THE EDUCATION FRONT

What was encouraging about President Obama's speech Wednesday about producing more math and science teachers is that, in the midst of terror threats, a consuming health care debate and a troubled economy, he was signaling the equal importance of getting American students ahead of their peers internationally in math and science.

We're behind by many measures, and, as Obama made a great point:

"Whether it's improving our health or harnessing clean energy, protecting our security or succeeding in the global economy, our future depends on reaffirming America's role as the world's engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation. And that leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today, especially in math, science, technology, and engineering."

The president also drew heavily upon the work of the Dallas-based National Math and Science Initiative in explaining his campaign to produce more math and science teachers. Education Front readers may recall that we had NMSI head Tom Luce as a guest blogger back in August.

Luce explained how the organization is expanding its UTeach program so more universities can attract students into teaching math and science. The president talked about that same program in his speech, describing the expansion of UTeach to 20 universities as the type of work he wants his $250 million public/private effort to emulate.

UTeach offers a variety of incentives to get college students to consider teaching math and science. Among them, students can stay in their math, science or engineering majors and simultaneously earn a teaching degree. The goal is to get students who really know math and science into the classroom.

As we talked about earlier this week, Obama's on target with the principles in his Race to the Top effort. So, too, is he with this math and science campaign. He's stepping out of the tyranny of the moment and taking a look several years down the road. We all will benefit from that.

Well, what do you know? A real, live idea has emerged in our governor's race. Instead of the hourly whack-the-opponent press releases that come from each side, Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday his plan to increase the number of T-Stem academies in Texas.

T-Stem is a program aimed at getting more students interested in technology, science, engineering and math. And since we often discuss the importance of those subjects here, I won't go into great detail about why that matters. Rather, here's why the governor is right:

There is a growing body of evidence that shows these academies, which can operate as schools within a school, are producing desirable results. Here in North Texas, we have at least four examples.

Berkner High School in Richardson has a T-Stem academy, and, among other things, the school touts one of its students as having won a prestigious statewide math contest. At least part of that success is due to the project focus that Berkner uses in getting students to have a hands-on feel for science, math, technology and engineering. And the teaching at Berkner is drawing notice. Texas Instruments recently inducted a Berkner T-Stem teacher into its academy for recognized math and science teachers.

R.L. Turner High School also has a T-Stem academy. Like Berkner, the METSA program there uses project-based learning. And it draws heavily from first-year teachers, who come to these subjects fresh.

That's probably one reason Gov. Perry also is proposing more money be invested in recruiting young science and math teachers, including through the U-Teach program. UT started that as a way to get college students into math and science teaching.

Conrad High School in Dallas has an academy, too. What caught my eye with it is the fact that 97 percent of Conrad's students are Latino or African-American. And the academy is showing impressive results, including having 95 percent of its 9th graders pass Algebra I.

Williams Prep in northwest Dallas serves a similar population. And the charter school's T-Stem academy is working with nearby UT-Southwestern to engage its students in these subjects.

To me, Williams' collaboration is a perfect example of how T-Stem academies are trying to open students to the possibilities of these fields. And, as the governor noted in his proposal for putting $160 million into them in the next Legislature, they are succeeding. The state has given about 90 percent of T-Stem schools either an exemplary or recognized rating, which are the top two ratings the state awards.

Score one for the governor for introducing a serious idea into the campaign. And score an even bigger one for T-Stem academies. They deserve this boost.

We spend a lot of time on this blog and in our editorial pages talking about why educating Texas children in science is so important to them getting a good job and to the state's economy keeping up with the ideas-driven global economy.

Today, guest blogger Vikram Savkar will provide a different take on why science matters. He is senior vice president and publishing director for Nature Education. He makes a good point that editorialists like yours truly are guilty of overlooking: Learning about science is good in and of itself.