John Glenn, Commission Chairman
This report makes only
a few straightforward points, but it makes them urgently and
insistently.
First, at the daybreak of this new century and millennium, the Commission is
convinced that the future well-being of our nation and people depends not just
on how well we educate our children generally, but on how well we educate them
in mathematics and science specifically.
From mathematics and the sciences
will come the products, services, standard of living, and economic and military
security that will sustain us at home and around the world. From them will come the technological creativity
American companies need to compete effectively in the global marketplace. “Globalization” has occurred. Economic theories of a few years ago are now
a reality. Goods, services, ideas,
communication, businesses, industries, finance, investment, and jobs—the good jobs—are increasingly the
competitive currency of the inter-national marketplace.
Among the first things Americans
watch every morning on TV is the global marketplace at work. The quotes not only from Wall Street itself,
but also from the Nikkei, Hang Seng, and Hong Kong exchanges, followed in turn
by those of Frankfurt, Zurich, and London—along with reports on the status of
the yen, peso, and Eurodollar—all reflect investment flows of hundreds of
billions in assets around the world.
Times have changed. In an integrated,
global economy, whose key components are increasingly knit together in an
interdependent system of relationships, will our children be able to compete?
Beyond the world of global
finance, mathematics and science will also supply the core forms of knowledge
that the next generation of innovators, producers, and workers in every country
will need if they are to solve the unforeseen problems and dream the dreams
that will define America’s future.
Second, it is abundantly clear from the evidence already at hand that we are not
doing the job that we should do—or can do—in teaching our children to
understand and use ideas from these fields.
Our children are falling behind; they are simply not “world-class learners”
when it comes to mathematics and science.
The Third International
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tested the students of 41 nations. Children in the United States were among the
leaders in the fourth-grade assessment, but by high school graduation they were
almost last. Here at home, the National Assessment of
Educational Progress basically substantiates our students’ poor performance.
In short, our children are losing the ability to respond not just to the challenges already presented by the 21st century but to its potential as well. We are failing to capture the interest of our youth for scientific and mathematical ideas. We are not instructing them to the level of competence they will need to live their lives and work at their jobs productively. Perhaps worst of all, we are not challenging their imaginations deeply enough.
Third, after an extensive, in-depth review of what is happening in our
classrooms, the Commission has concluded that the most powerful instrument for
change, and therefore the place to begin, lies at the very core of education—with teaching itself.
The teaching pool in mathematics
and science is inadequate to meet our current needs; many classes in these
subjects are taught by unqualified and underqualified teachers. Our inability to attract and keep good teachers
grows. As a result, newer,
technologically oriented industries are having trouble finding enough qualified
employees from among those teachers’ students.
Worse, creativity atrophies and innovation suffers.
We are of one mind in our belief
that the way to interest children in mathematics and science is through
teachers who are not only enthusiastic about their subjects, but who are also
steeped in their disciplines and who have the professional training—as
teachers—to teach those subjects well.
Nor is this teacher training simply a matter of preparation; it depends
just as much—or even more—on sustained, high-quality professional development.
Fourth, we believe that
committing ourselves to reach three specific goals can go far in bringing about
the basic changes we need. These goals
go directly to issues of quality, quantity, and an enabling work environment
for teachers of mathematics and science.
For each goal, we offer specific action strategies for achieving that
particular goal, ideas on who should implement them, and how. Specifically, we offer suggestions on how
to:
• Establish an ongoing system to improve the quality of mathematics and
science teaching in grades K–12;
• Increase significantly the number of mathematics and science teachers
and improve the quality of their preparation; and
•Improve the working environment and make the teaching profession more attractive for K–12 mathematics and science teachers.
The goals we set before the
American people in this report will not be easily attained, nor will the action
strategies we offer be readily implemented.
Most other nations have a national education system that can change direction
more rapidly than our K–12 system, which is operated by nearly 16,000
independent school boards. Even when
the majority of board members are firmly dedicated to good education, it is
still a difficult job to change direction when needed.
The task
to which we call the American people is therefore not an easy one.
