NTSTEM Center Tackles Enhanced State Math, Science Requirements

By Amy Klinkovsky

High school freshmen will fill the halls of Texas public schools in fall 2007 with great expectations, some trepidation and increased math and science requirements.

Texas House Bill 1 will require the 2007–2008 freshman class to have four years of math and science as part of their graduation plan. The increased course requirements will integrate math and science in meaningful ways while moving students beyond the current state accountability standards.

Alongside the House Bill 1 requirements, Dallas Independent School District will implement school reform plans designed by a team of professionals coordinated by the North Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (NTSTEM) Center at Texas A&M University.

The NTSTEM Center is part of a $71 million statewide initiative to improve instruction and academic performance in science- and math-related subjects in Texas high schools — an initiative funded primarily by the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation and the Dell Foundation through the Texas Education Agency.

Jim Scheurich, department head of educational administration and human resource development and principal investigator of the NTSTEM Center grant, says that the initiative is the Texas Education Agency’s response to a 2005 National Academy of Sciences report, titled Rising Above the Gathering Storm, calling for math and science education reform in schools across the country.

There are implications for all of us whether or not our children are learning science and math.

In the report, a panel of highly respected scientists, university presidents — including former Texas A&M president Robert Gates — as well as politicians and business leaders describe an America where 12th graders recently tested below the international average for 21 countries in math and science.

“Educators have had success in changing curriculum and teaching methods in elementary schools, but change in high schools is hard,” says Scheurich. “There is a lot we don’t know about how to change high schools, but we do know that in order to be successful in our large, urban schools, a lot of hands must be on the wheel for change to happen. One group can’t do it alone.”

The NTSTEM Center has gathered many helping hands. Over the next two years, co–project directors Robert Capraro and Scott Slough, along with Gerri Maxwell, project coordinator, and Scheurich will develop and implement reform plans. Assisting will be Dallas ISD; the Center for Distance Learning Research and the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M; Verizon; the Dallas/Fort Worth Semiconductor Science, Technology and Engineering Council; the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science; and private businesses.

The school reform plan calls for learning communities for the high school student; the creation of real-world, meaningful math and science modules; and an eight-day professional development institute for school teachers and administrators responsible for instituting the reform.

“There are implications for all of us whether or not our children are learning science and math,” Scheurich says. “Since the NTSTEM Center project is much more real-world oriented than others, our faculty will be able to directly collaborate with administrators and teachers to change the way science and math is taught.”