PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MMSI AGREE!
This past September the President’s Council of Advisors On Science and Technology (PCAST) presented their report Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education for America’s Future to President Obama. In the report PCAST states that “the success of the United States in the 21st century – its wealth and welfare – will depend on the ideas and skills of its population”. Continued success appears to be in jeopardy, however, due to an achievement and interest gap in STEM. These gaps persist into the workforce as African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and women are seriously underrepresented in many STEM fields and as a result “this limits their participation in many well-paid, high-growth professions and deprives the Nation of the full benefit of their talents and perspectives”.
Achievement and interest gaps in STEM subjects are found in both systemically underperforming schools as well as generally successful schools. In both types of schools the underlying cause is the same. “Schools often lack teachers who know how to teach science and mathematics effectively, and who know and love their subject well enough to inspire their students. Teachers lack adequate support, including appropriate professional development as well as interesting and intriguing curricula. School systems lack tools for assessing progress and rewarding success.”
PCLAST identifies five overarching priorities designed to improve STEM instruction and achievement. Among them are the following: • cultivate, recruit, and reward STEM teachers that prepare and inspire students • create STEM-related experiences that excite and interest students of all backgrounds • support states and school districts in their efforts to transform schools into vibrant STEM learning environments
Mass Math and Science Initiative are already working with more than 70 school systems in Massachusetts with these very priorities as goals. The AP and Pre-AP programs offer professional development for teachers that provides them with the content and pedagogic knowledge required to present “interesting and intriguing curricula”. Embedded in both programs are assessment tools for “assessing progress and rewarding success”. It is gratifying to see the work that is being done in partnership with the schools in MMSI AP and Pre-AP programs mirrored in the call to action issued by the President’s Council .