Resources: Getting More Innovation Workers in the Pipeline

Here is an annotated list of major reports from national organizations that provide data, evidence and arguments to transform America’s schools and get more students skilled in the STEM disciplines ready for success in the workplace.

Rethinking High School: Supporting All Students to be College-Ready in Math
WestEd, April 2008
In this study, part of a series of reports on high school reform for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WestEd examines how three struggling high schools successfully improved student mathematics achievement by implementing research-based strategies for a strong math program.  Among these strategies, the schools highlighted in the report focused on: offering rigorous high-level math courses and supports to all students; helping teachers develop and continually improve skills that enable them to teach math effectively to students with varying levels of proficiency; and consistently assessing student learning – formally and informally – to drive instruction.

Technology Counts: STEM – The Push to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Education Week, March 2008
Published annually, this report analyzes progress in the states on policies key to improving K-12 education in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering, and math.  States are graded on students’ access, use, and capacity of technology in schools.  Users can examine detailed statistics on any state’s performance or compare results across states.  This resource also presents an in-depth look at several ways in which states and school districts are creatively enhancing STEM education and preparing more students to pursue postsecondary education and careers in innovation-based fields.

An American Imperative: Transforming the Recruitment, Retention and Renewal of Our Nations Mathematics and Science Teaching Workforce
Business-Higher Education Forum, June 2007
The Business-Higher Education Forum is a non-profit organization of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college and university presidents, and foundation leaders working to advance innovative solutions to our nation's education challenges in order to enhance U.S. competitiveness. This BHEF report addresses the nation’s critical shortage of high quality mathematics and science teachers and proposes a comprehensive action plan to elevate the status of the teaching profession. The report focuses on transforming three key components that contribute to a robust, world-class teaching workforce including the recruitment, retention and renewal of math and science teachers.

Rising Above the Gathering Storm:  Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future
National Academies of Sciences, October 2006
This report was presented to Congress by a 20-member committee composed of university presidents, CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, and former presidential appointees. It analyzes the current economic challenges facing the U.S. and develops four overarching recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policymakers can take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology efforts on meeting the nation's energy needs. The four recommendations are: increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 math and science education; sustain and strengthen the nation’s commitment to long-term basic research; develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineer from both the United States and abroad; and ensure that the U.S. is the premier place for world innovation.

Tapping America’s Potential: The Education for Innovation Initiative
Tapping America’s Potential, July 2005
Tapping America’s Potential is a campaign championed by fifteen national business organizations to double the number of students receiving bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by 2015. This report highlights the need for more students pursuing STEM degrees in the global economy and offers a number of actionable recommendations to establish a new education infrastructure and improve the skills of the U.S. workforce.

Learning for the Future: Changing the Culture of Math and Science Education to Ensure a Competitive Workforce
Center for Economic Development, May 2003
In this report, the Center for Economic Development argues that improving the math and science skills of our nation's youth is an essential step in ensuring and promoting innovation-led economic growth in the coming decades and recognizes the cultural bias that exists against math and science instruction. It identifies three major challenges policymakers and other stakeholders must address for the U.S. to produce a more competitive workforce: increasing student interest in math and science to sustain the pipeline; demonstrating the wonder of discovery while helping students to master rigorous content; and acknowledging the professional of teachers.  

Before It's Too Late
The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, September 2000
This report, also known as the Glenn Commission report, was submitted to the Department of Education by a distinguished panel of educators, business leaders and policymakers to offer recommendations for education reform to keep America competitive in the global economy. The report offers three overarching goals: improve the quality of K-12 math and science instruction, increase the number of qualified and prepared math and science teachers, and make the teaching profession more attractive for K-12 math and science teachers.