In science and math, our kids need to step it up – A gap is found in Washington State’s high school and college, report says

Washington’s students lack the training in science and math found in eight comparable states, creating a deficit local leaders say could erode the state’s appeal to high-tech companies.

The growing gap between Washington’s students and those elsewhere presents the state with a big challenge, said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith, summarizing early results of a survey taken by business and research consortium The Technology Alliance and released yesterday.

By DAN RICHMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/172831_teched11.html

"While the region has experienced success, there is a strategic concern that weaknesses in the Washington economy … threaten to erode Washington’s current position and its future success," Smith said at the alliance’s annual State of Technology luncheon, which was attended by nearly 1,000 Seattle-area researchers and business executives.

Full results of the Tech Alliance Study of Washington Higher Education are to be published in June. But even the preliminary results, which take a deeper look at higher education than did a similar study the alliance produced last year, are cause for concern, said Susannah Malarkey, the alliance’s executive director.

"If we did a better job of producing kids with bachelor’s degrees in science, more of them would be competitive for the best-paying high-tech jobs," she said. "This is a wake-up call for parents, to say they really need to encourage their kids to take four years of math, take science, and take a rigorous curriculum."

James Sulton, executive director of Washington’s Higher Education Coordinating Board, said it has been clear for some time that colleges and universities must collaborate with elementary and high schools to address an "unacceptable deficit" in science and math education.

To that end, Sulton said, the board is forming an advisory council with representatives from various levels of education. The council could begin meeting as early as September.

"We don’t think that’s any silver bullet or instant solution," Sulton said. "We think it’s going to take continuous effort over future years to get this done, but at least we feel sanguine about the prospects, because everyone is beginning to join forces."

Both alliance studies are designed to serve as benchmarks, repeatable in future years to measure the state’s progress. Economist Paul Sommers produced them.

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Co-funded by Microsoft, law firm Davis Wright Tremaine and the alliance, the latest study used data compiled last year by testing organization The College Board. Then it compared that information to similar data from eight states that researchers deemed were comparable.

Those states — California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Texas and Virginia — were determined to be most similar to Washington in their concentration of several types of high-tech business.

The comparisons revealed that, among the roughly 35,000 Washington students who took the college-entrance Scholastic Aptitude Test in 2003:

# 48 percent, fewer than in any comparable state, had taken four years of math.

# 93 percent, fewer than in any of the other eight states, had taken a year or more of biology.

# 77 percent, again the lowest number, had taken a year or more of chemistry.

The study also showed that only 12 percent of Washington high school seniors took Advanced Placement tests, which are adjuncts to the SAT for students who excel in a given subject. More students than that took an AP test in all eight of the comparable states.

About 23 percent of Washington college grads in 2000 and 2001 majored in biological or life sciences, compared with 26 percent or more at five of the comparable states. Roughly 25 percent of Washington college graduates got their degrees in engineering, compared with six other states where 26 percent and above of the grads pursued that major.

Washington students earned the fewest doctoral degrees among students in the comparable nine states. Only 26 percent got them, compared with top-ranking Massachusetts’ 49 percent.

The alliance interviewed 40 Seattle-area chief executives or other top brass to determine their concern over the education gap and found it high. About 94 percent ranked higher education as something they have "much" or "high" interest in. Some 88 percent said the believe research universities play an extensive role in technology economies.

Some chief executives said the problem begins as early as grade school. One said "lack of investment in higher education is becoming a drag on Washington’s economy." Programs such as Gov. Gary Locke’s Digital Learning Commons, offering online educational resources for underfunded or small high schools, could help improve the situation, Smith said. And Microsoft said yesterday it will invest about $35 million over five years in pilot projects, curricula, and professional-development tools, with the objective of increasing student achievement.

The Coordinating Board’s Sulton pointed to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which assesses American students’ achievement in those areas compared with that of students in other countries. Conducted three times over the past decade, the study has found the United States lagging other countries, even developing nations, he said.

"It’s less surprising that you should go to any individual state and find such a deficit," Sulton said, "because the nation as a whole is doing such unacceptable work in these areas."

Frustrated that students aren’t getting enough math training, state legislators during the last two sessions have considered proposals requiring high schools to pay for remedial classes taught by community colleges.

"They weren’t taking enough math," said Sen. Stephen Johnson, R-Kent, who supported the failed measures. Still, it was a message as much as anything, "simply to kind of put the pressure on the K-12 system to prepare these kids for community college," he said.

But not everyone in the state thinks de-emphasizing technology is necessarily a bad thing.

Nancy Dickeman, whose three children have attended Seattle schools, said that she’s concerned about the erosion of arts courses already, and that it’s fine to encourage science and tech education — but only if kids are interested in it.

"I guess my philosophical difference is that I want to hang onto learning as a broader human goal, and less that the schools are supposed to turn out products for the regional businesses," she said.

Having a broad educational base in high school, she believes, "gives them better skills in terms of shifting economies. Years down the road, there could be shifts in the skills that are needed."

Seattle is one of the most college-educated big cities in the nation, according to a survey released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2002 survey shows that 48.8 percent of Seattle’s 25-and-older population has at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with a national college graduation rate of 25.9 percent.

But this survey includes many state residents educated elsewhere, and it tallies recipients of college degrees in every subject.

Experts credit Seattle’s concentration of high-technology companies, as well as the influence of the University of Washington, for boosting the education level of the city. Raleigh and San Francisco also ranked near the top. Seattle has the highest proportion of college graduates, but the survey’s margin of error means that any one of the three cities could be No. 1.

Seattle ranked in the top spot for the past three years, according the survey, which looked only at cities with 250,000 or more people. Seattle is the only city in Washington with a population that large. American Community Survey data are based on responses from a sample of households across the nation.

Washington ranks 11th among states, with 29.7 percent of residents having earned at least a bachelor’s degree. Massachusetts has the highest concentration of college graduates, at 35.5 percent.

King County ranks 23rd among counties, with 41.8 percent of residents holding at least a bachelor’s degree.

College graduates can expect to earn, on average, $2.1 million over their lifetimes, according to the Census Bureau. That’s nearly twice what the average high school graduate can expect to make.

However, life with a college degree isn’t always easy.

A 2001 survey by a national hunger-relief group, America’s Second Harvest, found that 48 percent of food bank clients in Western Washington had completed at least some college. Nationally, the average is 23 percent.

On the Net: http://www.technology-alliance.com/resources/publications.htm

P-I reporters Deborah Bach, Angela Galloway and Phuong Cat Le and The Associated Press contributed to this report.