Opening Statement By Chairman Bart Gordon

Good afternoon.  It is with great pleasure that I welcome my fellow Committee Members and our distinguished panel of experts to the Martha and Josh Morriss Mathematics and Engineering Elementary School, here in Texarkana, for what will undoubtedly be a valuable discussion on STEM education before high school.

Last August, Congress passed and the President signed into law the America COMPETES Act.  A response to the 2005 National Academies’ report Rising Above the Gathering Storm, and supported by a wide range of U.S. industries, universities, and science organizations, COMPETES seeks to ensure U.S. students, teachers, businesses, and workers will continue leading the world in science, innovation, research, and technology.

As we all know, the global marketplace continues to become more competitive. The fact of the matter is, our country can not and should not compete with the rest of the world on wages when half of the world’s workers earn less than $2 a day.  Our country needs to compete at a higher level – with better skills and higher productivity.

But today, America is falling behind other countries in educating our kids in STEM fields, and American students continue to score below average on math and science tests.  According to the latest OECD Program for International Students Assessment, or PISA, students in the U.S. ranked 25^th out of 30 developed countries in math and 21^st out of 30 developed countries in science. 

The America COMPETES Act seeks to reverse this trend and ensure not only that our nation will produce the world’s leading scientists and engineers but also that all students will have a strong grounding in math and science and are prepared for technical jobs in every sector of the economy. 

I look forward to hearing testimony today from our witnesses on this subject.  Having had the opportunity today to tour the Martha and Josh Morriss Mathematics and Engineering Elementary school I look forward to learning more about its establishment as a STEM-based public elementary school, and the progress it is making with its Pre-K through 12^th grade students here in Texarkana.