National STEM guidelines threaten local control, NSBA warns

But NSBA warned Congress against implementing some of the board’s recommendations for national academic content standards, which could result in the erosion of local control over education.

A National Action Plan for Addressing the Critical Needs of the U.S. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education System offers recommendations to bring greater coherence to the nation’s STEM education system and ensure that STEM courses are taught by highly effective teachers.

The report was released just a few weeks after the president signed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science Act. The America COMPETES Act authorizes new grant programs to improve teacher preparation in the STEM areas, improve elementary and middle school math education, and promote better alignment of K-12 education with the skills and knowledge students need for higher education and the 21st century work force.

At a hearing on the action plan Oct. 10, Chrisanne Gayl, director of federal programs at NSBA, told members of the House Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Research and Science Education that, even if students don’t pursue careers in science or technology, they still need basic STEM literacy “to be productive workers, good citizens, and intelligent consumers.”

NSBA supports the recommended incentives in the plan aimed at recruiting and retaining teachers in the STEM subjects, including performance-based pay, bonuses, alternative certification programs, and student loan forgiveness.

With regard to the recommendation in the action plan for a national STEM education council, NSBA believes such a body could be helpful in coordinating various STEM programs and initiatives throughout the federal government, disseminating best practices, and developing tools and resources that educators can use in the field.

However, Gayl called the proposal to have the council set national academic content guidelines and teacher certification requirements “troublesome for school board members who value local flexibility.”

“NSBA believes that giving such responsibilities to an independent national council is in direct conflict with our locally and democratically controlled public education system,” Gayl said. “Such an entity would divest state and local governments of their responsibilities and authority over public education and institute a governance structure with little or no oversight or accountability that would be responsible for high-level decision making.”

“It is a slippery slope from content guidelines to national standards,” Gayl warned.