Physics Today – Greg Stasiewicz
“A growing collection of politicians, educators, and businesses and science organizations are arguing that the US education system is falling behind in the production of students qualified to enter the science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields. John Holdren, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, recently said, “We need lift to maintain a pipeline that will produce the next generation of discoverers, produce the tech-savvy workforce that the jobs of the 21st century increasingly require, and create the science-savvy citizenry that a democracy will need to function in an environment where more and more of the decisions facing our elected leaders has science and technology content.” The federal government has established several efforts at the national level aimed at encouraging students to enter STEM fields and at training the next generation of teachers. On the state level, a partnership of state governments and science and education organizations has created the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for K–12 education.”(more)