American students are falling behind students in other countries on international assessments of math and science. Statistics such as these are driving the call for education reforms to strengthen science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the country’s schools.
Nearly a decade ago U.S. Congress, warned that America will fall behind in the global economy if its education system doesn’t produce more workers with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.
While many in education and STEM fields embrace the new Common Core standards, many strongly oppose them. Some hold the belief that the Common Core will lead to a national curriculum, others believe the standards are weaker than what states have already implemented.
The state Senate has approved a bill that would end traditional standardized testing of students in reading, math and social science, as the top federal education official threatened to withhold federal funds if the measure becomes law.
California education officials proposed Wednesday to immediately do away with the standardized reading, math and social science tests used to measure student learning and school performance since the late 1990s.
California’s students may be filling in fewer bubbles on multiple choice standardized tests in the future and writing longer answers instead.