This summer as the Senate concludes committee work on the FY 2011 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriation; Department of Education programs are up for funding consideration.
STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math-some of the major building blocks of a quality education necessary for future innovators- and the long term competitiveness of the United States
Department of Education programs include:
- Mathematics and Science Partnerships
- Effective Teaching and Learning
- Educational Technology State Grants
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers
- Race to the Top
- Investing in Innovation Fund
- Administration request: $500 million
TechVision21 strongly supports STEM funding as fundamental tool of continuing to build a world class work force in all sectors of our economy: private business, government and military personnel.
An excerpt from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment:
U.S. 15-year-olds trailed their peers from many industrialized countries. The average science score of U.S. students lagged behind those in 16 of 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that represents the world’s richest countries. The U.S. students were further behind in math, trailing counterparts in 23 countries.
The PISA test, given every three years, measures the ability of 15-year-olds to apply math and science knowledge in real-life contexts. About 400,000 students, including 5,600 in the United States, took the 2006 exam. There is also a reading portion, but results for U.S. students were thrown out because the tests were printed incorrectly.
Students in Finland received the top scores in science and math. Mexico was at the bottom. The PISA results underscore concerns that too few U.S. students are prepared to become engineers, scientists and physicians, and that the country might lose ground to competitors. An expert panel appointed last year by President Bush is preparing to recommend ways to improve public school math instruction, with a focus on algebra.
PISA, first administered in 2000, covers reading, math and science. But each time the test is given, it focuses in depth on one subject. Last year’s exam spotlighted science, covering concepts in physics, chemistry, biology and earth and space science.
On the science portion, U.S. students, most of them 10th-graders, received an average score of 489 on a 1,000-point scale, 11 points below the average of the 30 countries. Canada, Japan and Korea were among the countries in which students outperformed U.S. counterparts. U.S. students were on par with peers in eight countries and outperformed those from five others.
In math, only four countries had average scores lower than the United States. Students in 23 countries had a higher average score, and those in two countries did about the same as the Americans.
A new report from the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center shows:
The United States trails the Russian Federation, Israel and Canada … As America’s aging and highly educated workforce moves into retirement, the nation will rely on young Americans to increase our standing in the world. However… among citizens who are ages 25 to 34 in developed countries, the United States ranks 12th.
Among this key demographic group, Canada, Korea, the Russian Federation, Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Israel, France, Belgium and Australia are ahead of the United States…If the United States is to regain its leadership status in educational attainment, we must make an investment in students’ higher education access, admission and success.
Assessment of the report by the Washington Post said in a July 2010 article
The United States has fallen from first to 12th in the share of adults ages 25 to 34 with postsecondary degrees, according to a new report from the College Board.
Canada is now the global leader in higher education among young adults, with 55.8 percent of that population holding an associate degree or better as of 2007, the year of the latest international ranking…
The United States sits 11 places back, with 40.4 percent of young adults holding postsecondary credentials…
The campaign mirrors President Obama’s quest to reclaim world leadership in college graduates by 2020, although it gives the country five more years to get there. The Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education set its goal in December 2008, seven months before Obama’s American Graduation Initiative.