A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
Remarks as prepared for delivery by
John Glenn, Chair
Announcement of National Commission on
Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century
Washington, D.C.
Thank you, Dick, for your leadership in launching this Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. You've had many great achievements as Secretary of Education. I hope that our work over the next year will add to your great legacy.
I am deeply honored to chair this Commission and look forward to collaborating with the others named to serve. Just a quick glance at the member biographies shows what a diverse and highly talented group of individuals have been appointed by the Secretary. They include many of our Nation's finest education leaders, business and state leaders, teachers, leaders in math and science, and public officials. And helping the effort will be representatives from NASA, the NAS, the NSF, OSTP, and other government agencies. I am particularly glad to be able to work again with my former colleagues, Senator Jim Jeffords and Senator Ted Kennedy. I left the Senate in January of this year and did not run again, as some of you may know.
Lester Thurow is fond of saying that we have a very peculiar education system in this country when compared to other systems worldwide. He's correct. All of the major nations of the world have a national education system in place. Not just a national education policy, but a functioning national education system. In the United States, this is unheard of. As Lester Thurow says, our education system K-12 is run by 15,000 independent school boards, all getting elected on the basis of "we won't raise your taxes."
I find it amazing that it has worked as well as it has through the years. While this system has served us well in the past, there are new challenges with today's global competition. Early morning television, for example, reflects these changes. When you turn on your television set, the first thing you may see is what happened on Wall Street, what happened with the Neikei average, the Hangseng Index, Frankfurt-Zurich. Tens upon tens of billions of dollars flow around the world overnight into investments and business and industry. That is what is so different now. We no longer have the option of isolationism. We are part of a worldwide economy. What happens in our education system has an impact on our place in this international economy. As I see it, we will not long be the leaders of this world unless we update our educational system.
When I was in the Senate, if I had proposed doing away with our current educational system and setting up a national education system in its place, I would have been run down the Senate steps before I got very far in my speech. I understand that we are not likely to change our whole system. What we can do though, and what our system has done in the past, is to use information that emerges from efforts of the Federal government, and especially from the Department of Education under Secretary Riley's leadership. Such information encourages local schools and communities to focus on and use available funds for particularly pressing areas.
I don't know precisely what percentage of our K-12 money now comes from the Federal government. At its peak, the Federal contribution was 9 percent. I believe it is currently about 6 percent, which is fairly low. In light of this low level of support, the most appropriate role is for the Federal government to inform local schools and communities so that they can concentrate on what is necessary.
Those of you in the press were given a handout, I believe, when you came in today. I urge you to read the second page which says that the Commission will address the fact that many math and science teachers lack the appropriate licensure and credentials for the subject they teach. Slightly more than 25 percent of America's current high school math and science teachers lack a major or a minor in the subject they teach. In high poverty schools, that figure is nearly 50 percent. We can't expect our kids to get a first class math and science education and come out of the educational pipeline at a level that is world class if teachers are not properly prepared.
That is what this Commission will address to a large extent--how we teach our students in math and science to meet the competition. As Dick alluded to earlier, U.S. kids in grades 1-4 test competitively in math and science; by grade 8, student scores start to drop off; and by the end of high school, our students score way down in the doldrums. I won't say we're dead last, but I think we're close to it. This has to be reversed. Maybe I could teach up to 4th grade math. I don't know? I could try it anyway. But once you get beyond that level, and into advanced algebra and calculus subjects, you need highly qualified teachers. It can not be somebody dragooned off from someplace, never trained to teach math and told, "Guess what, next year you're going to teach math." We must alert our schools to avoid this practice and simultaneously play a leading role in developing a plan to ensure a strong pipeline of qualified teachers. To be competitive, we're really going to have to shape up. These are some of the issues the Commission will address.
Teachers can make a difference. In my own life, I remember science teachers back when I was going through school that had a particular impact on my own life, that altered my whole life, altered my whole life! And I'm forever in their debt for what they did for me. And it's not just in math, we need good teachers in every subject. But this Commission is concentrating on math and science because it is so important for the future of our country as we head into the 21st century. We need brainpower to go along with brawn-power.
Yet, we have too many math and science classes that are taught by well-intentioned individuals who really don't have the background to teach, too many of our math and science textbooks are out of date, and too many school science labs are poorly equipped or unusable because they are so old. We know this is the current state of affairs. The Commission will gather information on effective ways to remedy these problems. We'll periodically meet over twelve months to create an action strategy aimed at improving the recruitment, preparation, support, retention, and professional growth of teachers. You don't just learn teaching one time, and then that's it, it's forever stagnant. Teaching techniques change, new curricula become available, and research continually tells us more about how students learn. We want to make sure that our teachers have the best opportunities to keep up with new knowledge and information.
I hope this Commission can recommend action steps not only for the great Federal government, but also work with state and local governments, and state and local departments of education, in making suggestions so we can have the maximum impact. This is what we are all about and I am honored that Dick has asked me to be chair. I hope we can have an impact. We will do our very best. Thank you very much.
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