Look for the Bush Administration to kick off a math and science education initiative next month with a high-profile gathering at the Smithsonian Institution.
The initiative, part of the "No Child Left Behind" presidential campaign, is intended to meld the myriad federal and private-sector efforts aimed at improving student achievement, teacher preparation, and community involvement in math and science at the elementary and secondary school levels. "We're going to start off with what we know works in math because, frankly, we know so little about how children learn science," says Susan Sclafani, counselor to Education Secretary Rodney Paige.
Sclafani's office will spearhead the effort, which she hopes will attract professional societies and high-tech companies as well as other federal agencies funding research on teaching and learning. If so, the initiative has a ways to go. "It's news to me," says one federal official about next month's get-together, echoing the comments of an executive at one association long involved in the subject. "But it sounds like a good idea."
