Many Quit Engineering & Science Majors
Posted on November 6th, 2011 by Mary Lord
For years, politicians, business leaders, and educators have made graduating more engineers and teachers with science and math degrees a national priority. Now, the number of college freshmen interested in majoring in a STEM field is on the rise. However, roughly 40 percent of students planning to major in engineering and science end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree.
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Tags: college completion, Education Policy, engineering education, K-12 engineering, STEM majors
Most states and school districts strive to raise graduation rates. But does a diploma mean high school students are ready for college and careers? Not by a long shot, the latest school progress reports from New York City’s board of education suggest.
The Senate is moving forward with a draft reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that includes a major push for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The bipartisan bill to fix No Child Left Behind represents 10 months of negotiations between Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and his Republican counterpart, Sen Mike Enzi from Wyoming. Hearings are scheduled for November 8.
Are science and math textbooks slated for the scrap heap? In Munster, Ind., they’re already history. The well-regarded school district tossed out the traditional tomes for 2,600 students in grades 5 -12 in favor of video-rich, online science and math content accessed by school-issued laptops. 
The National Research Council’s framework for common state science standards, released in July, won perfect marks for “content and rigor” in a new report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. However, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank bestowed a B+ on the “impressive document” because its strong content is “immersed in much else that could distract, confuse, and disrupt” the priorities of a high quality STEM education for all children.
Despite decades of steadily climbing college enrollment rates, the percentage of students earning a degree or certificate on time has barely budged, a new study reveals. By including older and part-time students, the Complete College America report paints a more comprehensive picture of the gap between college aspirations and outcomes than federal data typically has captured. 
After months of negotiations, the Senate education committee will take up a comprehensive bill reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The markup is scheduled for Oct. 18. Meanwhile, the House has broken the reauthorization bill into bite-sized pieces and is expected to deal with the big issues of accountability and teacher quality this fall. 
Just as they led the development of Common Core literacy and math standards, 20 states now are heading up a nationwide effort to improve K-12 STEM education by creating robust new “next generation” science and engineering standards.
Flanked by students, teachers, state education leaders, aPresident Barack Obama announced a plan to let states and districts waive some of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law’s most onerous requirements. In exchange, however, states would have to adopt certain reforms — including teacher evaluations that take student test scores into account.
