Press Release

Secretary Spellings and Other Top Officials to Testify on Science Education Tomorrow

By SpaceRef Editor
March 29, 2006
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WASHINGTON – Tomorrow, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and top officials from federal science agencies will testify before the House Science Committee at a hearing examining how federal agencies can improve their individual and collective efforts to strengthen K-12 science and math education. 

The hearing will explore the following overarching questions:

To what extent and how are the federal agencies involved in K-12 math and science education coordinating their efforts?  What are their individual roles?  To what extent and how do they ensure that their individual programs are complementary?   

Are there uniform evaluation tools that agencies do or could use to determine the effectiveness of their programs?

How do individual federal agencies strike a balance in their portfolios among K-12 math and science programs that are designed to encourage students who show great promise and interest, programs that are designed to help students who are struggling academically, and programs that are designed to attract girls, underrepresented minorities or students from low-income families? 

Should every federal agency administer programs for each subgroup of students or are some agencies better served by targeting specific populations, such as those who are academically promising and/or underrepresented?

Thursday, March 30, 2006 Full Science Committee – Hearing K-12 Science and Math Education Across the Federal Agencies 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 2318 Rayburn House Office Building (WEBCAST)

Witnesses:

  • The Honorable Margaret Spellings is the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
  • The Honorable Arden L. Bement is the Director of the National Science Foundation.
  • The Honorable Shana Dale is the Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
  • Brigadier General John J. Kelly (ret.) is the Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  • Dr. James Decker is the Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy.

  Please click here to view the charter for tomorrow’s hearing.

All Full Committee and subcommittee hearings and markups are webcast live on the Committee website: www.house.gov/science.  The website also includes an archive of webcasts from previous hearings.

SpaceRef staff editor.