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We must raise the bar in education and rethink the design of school if we want excellent math and science learning for all students. The Opportunity Equation report provides a roadmap for this vision with recommendations for key stakeholders. MORE
Common Core Standards: Why Did States Choose to Adopt?
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Common standards, linked with rigorous assessments, set the bar for all students—from struggling to advanced—to master academically rigorous content and succeed in the global economy. MORE
STEM: What It Is, And Why We Should Care
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Brian Kelly
U.S. News & World Report
9/10/2012
There's a simple answer, and a complicated one. Simple: It's about jobs. Complicated: It's a key to the U.S. economy, representing the growing disconnect between the skills that employers need in an increasingly technological world and the talent—or lack thereof—that the education system produces.
It's also a terrible acronym that represents the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. But as with lots of famous acronyms—SALT, NASA—STEM has become shorthand for an important issue and a burgeoning industry of schools, community groups, companies, and policy makers who are trying to solve the problem. The challenge extends from toddlers (Sesame Street has a numbers-focused initiative) up through literal rocket scientists. It is as much about the decline of middle-class jobs (manufacturing is a high-tech industry) as it is about inventing the next iPad.
