The Still-Gathering Storm

Is the U.S. on “a losing path”
when it comes to maintaining our competitive edge in the
global economy? Norman Augustine – former Lockheed Martin CEO
and chairman of a National Academies committee on 21st century
competitiveness – thinks so. In congressional testimony more than two years ago, Augustine
warned of the long-term economic ramifications of dwindling
scientific and technological competencies among today’s
students and tomorrow’s workers.

Since Augustine and
his impressive committee of CEOs, Nobel Laureates, and
university presidents sounded the alarm with their report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm,
America’s prognosis has not improved. In fact, recent data
confirm the validity of their concern. Results from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment
(PISA), released last week, show many industrialized nations
surging ahead of the U.S. in math and science.

The
2006 PISA focused primarily on science literacy, measuring
students’ ability to use scientific knowledge to reason and
draw conclusions. Students were also tested in math and
reading. Fifteen-year-olds in 30 Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) countries representing the world’s
richest nations took part; 27 non-OECD jurisdictions also
participated.

In science, American students performed
below the OECD average of 500, with an average score of 489;
16 OECD countries and six non-OECD jurisdictions did better
than the U.S. In math, results were particularly dismal:
American students posted an average score of 474, well below
the OECD average of 498. Students in 23 OECD countries and
eight non-OECD jurisdictions outscored American adolescents.


American reading results were thrown out this year due to a printing
error. North Carolina contractor RTI International bungled
tests; errors in final exam booklets also escaped reviewers at
the National Center for Education Statistics.
This mishap represents the first time ever that a country’s
scores were excluded because of a major testing misprint – an
embarrassment for all involved.

Reaction to American
performance was one of collective concern. A coalition of
education and business groups, including the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Business Roundtable co-hosted a briefing on PISA results to call for action.
Their joint
statement (.pdf) decried the fact that “other countries
are rapidly catching up to or overtaking us” in the area of
high-level math and science competencies.

How can we
ensure American students have the requisite skills to compete
for jobs in the global marketplace? U.S. Secretary of
Education Margaret Spellings (who called PISA results “disappointing”) indicated measures such as
President Bush’s National Mathematics Advisory Panel (tasked
with revamping math instruction) will help counteract our
slide to the bottom.

Sure, improving classroom
instruction is a good start. But we must also make it easier
for qualified, mid-career science and math professionals to
transition into teaching, expanding our talent pool in key
areas of instructional deficit. We ought to simplify a lateral entry certification process that,
according to NCEA Director Lindalyn Kakadelis, “is so fraught with
bureaucratic red tape that a chemist with a doctorate cannot
teach high school chemistry without first taking ‘education
courses.’”

Implementing widespread differentiated
teacher pay schedules would also help. School systems need the
flexibility and autonomy to compensate highly specialized math
and science teachers appropriately. In a 2004 Heartland
Institute article, the late economics professor John
T. Wenders lamented our arcane compensation system in which
“PE teachers are paid the same as physics teachers.”


Teachers also ought to be paid based on merit rather
than just on credentials and seniority. Fortunately, growth
models – data systems that track student performance over time
with a particular teacher – provide school districts with an
objective way to measure teaching efficacy. On Friday, the federal government announced that all
qualified states may begin piloting growth model programs,
making merit-based systems eminently more
feasible.

This economic storm is still
gathering. If we fail to act, it will soon be upon us. But we
can rise above it – if we work diligently to train and nurture
the scientific and mathematical talents of the next
generation. Our future prosperity depends upon it.

Kristen Blair is a fellow at the North Carolina Education Alliance.