Senators Durbin and Coleman Host Senate Caucus on Science, Technology, Enginering, and Math Educaton Briefing with National Educators

Press Release

SENATORS DURBIN AND COLEMAN HOST SENATE CAUCUS ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINERING, AND MATH EDUCATION BRIEFING WITH NATIONAL EDUCATORS

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Norm Coleman (R-MN), co-chairs of the Senate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education Caucus, today welcomed a national panel of educators to discuss the challenges confronting the United States in keeping America's edge in scientific and technological innovations.

According to U.S. Department of Labor projections, new jobs requiring science, engineering and technical training will increase four times faster than the national job growth rate in coming years. If present trends continue, the U.S. would need 14 million more qualified workers by 2020 than its education system currently produces. Additionally, other reports suggest that several countries, particularly in Asia, threaten to outperform the U.S. in areas that have steadfastly been America's strengths, and a recent international comparison of math skills among high school students in 40 countries showed that U.S. students fare below the average.

"It's not just America's students who are suffering because our colleges and universities are not producing enough math and science teachers in coming years. Our economic and national security interests are not far behind. The mission of this bipartisan caucus is to identify creative solutions to help put our country back on the right track and to continue to keep America the innovative and technological leader of the globe," Durbin said.

"America has lost some ground in our traditionally strong areas of math and science, and this caucus will explore new ways to move us in the right direction in order to regain our edge," said Coleman. "The concern for our global economic viability is real, and this caucus will help us create a vision to remain competitive in the global marketplace."

The panelists were Michael Lach, Director of Science for the Chicago Public Schools; Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Francis (Skip) Fennell, President-Elect, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; and Dr. Lawrence J. (Larry) Johnson, Dean of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH); Professor of Education; and Executive Director of the Arlitt Child and Family Research and Education Center at the University of Cincinnati.

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