Nor will our goals be met at bargain-basement rates. But we believe we have a well-focused view of the needs facing our country and its youth, and that we have identified the right starting points for preparing them to meet their future. We are just as strongly convinced that the downstream cost of not turning this problem around will be exponentially higher than the cost of beginning to solve it now.
But rising to great challenges is
a part of our national character—not only in such arduous deeds as breaking the
bonds of the planet itself, but in the daily work of equipping each new
generation to meet new responsibilities.
The last time we turned a century, our schools rose to the challenge of
educating the nation’s youth to meet the demands of an industrializing
economy. We succeeded in the equally
formidable task of integrating millions of immigrants from around the world
into a dynamic culture without precedent
in history.
Now history presents us with a yet
more pressing demand. We are being
called upon to capitalize on the changes wrought by two great revolutions:
rapid economic globalization on the one hand and the expansion of
information-based technologies on the other.
In this light, we can take heart from American history’s most profound
lesson: Our ability, as a people, to uncover the liberating opportunities
concealed within daunting tasks is what defines the American genius.
In the end, then, the message of
this report is a simple one. The time
has come to move from the information and analysis we have gathered to the
resolution we need. We are summoned to
answer a stark question. As our
children move toward the day when their decisions will be the ones shaping a
new America, will they be equipped with the mathematical and scientific tools
needed to meet those challenges and capitalize on those opportunities?
These are our children, and the
choice is ours. We know what we have to
do; the time is now—before it’s too late.
* * * * *
The Commission sincerely appreciates the confidence that Secretary
Richard W. Riley placed in us, and hopes that our report is a worthy and useful
product in guiding our nation’s students to world-class performance.
Special thanks are due to our Executive Director, Linda P. Rosen, whose
lifelong experience in mathematics education was vital to our work, and whose
direction of the labors of the Commission through long hours on a day-in,
day-out, yearlong basis was exemplary and crucial to our work.
Executive Summary
In an
age now driven by the relentless necessity of scientific and technological
advance, the current preparation that students in the United States receive in
mathematics and science is, in a word, unacceptable.
Recent reports of the performance
of our country’s students from both the Third International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) echo a dismal message of lackluster performance, now three decades old;
it’s time the nation heeded it—before
it’s too late.
Four important and enduring
reasons underscore the need for our children to achieve competency in
mathematics and science: (1) the rapid
pace of change in both the increasingly interdependent global economy and in
the American workplace demands widespread mathematics- and science-related
knowledge and abilities; (2) our citizens need both mathematics and science for
their everyday decision-making;
(3) mathematics and science are
inextricably linked to the nation’s security interests; and (4) the deeper,
intrinsic value of mathematical and scientific knowledge shape and define our
common life, history, and culture. Mathematics and science are primary sources
of lifelong learning and the progress of our civilization.
Beyond the disturbing news that
our young people are not performing well enough in mathematics and science to
take firm command of their own futures, five major factors have begun to
coalesce that make this a particularly opportune time to focus on strengthening
mathematics and science education: (1) reform efforts have sharply focused the
attention of the American people on education as a public issue; (2) the nation
now has a surplus of resources to invest in education; (3) a coming demographic
shift in the teaching force—two thirds of which will be retiring in the next
decade—offers an unparalleled chance to plan for and make changes at the core
of education itself; (4) our schools can now put to work what educators have learned
in the past generation about curriculum, high standards, effective teaching,
assessment, and how children learn; and (5) the rising generation of college
graduates is once again showing an interest in teaching as a profession. The
nation must capitalize on the convergence of these factors to improve
mathematics and science teaching in the United States. We need to act now, before it’s too late.
The primary message of this report
holds that America’s students must improve their performance in mathematics and
science if they are to succeed in today’s world and if the United States is to
stay competitive in an integrated global economy. The Report’s second message points in the direction of a
solution:
the most direct route to improving
mathematics and science achievement for all students is better mathematics and
science teaching.
Evidence of the positive effect of
better teaching is unequivocal; indeed, the most consistent and powerful
predictors of student achievement in mathematics and science are full teaching
certification and a college major in the field being taught.
