U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings spoke at the first National Summit on the Advancement of Girls in Math and Science on May 15 and announced the 17 expert panelists and six ex-officio members selected for the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, which will advise President Bush and Spellings on the best use of scientifically based research to advance the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Where Are the Girls?

Citing examples of effective science and math courses around the nation, Spellings said, “But there’s one question that is bothering me: Where are all the girls? Girls continue to be underrepresented in critical fields related to math and science … Our country can’t afford to lose half of our potential innovators.”

Held in Washington, D.C., and co-hosted by Kathie Olsen, deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the summit addressed the math-science gender gap in the nation’s schools and its effect on women entering the fastest-growing jobs of the future. Leaders from NSF, NASA, and other national organizations who attended the event included former astronaut Sally Ride and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).

Summit participants want to develop a coordinated national strategy that will encourage more girls to pursue careers in math and science fields. “Today I’m announcing a comprehensive review of the research on how and why girls are turning away from the fields of the future,” said Spellings. “We need definitive insights into what goes wrong, when, and why.”

One main challenge the nation faces in dealing with the problem, said Spellings, is changing a culture in which “otherwise intelligent adults … brag about their inability to balance a checkbook or calculate a tip … Why is it okay to brag about poor math skills?”

Students have similar feelings about math and science, Spellings continued, quoting from a recent Raytheon Company survey that found that 84 percent of middle-school students would rather clean their rooms, take out the garbage, or go to the dentist than do their math homework.

Spellings cited “the fact that our school systems are desperate for math and science teachers—especially in urban areas” as a contributing factor. She said the Department of Education will expand its free online Teacher-to-Teacher workshops “to help teachers inspire girls and boys to become innovators and problem solvers.” (See http://www.paec.org/teacher2teacherfor the current list of workshops.)

“Starting in 2007, we’ll also be measuring achievement in science,” said Spellings. “Once we have strong data on what’s happening in our science classes, we’ll be better equipped to ensure both boys and girls are getting the quality education they deserve.”

Former astronaut Sally Ride cited a survey that showed that in fourth grade, “fully two-thirds of the kids still like science. The potential scientists and engineers are out there! And furthermore, it’s as many girls as boys.” But after fourth grade, she observed, “we start to lose both boys and girls … the reason for this summit is that we lose far more girls than boys.”

Ride explained that while medicine, law, business, and sports have all seen increases in the numbers of females participating, the physical sciences and engineering have remained less popular with women because stereotypes about their lack of scientific ability are “much more engrained” and because the numbers of female scientists have always been lower than those of women in the other fields. “But the numbers in these areas have, overall, been steadily increasing,” she added. “Why would anyone think that the percentage will suddenly level off at today’s numbers instead of continuing to trend up—as percentages of women did in law, medicine, business, and sports?”

“The good news,” said Ride, “is that research suggests strategies that work to engage girls.” She said that “good, collaborative, hands-on activities … show girls that science is creative, collaborative, and relevant to their world.” She also advised parents and teachers to inform girls about “the range of cool things that scientists and engineers do … to put a female face on those careers."

National Mathematics Advisory Panel

The National Mathematics Advisory Panel (NMP), modeled after the National Reading Panel, will examine and summarize the scientific evidence related to the teaching and learning of mathematics, with a specific focus on preparation for and success in learning algebra.

"To keep America competitive in the 21st century, we must improve the way we teach math and we must give more students the chance to take advanced math and science courses in high school," Spellings said. "America's high school graduates need solid math skills, whether proceeding to college or going into the workforce."

The NMP will issue an interim report by January 31, 2007, and a final report no later than February 28, 2008. These reports will provide policy recommendations on how to improve mathematics achievement for all students.

Larry Faulkner, president of the Houston Endowment and president emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin, will chair the NMP. The other panelists are

• Deborah Ball, dean, School of Education, and Collegiate Professor, University of Michigan
• Camilla Benbow, dean of education and human development, Vanderbilt University, Peabody College
• A. Wade Boykin, professor and director of the Developmental Psychology Graduate Program in the Department of Psychology, Howard University
• Francis "Skip" Fennell, professor of education, McDaniel College (Maryland); president, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• David Geary, curators' professor, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri at Columbia
• Russell Gersten, executive director, Instructional Research Group; professor emeritus, College for Education, University of Oregon
• Nancy Ichinaga, former principal, Bennett-Kew Elementary School, Inglewood, California
• Tom Loveless, director, Brown Center on Education Policy, and senior fellow in governance studies, The Brookings Institution
• Liping Ma, senior scholar for the advancement of teaching, Carnegie Foundation
• Valerie Reyna, professor of human development and professor of psychology, Cornell University
• Wilfried Schmid, professor of mathematics, Harvard University
• Robert Siegler, Teresa Heinz Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
• Jim Simons, president, Renaissance Technologies Corporation; former chair of the Mathematics Department, State University of New York at Stony Brook
• Sandra Stotsky, independent researcher and consultant in education; former senior associate commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Education
• Vern Williams, math teacher, Longfellow Middle School, Fairfax , Virginia
• Hung-Hsi Wu, professor of mathematics, University of California at Berkeley

Ex-officio members include

• Dan Berch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
• Diane Jones, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Tom Luce, assistant secretary, U.S. Department of Education
• Kathie Olsen, deputy director, National Science Foundation
• Raymond Simon, deputy secretary, U.S. Department of Education
• Grover (Russ) Whitehurst, director, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education

All NMP meetings will be open to the public and will be announced in the Federal Register. A fact sheet about the NMP is available online.