Curriculum Matters reports that the PCAST report on STEM education has been released, and the group Change the Equation has been established.
Among the recommendations of the PCAST report is one to “recruit and train 100,000 great STEM teachers over the next decade who are able to prepare and inspire students.” It is difficult to object to this.
But I can object to another one: “Create 1,000 new STEM-focused schools over the next decade.” Among these schools would be 200 high schools. According to WikiAnswers, there are about 28,000 high schools in the US. The last thing our nation needs is to cherry-pick 1% of our high school students to be STEM professionals. All of our high schools should have the great science and math teachers necessary to provide students access to STEM careers. And instead of establishing another group of so-called elite high schools (yeah, like IB) maybe we should focus on making STEM careers accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Maybe PCAST should have recommended that IB schools be required to provide high quality opportunities in science, like offering IB Physics.
Change the Equation will be a small group of people whose mission is to coordinate the STEM-education-focused philanthropy of corporations so that it is collectively more effective.
No comment on that from me.
Bridge to Tomorrow 