ID #01-33 (07/10/01) K-12 SMET Education Coalition Letter to
Education Conferees (S1/HR1)
K-12
SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION COALITION
American Association of Engineering Societies
American
Association of Physics Teachers
American Astronomical Society
American Chemical Society
American Institute of Physics
American Geological Institute
American Nuclear Society
American Physical Society
American Society of Agricultural
Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society for
Engineering Education, Engineering Deans Council
American Society of
Mechanical Engineers International, Council on Education
Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America
International Technology Education Association
Junior Engineering
Technical Society
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
National Society of Professional Engineers
National Science
Teachers Association
Society of Automotive Engineers
Triangle
Coalition for Science and Technical Education
Tufts University,
Department of Engineering
July 11, 2001
The Honorable
Edward M. Kennedy
Chairman,Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions
SD-428 Dirksen Senate Office Building
United States
Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On behalf of the K-12 Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) Coalition, we would like to thank you for your leadership on legislation to re-authorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. We are particularly pleased to see that both H.R.1 and S.1 include provisions establishing a Math and Science Partnership initiative. We strongly support this style of partnership activity as a tool for improving teaching and learning in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology.
The science, math, engineering, and technology community has long been concerned with the state of K-12 science, math, engineering, and technology education. To increase student learning in these areas, and enable the United States to compete globally with a strong science and technology literate workforce, we need to commit a significant amount of resources for SMET education now. The Coalition recommends that conferees support the highest possible funding level for the Math and Science partnerships. We also urge conferees to authorize these partnerships through competitive grants at the state level.
We also support the allowable activities and eligible partners outlined in Section 2202 and Section 2213 of S.1 respectively. These activities include professional development, curriculum development, and teacher recruitment, all of which will help local districts address their particular needs.
To address the serious problem of teacher recruitment, we strongly support recruiting students with strong science, math or engineering backgrounds to be teachers, as included in Section 2023(c)2(A) of the House bill.
Finally, assessment of science learning must be included, as in Section 1111 of S.1. If science testing is not part of this re-authorization, classroom time for science will be reduced in favor of other subjects that are being tested. We urge you to support the Senate language that calls for the development of quality state tests. We also support the development of state needs assessments to determine the professional development and teacher quality needs in local schools.
Thank you for considering our concerns, and for your acknowledgment of the need to improve science, math, engineering, and technology education. Please contact Patti Burgio at 202.785.7385, if you have further questions or need additional information.
For information regarding this web page, contact ASME Government Relations at mailto:%20grdept@asme.org, (202) 785-3756.
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