JANUARY 8, 2007 -- The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) today applauded a bipartisan proposal for voluntary nationwide standards to ensure that all American children receive a high-quality education in mathematics and science.
AAAS further urged planners to base new nationwide standards on existing, well-tested and widely accepted guidelines -- set forth by Project 2061, the science-education reform initiative at AAAS, as well as the National Research Council, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
"AAAS believes that all children, whether they live in Louisiana, Connecticut or Michigan, or any other part of the United States, deserve the best possible education in science and mathematics," said AAAS Chief Executive Officer Alan I. Leshner, executive publisher of the journal Science.
"We must provide American children with the educational edge they will need to forge a positive path toward solving the global problems of the future, and the SPEAK Act is an important step towards this goal," Leshner wrote in a January 8 letter to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), co-authors of The Standards to Provide Educational Achievement for Kids (SPEAK) Act.
Jo Ellen Roseman, director of Project 2061 at AAAS, added that the Dodd-Ehlers proposal is well-timed. "As a nation, we're in an excellent position to identify a uniform and coherent set of science and math standards because a sound knowledge base already exists, and AAAS stands ready to help," Roseman said. "Fortunately, planners won't need to start totally anew."
Under the SPEAK Act proposal, voluntary, nationwide U.S. content standards in science and math would be developed by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), with public input. States choosing to adopt the new standards would then receive federal funds to implement them and to enhance data
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Contact: Ginger Pinholster
gpinhols@aaas.org
202-326-6421
American Association for the Advancement of Science
8-Jan-2007