would tax the hell out of the money if it was invested in America. No other country has such a counterproductive tax policy, pushing away investments by their own corporations.
It is absurd to blame Microsoft for our dumb tax la
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But, you just don't get it! Microsoft has $92 billion. In cash! Parked overseas! $92 billion that they could bring back to the US!
But we are funding a project about education that involves Microsoft! With Federal Tax Dollars! If they just repatriated that $92 billion, we'd have another $30 Billion to spend on NSF studies and other stuff!
#ItIsAllReallyOurMoneyAnyway
#PayTheirFairShare
#IDon'tCareIfTheyHelpPoorKidsGetEducated
#AndHelpKidsGetHighPayingEngineeringJobs
#OrHelpKidsUseThatEducationToStartTechCom
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The grant was provided by NSF to MS.
Actually according to the NSF page it was granted to WestEd to study Microsoft's program.
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Of course it is parked in tax havens and is not parked where it was earned anywhere in the world. So still all just scummy bullshit, a typical psychopathic corporations willing to suck the life blood of the economy out of countries all over the globe, leaving people to suffer and die with major cuts backs in social services.
Don't bloody pretend like they are leaving money where it was earned, nope, disappearing into fictitious cost centres in tax havens, straight up psychopathic profit shifting. Don't wa
Re: 92B (Score:2)
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Sorry no it is illegal they are bleeding economies out of sheer greed. Their activities are not legal, there are just gaps they have paid their lobbyists to create via corrupt politicians that they are then exploiting in a criminal fashion, no because it is legal but because there is no legal framework by which they can be prosecuted and mass incarcerated, YET!
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Sorry no it is illegal they are bleeding economies out of sheer greed
Nonsense. Greed is perfectly legal. The fact that you don't like it doesn't make it illegal. In fact, you say so your self:
they have paid their lobbyists to create via corrupt politicians
If a company is following the law, no matter how that law came about, then the company is not doing anything illegal. Again, the fact that you don't like it doesn't make it illegal.
To my own comment: A company is required, by regulation, to maximize profit for share holders. If a company has the ability to legally move their money around to minimize taxation then they are required to do
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Nope the tax evasion is illegal, just the means of prosecuting are not available as yet. Still the sheer psychopathic destructiveness ensure the sick fuckers can be considered a plague upon the earth.
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Nope the tax evasion is illegal
Nonsense. It is fully legal. Please quote which law, and in which way this is illegal. If it is illegal, why are companies like Microsoft and Google not prosecuted. The tax authorities are actually quite fond of prosecuting illegal tax evasion. Please don't make up your own fact just to make reality fit your emotions.
considered a plague upon the earth
Sigh. Why don't you just move to North Korea immediately. Then you will not be plagued with companies or even the concept of having a job.
No Teaching Experience? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not sure that is a great idea. Some people are great at teaching, others are not. Someone with no teaching experience has a good probability of being on the "not" side. Even people WITH teaching experience are often poor teachers.
My concern with this is that you'll get someone with no experience that is also a poor teacher, and that person will turn the kids off to what could be an interesting field of study.
Re:No Teaching Experience? (Score:4, Interesting)
Many of my students who have volunteered with TEALS said that they felt that it wasn't doing much or anything to build long term capacity with respect to teaching.
That said, they all felt that while they were in the classroom the kids were getting something that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise and that was worth it.
They didn't think it was a game changer but they did feel it was a good thing. I tend to agree.
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Some people are great at teaching, others are not.
I believe this is a self-perpetuating myth. What the data shows is that new teachers in America improve rapidly over the course of about three years, after which they are about as good as they'll ever be. So it's certainly not the case that some people are just naturally teachers; great teachers have to learn the craft through practice, and that learning comes after they finish their official training.
But maybe what we're seeing is that it takes teachers three years to reach their inborn teaching potentia
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Funny TEALS connection (Score:2)
Funny thing is that I've been told that my graduates form the largest subset of all the NY area TEALS volunteers.
Meanwhile we continue to produce results but struggle to raise funds while the rich get richer.
To everyone reading this, please do check us out at cstuy.org, vet us, and draw your own conclusions.
Oh well, back to the grind.
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The money they earned was from outside the USA, and they have not repatriated the money, and it is not taxed until repatriated, so it is not your money (yet).
Which is kind of bullshit since US Citizens are taxed on worldwide income. Maybe that is a reason to go to Mars?