Better mathematics and science
teaching is therefore grounded, first of all, in improving the quality of
teacher preparation and in making continuing professional education available
for all teachers. A closer look at the
teaching that goes on in mathematics and science classrooms today puts the
performance of U.S. students on national and inter-national assessments in
sharper focus.
The basic teaching style in too
many mathematics and science classes today remains essentially what it was two
generations ago. By contrast, teaching
innovation and higher student performance are well documented in other
countries, where students’ improvements are anchored to an insistence on strong
professional development for teachers.
What could be happening in U.S. mathematics and science classrooms is
markedly different. The report names an
extensive set of characteristics of “high-quality
teaching.” When they are focused through the lens of exemplary teacher
preparation and an integrated system of professional development, an enormous
potential for empowering teachers and improving instruction is apparent.
The pressing national need for
high-quality teaching described in this report, therefore, demands a vigorous,
national response that unifies the efforts of all stakeholders in mathematics
and science education. To that end,
three wide-ranging, intertwined goals focus the report’s call for action at
local, state, and federal levels. As an
aid to implementation, each goal is accompanied by a coordinated set of
well-funded action strategies that identify key stakeholders who should take
the lead in implementing each strategy.
The estimated annual cost to achieve these action strategies is over $5
billion. These funds and other
resources will come from a diversified set of sources, including all levels of
government, higher education, business and industry, professional education
associations and teachers’ unions, community groups, and the citizenry. The goals and action strategies set forth in
the report are as follows:
Goal 1: Establish an ongoing
system to improve the quality of mathematics and science teaching in
grades K –12.
Seven interdependent action strategies are offered to implement this system: (1) each state, must immediately undertake a full needs assessment to determine what teachers require, both in their schools and their professional lives, if they are to routinely deliver high-quality teaching; (2) Summer Institutes must be established to address the professional development needs identified; (3) building- and district-level Inquiry Groups can provide venues for teachers to engage in common study to enrich their subject knowledge and teaching skills; (4) Leadership Training is needed to prepare facilitators for the Summer Institutes and Inquiry Groups; (5) a dedicated Internet Portal must be available to teachers so they can make use of and contribute to an ever-expanding knowledge base about mathematics and science teaching; (6) a nongovernmental Coordinating Council is needed to bring together the above initiatives and those that follow to assess accomplishments; and (7) all states and local districts should initiate reward and incentive programs, both to support exemplary professional development that results in higher student achievement and to increase the attractiveness of teaching as a profession.
Goal 2: Increase significantly the
number of mathematics and science teachers and improve the quality of their preparation.
Three action strategies are offered for this
goal: (1) a direct strategy that identifies exemplary models of teacher
preparation whose success can be widely replicated; (2) an overarching strategy
of finding ways to attract additional qualified candidates into teaching from
among high school and college students, recent college graduates, and people at
mid-career; and (3) creating 15 competitively selected Mathematics and Science
Teaching Academies to annually train 3,000 Academy Fellows, who will be
nationally recruited for a one-year, intensive course on effective teaching
methods in mathematics or science.
Goal 3: Improve the working
environment and make the teaching profession more attractive for K–12 mathematics
and science teachers. Four action strategies address this goal: (1) focused induction programs
are required to help acclimate beginning mathematics and science teachers to
the profession, create formal mentoring relationships, and introduce teachers
to Inquiry Groups; (2) district/business partnerships are needed to provide
support for a broad range of efforts that can help create professional working
environments for teachers. These
efforts can enhance teaching by providing materials, facilities, equipment, and
mentor stipends; (3) incentives—whether in the form of cash awards, salary
increases, support for further education, or community-wide recognition—are
needed to encourage deserving mathematics and science teachers to remain in
teaching and improve their skills; and (4) salaries of all teachers must be
made more competitive, but especially for mathematics and science teachers,
whose combined preparation and skills command high wages in the private sector.
The
report concludes by challenging all Americans directly to take personal
responsibility for expressing their views on mathematics and science education
to policy- and decision-makers, and to take the initiative to implement the
report’s action strategies in their own communities.