Excellence and Equity

Page 2 of 5

Math and science are calibrators for the depth, rigor, and relevance to students’ interests and passions that our educational system must deliver far more reliably. When students succeed in math and science, they are by definition showing strong literacy skills in academic vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency, along with decision making and problem solving. Achievement in mathematics and science is therefore an indicator of effectiveness at every level: classroom, school, school system, college or university, state, and even larger components such as the nation’s capacity to improve schools, educate teachers, ensure social mobility, and promote productivity. Raising the bar on math and science will set the bar high for every aspect of the education enterprise and every contributor to students’ learning.

Objectives

• Mobilize the nation for excellence and equity in mathematics and science education

• Place mathematics and science at the center of education innovation, improvement, and accountability

Discussion

Many Americans—business leaders and government officials, and also educators, parents, and even students—acknowledge the need for radical change in the way mathematics and science are taught and learned in most U.S. schools and colleges. Some calls for change have been motivated by a desire to restore American preeminence in technological innovation. The nation must act quickly, the argument goes, to increase the number of high-level U.S. science, math, and engineering graduates or forever be left behind¹¹.

The Commission shares that concern and recognizes that the United States will always need top graduates in those fields, yet we are also persuaded by arguments that the new global economy demands higher levels of skill held by many more people. Nearly every worker will need to be STEM-capable, or knowledgeable about science and math, even beyond the professions that require specialized science, technology, engineering, or mathematics training; more jobs at more levels in fields such as health, law, business, and education will require science- and math-related skills; and the level of skill and knowledge demanded will be higher.

This reality presents an unprecedented challenge to our current educational system, and also an opportunity: What if we were to use the objective “excellent math and science education for all” as a lever for widespread school reform at the scale that is needed? Could a national mobilization for math and science bring unity of purpose to school improvement and drive the system to generate new designs and methods?

1. On mobilizing for equity and excellence in mathematics and science education

The Commission believes that the United States must use its resources wisely to ensure that all young Americans, including but not limited to those who aspire to high-level math and science degrees and careers, are well prepared by our schools and colleges to participate and thrive in a global economy, and that science and math skills are essential to that preparation. Further, we have confidence that American students and families agree with that assessment and would welcome efforts to improve—in quality and relevance, not just in courses required—the science and math education received by all American students.

Colleges and universities must provide richer math and science learning to all and open wider avenues for students of all backgrounds to pursue advanced degrees.

As Commission member and Carnegie Corporation president Vartan Gregorian has noted, “the value of an education lies in its task to enhance men’s and women’s powers of rational analysis, intellectual precision and independent judgment, and in particular to encourage a mental adaptability, a characteristic which men and women sorely need, especially now, in an era of rapid change¹².” The emerging global marketplace is making those characteristics even more important, as shifts in the labor market indicate clearly. In 2007, for example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that 54.7 million American jobs would open during the decade from 2004 to 2014, of which well over half (29.4 million) will require a college degree¹³. Moreover, the only job categories for which both demand and wages are continuing to grow are “non-routine analytic” positions, requiring good judgment, an ability to solve problems, and strong communications, information management, and synthesizing skills¹⁴.

Skills related to collaboration and systems integration are also growing in importance as the United States seeks to redefine its role as an incubator for innovation. As Hal Salzman, a labor analyst at the Urban Institute, explained to the Commission, economic productivity and growth depend on strong skills at many levels of the labor force. “Although innovating a better computer network server is important,” he noted, “it is the legions of network administrators and technicians that affect how much of the potential productivity gains are realized from the technology¹⁵.” Salzman believes that the United States should aim to be a “strong node” in a collaboration-oriented global marketplace and that “the United States is currently the best positioned country… to do this because of its history of openness, diversity, and free flow of knowledge, and home to companies that are now the leading navigators in the new global systems.”

A common thread across these data is the increasingly determinative importance of educational attainment generally, and higher education specifically, to economic opportunity and national innovation. Labor economist Stephen Machin has observed that “the demand for education is still outstripping supply despite the rapid expansion of skill-biased technological change and globalization. So, the penalty for not having a good education level is rising¹⁶.” By 2004, wage declines among high school graduates with no postsecondary education placed this group for the first time below the middle 50 percent of family incomes in the United States, or below the middle class¹⁷.