Case Overview, K-12 Math and Science Education

 

           One of President Bush's highest priorities during his first year in office was the passage of a major education bill. He campaigned on the education issue during the 2000 race and Republicans generally had a strong commitment in trying to erase the Democrats' long-term advantage on the education issue. The result was the No Child Left Behind Act, an omnibus education bill that addressed a broad range of issues facing schools at the elementary and secondary levels. One of these issues was the teaching of math and science.

           Supporters of federal assistance for improving math and science instruction point to the relatively poor performance of American schools. As one advocate noted, "test scores are down and we do very poorly compared to international partners, whether it is Korea, Germany, or Japan. U.S. students, particularly the 12th graders, score particularly low." The two major causes of this poor performance are generally believed to be an inadequate supply of qualified teachers and unimaginative teaching, especially in the use of modern technology in the classroom. Teaching does not attract enough qualified people to fill all the available math and science positions. Students who major in math and science in college apparently find other careers more enticing, possibly because industry pays considerably better than schools. As a result more people teaching math and science are teaching out of their field or have weaker training than those teaching English, social studies, languages, art, or music.

           Math and science teaching is difficult to begin with but the rapid changes in science and technology make instruction all the more challenging. Part of the rationale behind the math and science initiative incorporated within the No Child Left Behind Act was to enhance teacher training in these areas. A lobbyist who worked on behalf of the legislation spoke about these needs: "We also know that the scientific field changes so much, so again professional development, that is in-service training for teachers to learn more about the content and the training and new research in the field . . . is critical to being more effective in the classroom and ultimately bringing test scores up."

           Supporters were very happy with the $450 million authorized for math and science education in the No Child Left Behind Act. In the budgetary process in Congress, however, a second step, an appropriation, is required before money may be spent. When the appropriations committees in both houses reported their numbers, educators and other supporters were more than a bit surprised to see how little of the authorization was actually utilized. (An authorization is, in essence, the upwards boundary for spending.) Only $12.5 million was appropriated in concert with the first year implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. Part of the problem was a $160 million initiative for math and science partnerships at the National Science Foundation. Appropriations committee members apparently felt that there was overlap between the two programs and cut the No Child Left Behind funding for that specific endeavor.

           Supporters of math and science education believe that the two programs address a number of different issues. A coalition made up of large corporations employing large numbers of engineers, like Intel and IBM, joined educators in pushing for more generous funding of math and science training. Although full funding at the $450 million authorization level was ostensibly the goal, coalition partners set $100 as a realistic target. The greatest problem it faced was just getting legislators and their staffers to pay attention. "No one is opposed to math and science," said one supporter. Efforts to increase the funding for math and science education would resume in the next Congress as the coalition tried to make legislators put their money where their rhetoric is.