Tapping America's Potential

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News Coverage July 2008

July 23, 2008 — The Post-Standard — “'Parks more than just a place to hang out'”
How far does a teacher have to go to find a good science experiment? Most of the time, just into their schoolyard. Anna Endreny, a teacher at Syracuse's Ed Smith School, is leading a group of about 15 local elementary school teachers in a weeklong summer workshop on using local parks and other green spaces to help teach students about science… A report released last week by Tapping America's Potential, a multi-business coalition, stated that the number of bachelor's degrees in science, math, engineering and technology fields has plateaued in recent years. The coalition is looking for ways to spark more interest in those career areas.

July 17, 2008 — Detroit Free Press — “Science grads short of goal”
An effort begun three years ago to double the number of students graduating from U.S. colleges with science-related degrees by 2015 has made little progress, said a coalition of business groups pushing the initiative. The number of undergraduate degrees awarded in math, science, engineering and technology increased by only 24,000 a year from 2001 to 2006, according to a report issued Tuesday by Tapping America's Potential. That's short of what's needed to reach the goal of 400,000 math and science graduates a year by 2015, said Susan Traiman, public policy director of the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives.

July 16, 2008 — Rocky Mountain News — “Preening Post”
…and yet, they add, "Entrepreneurs tell us that finding skilled workers, especially those with math, science and engineering skills, is one of the most difficult challenges they face." That chore isn't getting easier, according to a coalition of business groups - Tapping America's Potential, the coalition is called - that released a report this week. Three years ago, TAP decided to push for a doubling by 2015 in the number of students earning college degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. The U.S. hands out 225,000 bachelor's degrees in those fields every year, or 24,000 more than at the beginning of the decade. But the number in recent years has stalled.

July 16, 2008 — NPR Marketplace — “U.S. should import more skilled workers”
A new report says that within seven years, the U.S. needs hundreds of thousands of new graduates in math and science fields. That's to keep up with the rest of the world. But commentator Will Wilkinson says an advanced degree in science won't necessarily protect Americans from cut-throat competition.

July 15, 2008 — The Chronicle of Higher Education — “Drive for more science graduates falls behind its goals”
A campaign by prominent business groups to drastically increase the number of Americans entering engineering, mathematics, the sciences, and technology-related fields is not making nearly as much progress as its leaders had hoped, according to a report released today.

July 15, 2008 — Education Week — “Miles to Go…”
A couple years ago, a bunch of leading business organizations set an ambitious goal: "Double the number of U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates with bachelor's degrees by 2015." But as those leaders frankly acknowledged this week, the nation has barely moved toward hitting that mark so far.

July 15, 2008 — Medill Reports — “Number of U.S. science, engineering graduates stagnant”
The U.S. is not meeting the goals of major business groups to double the number of college graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, which could jeopardize the U.S. competitive edge, the coalition of 16 leading organizations said Tuesday. The coalition, Tapping America’s Potential, set a goal three years ago of reaching 400,000 graduates with bachelor’s degrees in science, tech, engineering or math by 2015. The group released a report showing that the number of graduates with such degrees rose from 201,000 in 2001 to somewhat less than 226,000 in 2006, an increase of 12 percent.

July 15, 2008 – Associated Press – “Report: US behind in doubling science grads”
A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in science, math and engineering by 2015 is falling way behind target, a new report says. In 2005, 15 prominent business groups warned that a lack of expert workers and teachers posed a threat to U.S. competitiveness, and said the country would need 400,000 new graduates in the so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields by 2015.

July 15, 2008 – The New York Times – “A new frontier for Title IX: science”
Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science. The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy have set up programs to look for sexual discrimination at universities receiving federal grants. Investigators have been taking inventories of lab space and interviewing faculty members and students in physics and engineering departments at schools like Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, M.I.T. and the University of Maryland.

July 13, 2008 – San Diego Union-Tribune – “Summer in lab beats day at the beach”
An undergraduate program at the University of San Diego recruits students who often don't make it into the research ranks: students of color, students whose parents have never been to college or students who are financially needy. The plan is to expose them to science and math in hopes they will choose a career in science – not always a first choice for the Millennial Generation. Formed in 2001 as a way to diversify the sciences, the Pre-Undergraduate Research Experience program enables three to five freshmen to spend six to eight weeks in a lab before starting college, then provides free tutoring for two years.

July 1, 2008 – New York Sun – “$18M Gift Aims To Boost Math, Science in Harlem”
The New York City Department of Education is receiving its largest corporate grant ever, an $18 million gift from General Electric that will go toward improving Harlem middle schools, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday. The grant is focused on math and science — subject areas in which General Electric's chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, said American students are falling behind in worrisome proportions. Working with outside partners such as Teachers College at Columbia University, General Electric will provide its employees as free labor to help out with generating student interest in the subjects. The grant is part of a national program General Electric has already launched in five cities to direct more American students into math and science careers.

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