How to Achieve Equitable and Improved Science Learning for All Students

A Corporation-supported report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides a vision for delivering high-quality science learning throughout K–16 education

By Carnegie Corporation of New York July 14, 2021

Future of Learning & Work

The average elementary classroom devotes less than 20 minutes per day to science. Meanwhile, 69 percent of elementary teachers say they are not well prepared to teach the subject, and only 22 percent of American high school graduates are proficient in it – with students of color and students experiencing poverty particularly unlikely to receive a high-quality science education.

Call to Action for Science Education: Building Opportunity for the Future, a new report authored by a committee convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York, seeks to redress these statistics, and make science education a national priority. It calls on the Office of Science and Technology Policy to encourage federal agencies, state and local governments, and others to focus resources on increasing the quality and accessibility of science education from kindergarten through the end of a postsecondary degree (K–16).

In its vision for ensuring that K–16 education in the United States provides equitable access to quality science learning, the report underscores how scientific thinking and knowledge of science are essential for all Americans not only those pursuing a scientific profession.

“We see science as a foundational and nonnegotiable part of our democracy,” said Margaret Honey, president and chief executive officer of the New York Hall of Science who chaired the National Academies’ call-to-action committee, during a webinar briefing about the report’s recommendations. “We really want to create a vision for science that is different from what far too many of us encountered in our own scientific educations. We want it to be much more inclusive and welcoming.”

The challenges of the past year and the extraordinary medical innovations that are enabling us to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic underscore something we have long known: science is critically important to public health, our economy, and our society. Yet science education too often doesn’t get the attention it deserves in our nation’s schools, with time and resources heavily dedicated to testing subjects like reading and math.

With efforts now focused on addressing learning loss resulting from pandemic-related school closures, science education is at further risk of being overlooked, even as we’ve seen the real-world consequences of distrust in science and a lack of public understanding about scientific concepts. With an unprecedented infusion of stimulus funding to help public schools recover from COVID-19, now is the time to strengthen science education in America’s schools and universities.

Carnegie Corporation of New York supported the National Academies in their National Call to Action for Science Education as part of its longstanding commitment to science education and advancing math and science learning. In a recent Q&A, Jim Short, a program director with the Corporation’s Education program, and Honey discuss the impetus for and scope of the project, as well as the importance of achieving equity.

Call to Action for Science Education encourages federal and state policymakers to support communities in providing time, materials, and resources to schools in support of science education; in developing a well-prepared, diverse teaching workforce across K–16; and in advancing clear pathways to support students through science education in college.

Additional recommendations, which were drawn from public stakeholder meetings and expert testimony, include:

Congress should include science as an indicator of academic achievement in its next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. A system of assessments and indicators should provide information about the progress of schools, districts, and states. Accountability for science education should not be based on single tests, but rather focus on students gaining conceptual understanding.

State departments of education should act to include science in their accountability systems. National stakeholders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education — including business, philanthropy, and nonprofits — should coordinate their advocacy efforts and pay particular attention to addressing disparities in opportunity.

Leaders of K-12 school systems and postsecondary schools should form alliances. These alliances should develop evidence-based visions and plans for improving STEM education in their areas, with specific attention to addressing disparities and high-quality learning opportunities. The federal government, philanthropic organizations, and business and industry should provide funding to these alliances to support their work — first targeting communities where a significant number of students live in poverty.

The federal government should develop an annual report card to track equity of opportunity and document K–16 STEM education in each state and territory. States should develop their own plans for providing equitable STEM education, including STEM opportunity maps that track disparities and progress made.

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