STEM Stakeholder Response to Enacted Educational Policy

Abstract

The United States is in the midst of a formidable challenge as the pipeline of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) expertise continues to decline. Policy makers and national leadership have argued the “future prosperity of the United States” can only be preserved through the strengthening of science and mathematics teaching and learning in public schools (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century, 2007). There have been an emergence of commissioned reports related to the STEM talent crisis including Rising Above the Gathering Storm (2007) that proposed the following: (1) increase of the talent pool through improving K-12 science and mathematics education, (2) sustain and increase long-term basic research related to the economy, security, and quality of life, (3) increase the attractiveness of the United States to recruit and retain the best and brightest scientists and engineers in the world, and (4) increase incentives for innovation (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century, 2007).