Recently, there have been three potentially positive developments on U.S. efforts to improve student literacy and American competitiveness. Members of the Senate, the House, and the White House have begun to respond to reports in recent months regarding declining literacy in college graduates and the poor performance of our high school students (particularly in math and science) compared to their peers in other countries. What appears to have been the greatest incentive towards these developments was the National Academies “Rising Storm” report which clearly stated “that the scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength.”

• Development 1: Senate Legislation Contains Major Programs for K-12 Science and Math Education
• Development 2: Similar Legislation in the House of Representatives
• Development 3: In the State of the Union Address, President Bush proposed to train 70,000 high school teachers to lead Advanced Placement courses in math and science and to bring 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in classrooms and give early help to students who struggle with math, so they have a better chance at good high-wage jobs.

I think that it is wise to be cautiously optimistic on these developments. For example, the President’s proposal is part of what he called the American Competitiveness Initiative. Sounds great but we should not forget that other initiatives under the current Administration, such as the Clear Skies Initiative and the Healthy Forests Initiative, actually were designed to produce the opposite result of of their promising sounding titles.

SENATE LEGISLATION

The number top action item in the National Academies study was to improve K-12 science and mathematics education. Senate Legislation introduced last week based upon the Rising Storm Report Contains Major Programs for K-12 Science and Math Education.

On January 25, Senators Domenici (R-NM), Bingaman (D-NM), Alexander (R-TN) and Mikulski (D-MD) introduced the Protect America’s Competitive Edge (PACE) Act, three bills designed to implement 20 recommendations contained in the National Academies (NAS) report,

Two of the bills contain a large number of programs for science and math education.

The PACE-Education Act would provide for:

• Grants to collaborations of Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) teacher preparation programs and departments of STEM (Science, Technology, Generically, and Mathematics) to develop science teaching curricula that would lead to a degrees in science, math, or engineering and a teaching certificate.
• Grants to IHE STEM departments and teacher preparation programs to develop a part time, three year master program for current teachers.
• NSF merit-based scholarships of up to $20,000 would go to students majoring in a STEM program with concurrent teacher certification
• NSF fellowships of $10,000 annually for four years to teachers who complete a baccalaureate degree in STEM with concurrent teacher certification and commit to teaching full time in a high need school.
• NSF fellowships of $10,000 annually for five years for teachers who have completed a master degree program and assume a leadership activity, such as mentoring.
• Grants to provide training to teachers to teach AP or IB programs and to increase the number of students who take these courses.
• The establishment of a National Clearinghouse on Mathematics and Science to collect and make available proven collect proven K-12 Teaching Materials.
• The creation of a standing subcommittee in the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology to develop national goals for STEM education across the various federal agencies.
• Creation of a new position in the Office of Science and Technology Policy that would coordinate the federal budgets for STEM education programs.
• An increase in research programs and equipment grants and research budgets by 10% annually through 2012.
• The creation of a new Presidential Innovation Award.
• The creation of a new student visa for doctoral candidates
• The development of new science parks.

The PACE-Energy Bill would provide for:

• The appointment a “Director of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education Programs” within the Department of Energy (DOE).
• The establishment or expansion of specialty schools for math and science at the high school level.
• The creation of summer internships at the DOE national Laboratories and elsewhere, for middle and high school students to promote experiential learning. (I was a college student trainee at a DOE lab).
• The creation of a Center of Excellence in Mathematics and Science at one public high school located near a national DOE lab.
• The establishment of a merit-based American Scientist scholarship program through DOE for up to $20,000 a year to assist students pursuing a degree in STEM.
• The establishment of a Graduate Research Fellowship to provide tuition and financial support for Master and Doctoral students enrolled in STEM programs.
• The establishment of summer institutes at each of the National Laboratories and through grants to IHE and other nonprofit groups for with a focus on K-8 teachers.

HOUSE LEGISLATION

Similar legislation as to the Senate proposal was introduced in the House. In December, Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), ranking Democrat on the House Science Committee, introduced the “10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds” Science and Math Scholarship Act (H.R. 4434). The bill provides scholarships to science, math, and engineering students who complete a program that combines a degree in these areas with a teaching certificate and commit to teaching K-12 science and math after graduation. The legislation also authorizes summer professional development institutes for current teachers to improve content knowledge; establishes master programs for in-service teachers, and creates more training for in-service teachers to teach AP and IB courses in science and math.

PRESIDENT’s PROPOSALS

The proposals delineated by President Bush in the July 31 State of the Union Address appear more modest that the Senate and House legislation.

For one, as I stated earlier, any time the White House uses the word “Initiative”, I think one has to triple check to ensure that the proposal’s real purpose is to weaken environmental regulations. However in the State of the Union the President did say: “we need to encourage children to take more math and science and to make sure those courses are rigorous enough to compete with other nations.”

President Bush proposed in the Address:

• To train 70,000 high school teachers to lead Advanced Placement courses in math and science.
• To bring 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in classrooms and give early help to students who struggle with math, so they have a better chance at good high-wage jobs.
• The implementation of Career Advancement Accounts (CAA), self-managed accounts of up to $3,000, that workers and people looking for work can use to obtain training and other employment services.

The President’s proposals are, needless to say, pretty minimal compared to those proposed in the House and the Senate. But at least the pressure is on for the White House to respond to both the overwhelming of the findings of the many reports issued in recent months and the constructive actions being taken by bi-partisan members of the House and Senate.

I will end with two strong cautions regarding the President’s proposals:

• First, as I stated earlier, the President’s proposal American Competitiveness Initiative sounds sounds suspiciously like previous White House initiatives which actually had as their main purposes the weakening of important environmental and health protections for the American people.
• Second, the creation of yet another type of “Savings Account” for Americans may be a way for the President to both avoid real action and put more money into the pockets of the Financial Services Lobby. The Washington Monthly calls a related Bush proposal, the Health Savings Account (HSAs), a half-baked pseudo-solution to the healthcare crisis. These type of “savings plans” are openly described by financial analysts as “an increasingly important lever in the customer relationships… for banks and payment processors.” As the management consulting firm Diamondcluster International states: “the opportunity presented by HSAs to grow assets, build relationships and increase transaction volumes is simply too great to ignore”.

The current poor state of literacy in America’s student and adult populations is serious and is negatively impacting America’s global competitiveness. The Senate and the House have begun to make serious legislative efforts to address these problems. The President gave the problems lip-service in his State of the Union Address. However, his proposals are either minimal or appear to include hidden agendas to reduce health and environmental protections and to promote the financial interests of Mr. Bush’s wealthy constituent base.