DOCUMENT RESUME ED 362 395 SE 053 667 TITLE Science and Math Education Reform. Hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs. United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, Second Session (Cleveland, Ohio, July 7, 1992). INSTITUTION Congress of the U.S., Washington, D.C. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. REP-11T NO ISBN-0-16-040893-8; Senate-Hrg-102-1086 PUB DATE 93 NOTE 233p.; Contains page._ of extremely small type. AVAILABLE FROMU.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402. PUB TYPE Legal/Legislative/Regulatory Materials (090) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Demonstration Programs; *Educational Change; Elementary Secondary Education; Federal Government; Females; Hearings; *Mathematics Education; Minority Group Children; School Business Relationship; *Science Education IDENTIFIERS Congress 102nd; Hands on Science; *Ninth Grade Proficiency Test; Ohio; *Project Discovery; Women in Science ABSTRACT This document presents a field hearing of the Governmental Affairs Committee to examine the currentreform efforts in science and mathematics education at thefederal and state levels, focusing specifically on the experiences of Ohio. Ninewitnesses representing various educational levels preented testimony concerning mathematics and science education initiatives inOhio. Initiatives and issues discussed included: (1)the Ohio Proficiency Test;(2) Project Discovery, a project focusingon preparing middle school students to think critically and solveproblems;(3) the National Center for Science Teaching and Learning; (4)curriculum reform;(5) societal factors influencing reform;(6) collaboration among the higher education, public education, and business sectors; (7) the B-WISER Institute,a summer camp and follow-up program that empowers young women to achieve in science; and (8) the undcr-representation of minorities andwomen in mathematics and science. Appendices contain copies of preparedstatements by the witnesses and other participants. (MDH) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best thatcan be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** S. Hrg 102=1086 S CE MATH EDUCA11ON REFORM HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTA1 AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SECOND CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JULY 7, 1992 (Cleveland, Ohio) Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) lakThis document has been reproduced at received from the person or organization originating it 0 Minor changes have bean made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions slated in this docu- ment do not necessarily represent official OERI position or poocy U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 116-949 WASHINGTON : 1993 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, WashMgton, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-040893-8 UST COPYAVAILABLE COMMITIEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS JOHN GLENN, Ohio, Chairman SAM NUNN, Georgia WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware CARL LEVIN, Michigan TED STEVENS, Alaska JIM SASSER, Tennessee WILLIAM S. COHEN, Maine DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas WARREN B. RUDMAN, New Hampshire HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin JOHN SEYMOUR, California JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii Leonard Weiss, Staff Director Doris M. Clanton, Assistant Counsel Vivian Pan, Fellow Robert Woods, Fellow Franklin G. Polk. Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel Michal Sue Prosser, Chief Clerk Th 45 4 CONTENTS Opening statements: Page Senator Glenn 1 WITNESSES TUESDAY, JULY 7, 1992 Elaine H. Hairston, Chancellor, Ohio Board of Regents 7 Kenneth G. Wilson, Hazel Youngberg Trustees Distinguished Professor, Ohio State University 12 Arthur White, Director, National Center for Science Teaching and Learning 14 Sammie Campbell Parrish, Superintendent, Cleveland Public Schools 18 James Porter, Superintendent, Lake County Schools 32 Michael Salkind, President, Ohio Aerospace Institute, accompanied by Renee Kent, Graduate Student, University of Dayton, and Sue Zepp, Teacher, Woodridge Elementary School, Cuyahoga Falls 36 Elizabeth Obara, Camp Director, Buckeye Women in Science, Engineering and Research Institute, Ohio Academy of Sciences 42 Gardenia Butler, Executive Director, Minorities in Mathematics, Science and Engineering, accompanied by Erik Thomas, Mount Healthy South Middle School, Cincinnati 45 Prem Batra, Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Wright Suite University, accompanied by Lattice Turpin, Recent High School Graduate, Meadowdale High School, Dayton, and Drucilla Veasley, Biology Teacher, Dunbar High School, Dayton 47 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Batra, Prem: Testimony 47 Prepared statement with attachments 189 Butler, Gardenia: Testimony 45 Prepared statement 175 Hairston, Elaine H.: Testimony 7 Prepared statement 57 Obara, Elizabeth: Testimony 42 Prepared statement with attachments 163 Parrish, Sammie Campbell: Testimony 18 Porter, James: Testimony 32 Prepared statement with attachments 136 Salkind, Michael: Testimony 36 Prepared statement with attachments 151 (m) Page White, Arthur Testimony .. 14 Prepared statement 91 Wilson, Kenneth G.: Testimony 12 Prepared statement with attachments 67 APPENDIX Prepared statements of witnesses in order of appearance 57 Lakeland Area Center for Science and Mathematics Brochure 134 Background Paper for the Development of Ohio's Proposal to the National Science Foundation's Statewide Systemic Initiatives Programby Lynn Edward Elfner 170 Statement of Spence M. Armstrong, Associate Administrator, Office of Human Resources and Education, NASA 209 Statement of Ted Sanders, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ohio Depart- ment of Education 214 FIELD HEARING ON SCIENCE AND MATH EDUCATION REFORM TUESDAY, JULY 7, 1992 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., at NASA Lewis Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio, Hon. John Glenn, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senator Glenn. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR GLENN Chairman GLENN. The hearing will be in order. This is an official meeting of the Governmental Affairs Committee that I chair in Washington. We hold field hearings on occasion in different states when there is an issue that a particular state has expertise that would be of benefit to us and where we could gain more by having a field hearing than just calling people to Washingtonfor the usual routine hearing there. A record is being kept, and the report will be made and filed of the proceedings here today for the rest of the Committee and for the staff in Washington. We particularly appre- ciate all those who are willing to take part in the hearing today. Today we will examine the current reform efforts in science and math education at the Federal and state levels. The Governmental Affairs Committee has oversight jurisdiction with regard to the ef- ficiency, the economy, and the effectiveness of all Federal agencies. That's a big order when you're talking about the Federal Govern- ment. This includes the Department of Education, and the Nation- al Science Foundation. Additionally, our jurisdiction also includes the study of the relations of state and local governments with the Federal Government. We will focus specifically upon the experiences of Ohio. I'm very pleased that the Committee is holding this hearing in Cleveland and, in particular, at the NASA Lewis Research C,enter. In sur- roundings like these at this center, we are reminded of our coun- try's successes some years ago in space and the ones going on even today. The crew of the space shuttle Columbia, in the longest shut- tle flight yet, will be returning tomorrow morning after a mission that concentrates specifically on scientific projects. We're reminded of what went into that success, all the study, all the math, all the science, and all the engineering. Going back in the early 1960s, John Kennedy made the state- ment, "Now is clearly the time to take longer stridestime for a (1) 2 new American enterprisetime for this nation to take a leading role in space achievement which, in manyways, may hold the key to our future on earth." So we're very glad to be here at NASA Lewis this morning. President Kennedy's words are equally true today whenwe think about reforming science and math education. It is past time for this nation to commit itself to improving our educational systems across the board and to improve math and science education in particular. And all of our witnesses and spectators believe,as I do, that education is the fuel which has propelled the United States to world leadership in the 20th century. If we are to retain this lead- ership in the 21st century, we can't be satisfied with the status quo. In many speeches, I've challenged an audience tosay, "What do you think? If you had to name two things that made this country great, what would they be?" And someone always says, "Well, we had great resources." And it's true. We did. We had the fruited plain and purple mountains' majesty and majestic rivers flowing to the sea thatwe sing about. But my two nominees would not be just ourresources because many places in the world had great resources and did not develop the way we did. I would submit that the first elementwas educa- tion. Education