President Obama announced a new campaign Monday to move U.S. students to the top of global achievement standards in science, technology, education and mathematics education over the next decade through a combination of private, nonprofit and government partnerships.
The new initiative, called "Educate to Innovate," will include $260 million in new programs designed to generate and maintain student interest in STEM subjects.
"Reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation is essential to meeting the challenges of this century," said Obama.
Programs will include public-private partnerships to generate media messaging, interactive games, hands-on learning and volunteer efforts to spark student enthusiasm; pledges by U.S. leaders in science and mathematics to champion STEM education in the public square; and an annual science fair at the White House to showcase student winners in national science, technology and robotics competitions.
According to Obama, the three main objectives of this campaign and other White House STEM initiatives will be to enable critical thinking through increases in student math and science literacy, to improve the quality of teaching in order to improve U.S. competitiveness with other countries and to expand education and career opportunities for underrepresented groups such as women and minorities.
"The Department of Education takes the STEM competitive priority very seriously – and states should as well," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
Prior to this new campaign, the Obama administration made moves to emphasize math and science education by giving states that commit to improving their science and math programs a competitive advantage in the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" school grant scheme. Other requirements for grant funding include ties between teacher pay and student test scores, adoption of international merit standards, improvement for the lowest-performing schools, long-term student tracking systems and expansions of the number of charter schools states allow to form each year.