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February 9, 2006
Math and science get big focusAs we wrote previewing President Bush's State of the Union address, a new focus on science and math has arrived. Here in Washington, that means there is increased focus on not only the president's plans, but on those of former Secretary of Education Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), and Barbara Mikulski, (D-Md.) USA Today reports that the four are key movers behind science-competitiveness legislation called the PACE Act, now garnering a great deal of support in the Senate. Backed by 60 senators one week after its unveiling, the act's three bills largely contain recommendations from the recent National Academy of Sciences report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."
The president's "American Competitiveness Initiative," announced in his State of the Union speech, would train 70,000 high school teachers to lead advanced math and science courses. The president proposes $380 million in new federal support to improve the quality of math, science, and technological education in K-12 schools. Another effort would encourage up to 30,000 math and science professionals to become high school teachers. Similar initiatives are proposed in the PACE Act, the paper reports.
What all of this means in the current partisan gridlock in Washington is not clear. And when the president has proposed a budget that does not fund Title 1 and IDEA. America has been down this road several times since the Sputnick years.
Posted February 9, 2006 5:30 PM | Curriculum
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