European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                4 the stars and stripes july 1985 Nasa picks 10 teachers space finalists Washington a Nasa chose six women and four men monday As finalists for a  shuttle flight next including a delighted English instructor who asked reporters How Many 40yearolds do you know who get to play Peter pan two of the finalists for one of the grandest workshops Ever offered to a teacher Are from Idaho population the other eight Are from new Massachusetts and West the chosen from More than teachers who work in Junior High and High they Range in age from 33 to contrary to popular its actually teaching that is probably the worlds oldest profession and of its fallen on pretty hard said Richard who teaches English at new Bedford High he said his goal and that of the other 113 candidates from whom the 10 finalists were chosen is raising the prestige of our he also likened the Opportunity to an offer to be Peter the boy who could the finalists will be flown to the National aeronautics and space administrations Johnson space Center in Houston on july 7 for medical briefings and a flight in the kc13s training which gives passengers 30 seconds of weightlessness As it plunges toward the a Nasa panel and administrator James Beggs will select the teacher who will make a six Day flight aboard the shuttle scheduled for a backup also will be besides the finalists Are Kathleen Anne a biology teacher at Ken Wood High school in Baltimore Robert a sixth Grade computer and science instructor at Cumberland elementary school in West Judith Marie a French and Spanish teacher at Thomas Jefferson school for science and technology in Peggy a teacher at Westwood elementary school in David a business and computer science teacher at Boise Idaho High Sharon Christa a social studies teacher at Concord High Michael who teaches government and grades 7 through at Hazen Union school in Barbara a second Grade teacher at Mccal Donnelly elementary school in Niki Mason who teaches gifted 7th to 9th graders at Vandevender Junior High school in Par and also conducts seminars in computer the Competition began with an announcement by presi Dent Reagan last August that he was directing Nasa to begin a search in All elementary and secondary schools for a when that shuttle lifts All America will be re minded of the crucial role teachers and education play in the life of our the president i cant think of a better lesson for our children and our Dodds pair far from being downhearted by Clint Swift Washington Bureau chief Washington for Kenneth Van it was a Uncein lifetime Opportunity for a teacher with an astronomy Back ground to be in space collecting data just two weeks before valleys Comet passes closest to the the National aeronautics and space administration plans to use the first teacher in space to help beam lessons Back to american As part of her project in the orbiter Mary smothers wanted to add translators and Amateur radio operators to offer the Les sons to children All Over the and Verc the department of defense dependents schools candidates to be the teacher aboard the space shuttle next but monday when Nasa announced the 10 finalists who will train the names smothers and Vanlew were not on the everyone left a a smiling smothers had said at the end of a week of workshops on space travel and of interviews designed to trim the Field from 114 teachers from across the United states to there Are no agreed Only some will be bigger winners than in keeping with that Nasa had sent All the candidates Home Over the weekend As the finalists were brought Back for the news conference an Earth science teacher at Kaiserslautern High and a physics and chemistry teacher at Frank Furt High both in said Treyve already enjoyed a huge personal and professional payoff from the selection when word got out that smothers and Vanlew had a shot at a ride on the space their students turned to a space age tool to wish them Well the compute Vanlew for teacher in read the with a computer graphics drawing of the space shuttle on one end and a rendering of the solar system at the Mary smothers teacher declared a printout with rockets at the Bottom from students at and Well wishers showed up outside the students would Stop me at the smothers they run across the parking lot and we read about parents the week in Washington offered one highlight after the teachers they cited a moving private viewing of the film the dream is made from videotapes of earlier shuttle in a 15minute meeting in the East room of the White president Rea Gan took time from the hostage crisis to Tell the teachers that he remembered hav ing to make a no social visit to the Princi Nea hails poll on teachers pay Washington up most americans believe teachers should be paid up to 20 percent More than they get now and Are willing to have their taxes raised to improve teacher training and Public education a Gallup poll showed the Survey was commissioned by the National education the country largest teachers which hailed the results As evidence the Public is ready and willing to pay for better Public respondents said the average salary for an experienced now should be raised to from to and 90 percent of those surveyed agreed More Money was needed for pub Lic education and teacher with 58 percent saying they favored higher taxes to do this new Gallup Nea poll is Good news for people who believe in americas Public said Don executive director of the member he said it showed the Public is willing to put its Money where its Mouth is by raising teacher salaries and by even being willing to pay More taxes to improve the Quality of education and teacher train the Nea Over the last year has called for an average starting salary for teach ers of above the cur rent figure and an average salary for experienced teachers of about the Union argued that schools Are hav ing difficulty attracting Good chiefly because of Low the Nea said the besides Back its Call for larger teacher although at lower also found Over whelming support for its recommendation for improved teacher training and certification the poll was based on a Telephone sur vey of adults conducted Between april 29 and May sixty three percent of the respondents said raising teacher salaries would help improve the Quality of teaching a great sixty percent said competency tests for All classroom teachers also would help improve the Quality of teaching a great and 49 percent said raising admission standards to teachers colleges would do the education chief revises research Structure Washington a education Secretary William Bennett has announced a shakeup of the Way his depart ment funds research and gathers statistics on How americas schools Are Bennett is abolishing the existing nation Al Institute of education and the National Center for education statistics and Shuf fling most of their functions under a new five part research Bennett said in a statement the moves will More effectively provide the american people with accurate information about the nations schools and the departments current research and school improvement programs Are burdened with superfluous bureaucratic there is needless administrative Duplica he the reorganization was widely leaked to interest groups and on Capitol Hill before Bennetts the 1979 Law creating the department of education gave the Secretary the authority to abolish the National Institute of Educa Tion and the statistics Center without seek ing new All Bennett has to do is give Congress 90 Days Bennett said he eventually plans to ask Congress for legislation designating his new research entity the National Institute of the current Institute has a million budget and Haa spent million on school research since it was founded in 1972 by the Nixon conservatives have Long complained that much of that Money went to Liberal school Reform they wanted the Institute wiped pals office and that he still ended up in the White then there were the Eugene Deke Slayton and Harrison Schmidt served As seeking the 10 teachers who would travel to the Johnson space Center at Houston this week for rigorous physical Joe Allen and Judy Resnick spoke and showed slides on what life is like on a shuttle Robert Ober Meyer handed out certificates at the end of the John and Jake met the candidates Over snacks at the Dirksen office build the most difficult time was june the same Day they met the Vanlew it was the he it was a fantastic Bunch of but Only 10 were going to each candidate had a pair of onion one interviews with members of a 20per son screening committee put together by Nasa and the Council of chief state school who studied astronomy along the Way to a masters degree at the University of Colorado in said he and every one of the 114 teachers had plenty to take Back to the classroom As a result of the Ive got a new perspective on Nasa and its role in the National he weve got computer Slid tapes on the space program if a student has a weve got the re sources to Send him the 114 teachers will meet they will be nasal guests at the set for next 22 at the Kennedy space Center in Well be there for four Smoth ers that will give us a Chance to work with materials weve find out from other teachers what worked for them and see whether there Are gaps Nasa could help us smothers said she hoped the selection process sent a message that went beyond Vanlew and beyond her and even beyond the it should Tell people that there Are some Classy teachers out she Kaiserslautern High school has some Classy if you met the people we it would amaze you what kind of peo ple Are teaching All Over our and Dodds apparently didst fare too badly by while teachers from other school systems were handing out gins or other Vanlew and mothers said they were kept Busy filling requests for applications from teachers who were interested in working in the de sense department school system