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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2000

News Release

Statement of Dennis Van Roekel Secretary-Treasurer National Education Association On The Glenn Commission Report

Washington, D.C. -- The National Education Association applauds the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century for its report "Before It's Too Late." If our children are to succeed in the new millenium, we must help students achieve to higher levels in math and science. Today's students face a new world -- with enormous changes brought about by economic globalization and information-based technologies. Consequently, we must essentially revolutionize the way we teach math and science.

The report calls for significant efforts to improve teaching, including making high quality professional development available to all teachers and aligning standards, curricula, and assessments. We must have high, consistent standards for every student. We must have curricula that help students achieve those standards. And the assessments must be consistent with the expectations. As this report correctly points out, that will mean making sure that teachers know the standards and have the knowledge and skills to teach to the standards.

We must also address the conditions of teaching. One of the Commission's key recommendations is for effective induction programs to help new teachers adapt to the intellectually, physically, and emotionally challenging profession of teaching. In addition, it is clear we must pay teachers more if we expect to get the kind of teachers that parents want and children need.

We all need to work together - teachers with students, principals with teachers, parents and policymakers. There is no silver bullet for improving math and science education. And we cannot achieve alignment of standards and practices unless and until we are all on the same page. The Commission's checklist is a precise roadmap for this renewed level of cooperation.

Finally, we have stood together in the past and made pronouncements about what must be done. As the authors of the report point out, we set forth a national goal of being first in the world in math and science 11 years ago. That is an ambitious, but achievable, goal. But, as this report points out, it will remain empty rhetoric if we are not willing to do something different. We must match our rhetoric with deeds. We must set high consistent standards, align curricula, assessments, and classroom practices with those standards. We must help teachers better prepare to work with students - and support their efforts in the home and community.

The task now is to make that agenda a reality for every public school student and every math and science teacher in the nation. The National Education Association welcomes partners in that effort.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.