American Association of Engineering Societies

American Association of Physics Teachers

American Astronomical Society

American Chemical Society

American Institute of Physics

American Geological Institute

American Nuclear Society

American Physical Society

American Society of Agricultural Engineers

American Society of Civil Engineers

American Society for Engineering Education, Engineering Deans Council

American Society of Mechanical Engineers International, Council on Education

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers- United States of America

International Technology Education Association

Junior Engineering Technical Society

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

National Society of Professional Engineers

National Science Teachers Association

Society of Automotive Engineers

Triangle Coalition for Science and Technical Education

Tufts University, Department of Engineering

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
Chairman,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
SD-428 Dirksen Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Mr. Chairman:

On behalf of the K-12 Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) Coalition, we would like to thank you for your leadership on legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. We are particularly pleased to see that both H.R.1 and S.1 include provisions establishing a Math and Science Partnership initiative. We strongly support this style of partnership activity as a tool for improving teaching and learning in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology.

The science, math, engineering, and technology community has long been concerned with the state of K-12 science, math, engineering, and technology education. To increase student learning in these areas, and enable the United States to compete globally with a strong science and technology literate workforce, we need to commit a significant amount of resources for SMET education now. The Coalition recommends that conferees support the highest possible funding level for the Math and Science partnerships. We also urge conferees to authorize these partnerships through competitive grants at the state level.

We also support the allowable activities and eligible partners outlined in Section 2202 and Section 2213 of S.1 respectively. These activities include professional development, curriculum development, and teacher recruitment, all of which will help local districts address their particular needs.

To address the serious problem of teacher recruitment, we strongly support recruiting students with strong science, math or engineering backgrounds to be teachers, as included in Section 2023(c)2(A) of the House bill.

Finally, assessment of science learning must be included, as in Section 1111 of S.1. If science testing is not part of this reauthorization, classroom time for science will be reduced in favor of other subjects that are being tested. We urge you to support the Senate language that calls for the development of quality state tests. We also support the development of state needs assessments to determine the professional development and teacher quality needs in local schools.

Thank you for considering our concerns, and for your acknowledgement of the need to improve science, math, engineering, and technology education. Please contact Christina Hood at 202.662.8718, if you have further questions or need additional information.

 (Letter sent to members of House-Senate Conference Committee on S.1/H.R.1)