SCIENCE FOR ALL! Spellings want to teach more science. We agree—but let’s teach it to all: // link // print // previous // next //

SCIENCE FOR ALL: As we’ve noted, we’ll be on the run for the next several days. But we do recommend this news report by Michael Janofsky in today’s New York Times. Janofsky describes a new report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute—a report about the teaching of science. “Nearly half the states are doing a poor job of setting high academic standards for science in public schools,” Janofsky writes, paraphrasing the study. And there’s this: “Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, a strong proponent of more testing to measure how effectively schools are teaching, said she was not surprised by the findings.”

The Fordham Institute—and Spellings herself—want to toughen the teaching of science. We think that’s a superb idea. But a question came to mind as we read Janofsky’s piece: If we plan to teach more and better science, how will we teach it to those grade school kids who may be several years behind in their reading? This is a very basic question—a question that’s almost always left out. At the start of the week, we’ll go over Janofsky’s report—and we’ll suggest some things Spellings ought to do if she wants to make sure that science is taught to all of America’s children.

We know—this is a “creepy” topic. Why would anyone care about this? Please don’t tell his royal dispenser of topics, Lord Drum, that we’ll be discussing it here. Let’s make this a samizdat—something we’ll keep for ourselves.

FORDHAM ON SCIENCE: If you want to read the Fordham report, you know what to do—just click here.