Time to kick-start education

New Mexico Business Journal, Nov, 2000 by Craig R. Barrett

Science and math education remains dismal

In 1989, our nation's governors gathered to define their goals for education. One of the challenges set forth was this: "By the year 2000, United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement." Our failure to meet this challenge constitutes an emergency for this country. And that failure is being passed on every day to the young people in our schools.

For the last year, I have participated in the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, chaired by former U.S. Senator John Glenn. I agreed to sit on this Commission because I believe that improving the teaching of math and science is critical to sustaining America's strength in the global marketplace.

This isn't the first time the U.S. has had to respond to such a challenge. In 1957 Sputnik shocked U.S. into action and the result was a national commitment to win the "space race." Twelve years later we watched a man walk on the moon. But we did not devote the same energy to the more prosaic task of improving our national performance in science and mathematics -- the foundation of our achievements in space.

Both national and international data suggest that the longer our students stay in school, the poorer they perform. For example, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) showed that while U.S. students did well in the fourth grade, by the end of their high school years they ranked near the bottom of the pack.

To be sure, the picture is not uniformly dismal. When we do well, we do very well. The students at the top are smarter and perform better than ever before. But they constitute an ever smaller slice of the pie. How can we continue to tolerate a system that on average produces students who are less and less able to compete in the world economy?

This is an important issue for many reasons. The scientific-technological sector of our economy has driven our recent economic boom and helped lead U.S. to the longest period of prosperity in our history. Science and mathematics drive new technologies, and new technologies drive the U.S. standard of living and economic growth.

In the new economy, the majority of jobs are knowledge-based jobs. But though an increasing number of jobs require technical competence, fewer U.S. students are going into these degree programs. For example, in 1998 our colleges and universities awarded 20 percent fewer degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science than a decade earlier.

The focus of the Glenn Commission Report is right where it should be: on teaching and teachers. We face problems of both quality and quantity. We have too few math and science teachers and many of the teachers currently in our classrooms are not certified to teach the subjects they are teaching. Some 25 percent of the nation's math and science teachers are not accredited to teach math or science. And in poorer districts, that goes up to 50 percent. Bright and dedicated young people go into this profession, but they last an average of only four years- and those teachers need better preparation in both content and methods. They need to have mastered the material they are teaching, and they need to be able to teach it in ways that interest and excite young people.

But what I want to emphasize is the sense of urgency that we must bring to resolving these problems. We need to take action now, not talk business as usual.

For example, the Report calls for a restructuring of teacher training programs in our schools of education -- a process that wont produce results until 2007. It's a laudable idea, but we can't depend exclusively on such gradual reforms to produce the results we need.

The Report mentions several initiatives that I believe can help us recruit, train and reward science and math teachers in the shorter term. These ideas need to be implemented now to address the emergency we face.

In order to attract more graduates to the classroom, we need to provide some real incentives for them to enter the profession. Federal, state and local governments should implement loan forgiveness programs for math and science teachers.

Instead of waiting for teachers to graduate from revamped schools of education in 2007, we should "kick-start" our teacher development program by implementing one Commission recommendation immediately. We need to ensure that all elementary, as well as middle school and high school math and science teachers, go through two-week paid summer institutes -- an intensive professional experience where teachers can learn from other teachers in an interactive and creative environment.

We must have a joint federal-state fund to reward teachers based upon measurable and quantitative improvements in math and science scores. Student performance must be taken seriously as a criterion of high-quality teaching and must be related to teacher compensation.

I know that this is all easy to say. If it were as easy to do, it would have been done before now. And I know that we need to recognize the complexity of the environment we are trying to change, the various constituencies involved and "turfs" in contention. But how long can we let that political reality stop us from doing what must be done?