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News
On August 9th, President Bush signed the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 2272)
into law. The America COMPETES Act provides a total of $33.6 billion in
new authorized spending levels ($44.3 billion in total) for a host of
research and education programs at NSF, DOE, NIST, NOAA, NASA and Department
of Education.
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Featured Science & Technology in Congress
Articles
No Child Left Behind Debates to Come
When Congress returns from its August recess, it will tackle reauthorization
of the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. NCLB brought an unprecedented degree
of federal involvement in education through its testing and assessment requirements,
but with reauthorization pending in Congress, there is disagreement as to whether
this legislation has had a positive effect. Continue
reading ...
Measuring Progress of NCLB
Shortly before the Spring Recess, the House Education and Labor Committee held
a hearing to address whether Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) assessments, a hallmark
of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), continue to be an adequate indicator
of a student’s—and ultimately a school’s—achievement. Though
the witnesses were all careful to praise the original intent of NCLB as an important
tool for states, districts, and schools to assess proficiency and reveal gaps
in performance, they also were united in the opinion that AYP had served its
purpose and that multiple mechanisms for measuring proficiency were now needed
to allow students and schools to progress further. Continue
reading ...
Bicameral Bill on Science Standards Introduced
A few days after the new 110th Congress convened, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
and Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) expressed their intent to introduce bipartisan,
bicameral legislation to establish voluntary standards for science and mathematics
education.
The Standards to Provide Educational Achievement for All Kids (SPEAK) Act, which
was formally introduced by Ehlers on January 9th (H.R. 325), tasks the National
Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) with creating and/or adopting educational
content standards in math and science fields for grades K-12. The NAGB was created
by Congress in 1988 as an independent group comprised of state governors, legislators,
and education officials, as well as educators and private-sector representatives.
NAGB sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
NAEP—also known as the ‘Nation’s Report Card'—assesses student
academic achievement in reading and math every two years. Continue
reading ...
Education Bills Advance in the House
During a markup that emphasized the committee’s bipartisan commitment
to innovation and education, the House Science Committee passed its competitiveness
package on June 7. The bills were originally introduced with only Republican
sponsorship; however, enough changes were made to bring Democrats onboard to
pass H.R. 5358, Science and Mathematics Education for Competitiveness Act, and
H.R. 5356, Early Career Research Act, by voice vote. Committee staff expect
the bills to be scheduled for consideration by the full House soon after the
July 4 recess. Continue
reading ...
STEM Education Statements and Letters
--AAAS CEO Alan Leshner sent a letter
to House members who helped craft the bipartisan COMPETES Act, thanking them
for their efforts and urging passage of the bill. (August 2, 2007)
--AAAS CEO Alan Leshner wrote a letter
to Senator Christopher Dodd and Representative Vernon Ehlers applauding their
efforts to advance science and math education with nationwide standards by introducing
the SPEAK Act. (January 8, 2007)
BACK TO TOP
Updated April 25, 2008
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