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Nice little tax dodge we give away to them, huh? Eh, whatever, I guess we're all okay with it. It's not like this would ever be an election issue or anything. Certainly not in this cycle
You can mod this offtopic if you want, but it was at the top of the summary, so I figure somebody is interested in the abyss where our money disappears
It's not a tax dodge if it's legal. Also, MS and all the other companies doing it are being good corporate stewards. I want that money back into the U.S. as much as anyone else. I bet it could do tremendous things for our economy. But as it stands under current tax code:
-MS brings $92 billion back to the U.S.
-IRS taxes $32 billion of it away from the in corporate tax incoming to the U.S.
-MS pays the remaining $60 billion into their stock buyback / dividends / debt program.
-IRS taxes $12 billion of it as
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And just think, when those people spend that money, it then goes to another company that pays tax. And they give it to employees who pay tax on it. And they spend it again and there more tax! It's infinite tax! The horror!
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It's not a tax dodge if it's legal.
You have the mentality of a peasant. Just because something is "legal"does not mean that it is automatically fair or correct. The law is riddled with exceptions that enrich and empower the few at the expense of everyone else. This is not an accident. These kinks in the laws are bought and paid for by the rich and powerful so they (and their heirs) can keep and expand their wealth and power.
All you have to do is look at the ever growing gap between the wealthy and every one else to see how things really wor
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You have the mentality of a peasant, now let me tell you as insultingly and snarkily as I can why my shit doesn't smell bad...
I see - you don't have a CPA or a tax professional minimize your tax exposure. You donate extra funds to the IRS in your generosity. You want big businesses to replicate your attitude. Good for you!
Personally, I don't like giving up what I've earned to a government that has proven at every turn to be terribly incompetent, corrupt, and incapable of financial responsibility. I hold no ill feelings towards other people (include boards of directors) who feel the same.
You keep riding your high horse though,
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$722K is not a lot of money (Score:1)
for a Federal government program with ramifications beyond a small number of citizens.
Sure, it could flop in the sense that the recommendation is not to proceed further. But, less than $1M of Fed. taxpayer money - that's chump change for a program undertaken in good faith.
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No, he is saying that your tax dollars are taken at gunpoint. Which they are.
If you doubt it, try not paying your taxes and see where it leads. Keep it up long enough and eventually the people with guns show up to escort you to a confined living facility. This is the end game of all law enforcement, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. Everything the government does involves the threat of force. It might be way in the background, but when push comes to shove, force is the only thing that really backs up
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I see that argument a lot, but taken to that extreme, virtually all monetary exchanges are done at gunpoint.
Restaurants extort their fees at gunpoint! Go to restaurants every day and dine and dash, see how far that gets you.
Customers extort their services at gunpoint! Accept money for your services and then don't provide the service, see how far that gets you.
Contracts are enforced at gunpoint! Breach your contract and fail to make the other party whole, and see what happens.
Even escrow happens at gunpoi
If they want to do some good they should share (Score:3)
The slash article says, "a core set of curriculum materials that are complete, organized, and adaptable." As a middle school teacher I would love to get some material that meets those qualifications.
Because Computer Science is not a core subject, the teachers are left making up things as we go along. At this point I have a pretty good scheme of work that eaves the students leaving with a lot more than they came in with. However, it would be nice to have some real standards and expectations for each grade level. Meaningful material for hitting those goals would be even better; but at the present the teachers really don't have anything beyond what some department head thinks is important.
(BTW: for my classes, giving full authority to a department head, who doesn't even teach at my school or at my level, meant I got an edict of "No programming!"
Even Arduino boards got nixed. I can show them to the students; but they are not allowed to program, or play with, them. I was told, "Even you have said they are controllers. The students might learn how to control things, and we can't have that happening." I was left with ??? on my face.
Fear of "hacking," something that the administrators cannot even define, is hobbling us.)
So, provide the material, let teachers try to present it as a "standard" curriculum.
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BTW: for my classes, giving full authority to a department head, who doesn't even teach at my school or at my level, meant I got an edict of "No programming!"
You've got to change that. Find a way to convince him. Use your social engineering skills, whatever it takes.
Not strictly a MS-effort, but a MS-program (Score:2)
From the TEALS Volunteer FAQ [tealsk12.org]: Is TEALS a Microsoft program? Yes, TEALS operates as a citizenship project within Microsoft. Microsoft is a huge supporter of computer science education, and provides most of the funding for TEALS.
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I doubt they bring in the cash on their persons. If this conspiracy theory were true, these people don't need the cash here in the US. Once you've got enough money in banks across the globe in a global bank (eg. HSBC) you can take out 'loans' against that money in other countries because your global 'net worth' is billions of dollars.
People like Mr. Trump and Mr. Gates have millions if not billions of dollars in debt which is neatly managed, repackaged and sold, yet they are 'worth' billions, not because th