A Call to Action
It’s been nearly a decade since the Glenn Commission produced Before It’s Too Late, its visionary report on the state of science and mathematics education in the United States. The report described the infrastructure and activities needed to produce and sustain first-rate teachers of science and mathematics. Yet minimal progress has been made in implementing the commission’s ideas on the scale that its members envisioned, and a level that is desperately needed for our nation’s schools. We can no longer afford to wait.
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)—the world’s largest organization of science educators—is taking action. With Senator John Glenn as our Honorary Chair, we are mounting a five-year, $43 million national effort to make excellence in science teaching and learning a reality for all U.S. students.
This effort—one of the most significant ever undertaken by NSTA—will fund a body of forward-thinking programs and initiatives that promote leadership, learning, and advocacy in science education. An extraordinary state-of-the art facility will house these programs and serve as a national home base for all teachers of science. We have named this new facility—and its series of programs and initiatives—the Center for Science Education:
- The Center for Science Education (CSE), a LEED Gold-certified green building that will serve as home base for the future of science education;
- The NSTA Learning Center, a state-of-the-art internet portal providing professional development resources and support at a scale never before seen;
- The CSE Leadership Institute, offering workshops, seminars, and other highly visible initiatives, including Science Matters, a public advocacy campaign to rally the nation around science education, and Science Anchors, a forward-thinking effort to help states embrace and educators teach a core set of science standards; and
- The NSTA New Science Teacher Academy, supporting those educators who are most vulnerable to the challenges of a new profession.
NSTA needs your help to achieve our goal! If we are to succeed, all stakeholders in the science education community must be involved. NSTA is asking you to join with us, the science education community, and other partners to provide the infrastructure, seed money, and program development funds to launch this major initiative inspired by the Glenn Commission’s work.
For more than 60 years, NSTA has been the voice of and for teachers and science. Our growing membership includes science educators, science supervisors, informal science educators, administrators, scientists, and leaders in business, industry, and government. But NSTA’s mission “to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all” reaches far beyond its membership. It is with this in mind that we pursue this campaign and serve as a catalyst for change. We hope you will join us by making a gift in support of this extraordinary effort.