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The Foundation

There are many reasons why making policy and financial decisions to foster equity in science education is difficult. The skill that diverse constituencies have in influencing federal, state, and local policy makers is one, and the lack of agreement on what constitutes equity is another. In the long run, making good policy decisions about equity is hard because the needed data and research on what works are limited. Despite these difficulties, Project 2061 remains committed to the idea of science literacy for all students and to setting standards and expectations to work toward this goal. Examples of successful programs provide plenty of reason to believe that the goal is possible, given the will and necessary resources.

It sometimes seems as though policy and finance are as inseparable as light and shadow. Policies usually have financial consequences, and financial resources generally influence, if not determine, policy. A school board policy decision, based on sound educational principles, to decrease the student/teacher ratio, lengthen the school year, or increase the number of after-school activities will add substantial costs to the annual budget. The same board, under the threat of a large budget deficit might, for sound financial reasons, increase the student/teacher ratio, shorten the school year, or decrease the number of after-school student activities.

To be sure, in practice the intertwining of policy and finance is not a simple matter. It is not always evident, for example, what the dollar cost of an educational policy decision will turn out to be nor what the educational cost of a budget decision will turn out to be. One thing we can be certain of, however, is that rarely will policy or financial decisions have the same impact on all students. Educational equity may be a great rallying cry in the United States, but it is far from having been achieved. Whether science for all Americans can become a reality any time soon depends on how thoughtfully policy and financial decisions are made in the years ahead-a daunting prospect in the face of the political pluralism and dispersed decision-making that characterizes our education system.

Systematic research in education of the right kind and quality is needed to inform education policies and practices. The case for thinking of research as a foundation for every aspect of education may rest more on optimistic hopes for the future than on incontrovertible evidence from the past. The current picture of research with its successes, failures, impediments and opportunities is notable for the absence of a clearly articulated research agenda built around the idea of science literacy. An important characteristic of such an agenda is that it should be interdisciplinary-not only in content but in research methodology. As a relatively new scholarly area, education research is only beginning to be productive in informing practitioners. The increasing use of qualitative methods may provide improved congruence between research and the classroom. Nevertheless, finding effective ways to bring researchers and teachers into closer and more active relationships remains a challenge for the future.

For the most part, the equity, policy, finance, and research chapters that follow do not explicitly address the interdependencies among them. Yet it is helpful to read them with an eye for implicit connections and for missed opportunities to put on the table. Some of the questions below bear on interconnections. The purpose of the questions is to prompt a conversation that will lead to a better understanding of the issues treated in the chapters, not to suggest either praise or criticism of them. Some of the questions appear to be answered directly in the chapters, and some not. In either case, we again urge you to raise your own questions as you peruse the chapters, then forward them for posting in the Blueprints News Room via

Chapter 1: Equity

  1. Is it possible to reconcile a commitment to equity as equal opportunity with that of equity as equal outcomes? What measures of opportunity should be used? What measures of outcomes? What does research say about the relationship between opportunity and outcome?
  2. What characteristics of the American educational system are the greatest barriers to equal opportunity or outcome? Which of these are most amenable to improvement?
  3. Can science literacy for all be achieved given the current unequal distribution of financial resources? Would an equal distribution of resources be equitable? Are some kinds of resources more important than others in providing equal opportunity?
  4. Which groups of students are most in need of help in science and mathematics? Are their needs the same? Will the same instructional, support, and organizational policies serve them equally well? The same proportional investment?
  5. How can a common set of learning goals be achieved while honoring individual and cultural differences? Are new materials and teaching needed? How can we communicate and meet high expectations for all students?
Chapter 2: Policy
  1. How do such entreaties as "set high standards of learning for all students," and "pay attention to individual, socioeconomic, and cultural differences," translate into policy decisions? Is there sound research to guide the making of those decisions?
  2. Because policy decisions are made at federal, state, local, school, and classroom levels, what possibilities are there for ending up with coherent policies rather than conflicting ones?
  3. If authority for making policy decisions is devolving from the federal government to state governments to school districts to individual schools, where does the responsibility rest for educational equity? What is the balance between the power of the purse and the power of the courts in shaping state and local policies that bear on educational equity?
  4. Because state licensing authorities, teacher education institutions, and school district policies (hiring, salary, professional development opportunities, and tenure) all influence teacher quality, what can be done to improve it? What would it cost, and who would bear the burden? Are there state or federal policies that could improve the distribution of highly qualified teachers with regard to urban and remote school districts?
  5. Are professional associations and unions effective in influencing education policy? If so, does that influence tend to foster or impede reform? In particular, are these organizations a force for educational equity?
Chapter 3: Finance
  1. What are the financial costs of adopting policies that place a top priority on having all students become science literate? What effect will such policies have on students who may be headed for careers in science and science-related fields? What research is needed to answer such questions?
  2. If it matters more how money is spent for science and mathematics education (or any other disciplines) than how much is spent, what research-based principles are there to guide how best to spend whatever money is available? What basis is there for deciding what the threshold of investment is?
  3. Is financing of reform an added cost or is it only a matter of reallocating existing funds? What knowledge is there to guide decisions on how to distribute reform costs among such things as retraining teachers, providing better materials for instruction, upgrading technologies, realigning organizational structures, and other components of the system?
  4. In what ways do the funding policies of federal and state agencies and philanthropic foundations shape-or try to shape-educational reform? How could funding polices be changed to become more effective? Is coordination among funders of reform desirable? Possible?
  5. Does it take financial incentives to get states and school districts to adopt voluntary standards? How costly would such incentives be and who would foot the bill? What other incentives are likely to prompt a response from states and schools?
Chapter 4: Research
  1. Given the total cost of the educational enterprise in the United States, what dollar investment should the nation make in research? What should be the balance of investment between research focusing on learning and research focusing on policy issues? Research to develop a knowledge base and research to help solve urgent problems? Research to inform instructional, policy, and financial decisions and research to determine the effects of those decisions?
  2. What policies might lead to an educational research enterprise that meets scientific standards, is less fragmented than the current one, and can be sustained long enough to yield useful knowledge? Is a research agenda needed at all, or is the search for systematic knowledge in education better served by a support policy that funds the most creative researchers regardless of their focus?
  3. How can research link standards-based reform efforts in a way that focuses on learning and policy questions about equity? Can such research produce knowledge that can be applied more generally?
  4. How can knowledge, once created, be used to influence educational policies and practices? What training would teachers, materials developers, administrators, and others who are part of the system of education need to be able to understand and apply research findings?
  5. How can educational research be focused on long-term visions that could enlist and energize the entire research community? How can research be structured to reveal how learning progresses from childhood to adult literacy, and how understanding of important topics is developed? How can research be integrated so that knowledge about learning, teaching, instructional materials, and assessment are connected in ways that are useable by all educators?


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Project 2061
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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