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AAAS Report Shares Strategies to Recruit New Generation of Highly Qualified Science and Mathematics Teachers

May 31, 2012 Comments off

AAAS Report Shares Strategies to Recruit New Generation of Highly Qualified Science and Mathematics Teachers
Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science

s U.S. science test scores stagnate, a new report by AAAS shows how high-quality science and mathematics teachers can be recruited and trained to help reverse this trend.

The report describes the innovative strategies used by the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, which trains science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate majors and STEM professionals to become K-12 teachers. The program has found new ways to recruit, prepare, and support these new teachers by offering them a chance to work in after-school programs, mentoring them with the help of local educators, and providing funding for research projects of their own.

Now a decade old, the program’s successes are being scrutinized as part of a national conversation on how to improve science education.

Improvements are urgently needed, education experts say. Results from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science test, which were released on 10 May, show that only a third of eighth-graders who took the test scored at or above the proficient level for their grade.

Categories: American Association for the Advancement of Science, education, engineering, K-12, science, teachers, technology and internet

AAAS Analysis: 2012 R&D Gains for Basic Research, Energy, and Environment; Overall Investment Down

January 14, 2012 Comments off

AAAS Analysis: 2012 R&D Gains for Basic Research, Energy, and Environment; Overall Investment Down
Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Basic and applied research and energy and environmental research scored significant increases in a 2012 budget bill signed recently by President Barack Obama, but overall research and development spending will decline by 1.3%, according to a new analysis by the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program.

Total R&D spending for fiscal year 2012 was set at $142 billion, down about $1.9 billion from 2011.

“It’s no doubt a tough fiscal environment, but the fact that we actually see some fairly sizeable increases in certain research areas suggests persistent support for science and innovation even now,” said Matt Hourihan, director of the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program.

The budget for the fiscal year that began 1 October is the result of protracted and often contentious deliberations involving Congress and the White House. A $1 trillion compromise on nine key spending areas emerged from a House-Senate conference committee and was signed by Obama on Friday 23 December. It reflects both a drive to reduce the federal deficit and an effort to preserve R&D related to security and innovation.

According to the AAAS analysis, much of the 2012 R&D cut is concentrated in defense—and especially defense development initiatives. Overall, defense R&D will decline by 3.2%, or $2.5 billion.

Basic defense research, development, testing, and evaluation will rise 8.7% from 2011 levels, and applied research will rise by 5.6%. But that gain is dwarfed by billions of dollars in cuts to operational systems development and classified programs, among other areas.

Charts in PDF

Categories: American Association for the Advancement of Science, business and economics, energy, environment, government and politics, science, technology and internet
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