Lexington, KY - A lack of sufficient funding - - the old bugaboo for Kentucky's schools and universities - - may prevent the state from making right away the many big improvements that educators and business executives are eager to see in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
At least the problem won't be that Kentucky hasn't developed a plan to address what has become a national crisis: a deficit in these fields. While Kentucky has lagged in careers and education pertaining to the STEM disciplines, officials have been working diligently to reverse this. In March 2007, a 110-member statewide task force released Kentucky's STEM Imperative: Competing in the Global Economy. At the end of last month, another task force issued STEM: 21st Century Implementation Plan, a follow-up mandated by a law the General Assembly passed a year ago.
The new report concludes its recommendations with a proposed budget of more than $12.7 million. That kind of money will be tough to come by in the legislature's current session, as its struggles with a projected state budget short fall of more than $450 million.
But University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr., who has a doctorate in engineering and is chair of the STEM task force, says proponents shouldn't give up because the legislature might be convinced to appropriate some of the requested money. And by doing so the General Assembly would be showing "some commitment" to advancing the STEM goals, he said. And there are a host of things that can be done with little or no money, he said, such as reviewing policies and curricula; changing teacher certification so it easier to change careers and become a teacher; and create better pay for STEM teachers.
The new report, often referred to as STEM2, will be mentioned at Friday's meeting of the Council on Postsecondary Education in Frankfort, when Richard Crofts concludes his eight months as the council's interim president. Richard King, former head of the New York higher education system, will become the new president Friday.
"For the foreseeable future, we're going to have to find available funds and use them in ways they have not always been used," said Crofts, the retired former head of the university systems in Montana and Mississippi.
In the STEM fields, Kentucky lags behind North Carolina, a national leader in education, he said.
"If we want to look like North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, the objectives of the report are what will have to be met," Crofts said. But in his short time in Kentucky, Crofts has learned that Frankfort does not always muster effective coordination to push higher education forward.
"Where we come short is communicating over time with the General Assembly and the Executive Branch about those things that need to be viewed as investments, not costs," Crofts said.
As Kentucky's first STEM report pointed out, the national crisis has developed for reasons such as these: in 30 years, the United States has dropped from third to 30th in the number of college and university science graduates; Asian universities now produce eight times more engineering degrees than the United States; and of 2.8 million science degrees awarded around the world in 2003, 1.2 million were in Asia, 830,000 in Europe and only 40,000 in the United States.
As a national commission on overcoming the STEM crisis has said: "If we delay, we put at risk our continued economic growth and future scientific discovery."
The urgent needs in the STEM fields are obvious in the numbers. There are projections that 75 percent of the fastest growing jobs in the country require strong training in science or math. Federal statistics predict job growth of 27 percent or more over the next six years in computer science, database administration, software engineering, biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, healthcare, medical research and internet publishing. Information technology jobs are expected to increase 24 percent by 2016.
The new report takes the first report's eight recommendations and condenses them to four and articulates strategies and goals:
1) Public awareness and promotion: Make sure that all affected groups are involved, including education, business, industry and government, to develop a STEM marketing plan and Web site.
2) Professional development for teachers: Expanding Kentucky's involvement in Project Lead the Way, AdvanceKentucky, and the Primary Mathematics Implementation Program. Project Lead the Way (www.pltw.org./index.cfm) is a middle school and high school curriculum to develop student interest in engineering and engineering technology. AdvanceKentucky (www/ktsc.com/?665) is a $13.2 million grant-funded partnership between Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and the National Math and Science Initiative that aims to expand the number of students taking and excelling in Advanced Placement. Already Kentucky's participating schools have doubled enrollments in AP math, science and English courses, and are expected to double student scores on AP tests for college credit. So far, 12 Kentucky high schools utilize AdvanceKentucky: Lone Oak, Reidland, Henderson County, Warren Central, Barren County, Marion County, Shelby County, Scott County, North Laurel, South Laurel, Corbin and Anderson County.
3) Aligning the curricula of Preschool-College (P-16): Developing teacher preparation for elementary, middle and high school so it corresponds with expected student performance in in STEM courses. Part of this goal includes the strategy of modifying and simplifying teacher certification requirements in order to streamline the process of recruiting and retaining outstanding STEM teachers, as well as increasing the pay of teachers in these fields.
4) Gaining more partners in the STEM effort: These partners would come primarily from among communities, businesses, industries and government. The intent is not only to gain the support of these groups, but to find what specific skills and training they look for in college graduates.