Eisenhower Program For Math And Science Gets Major Boost

A three-tiered training program lets scientists and educators experiment with new ways to improve student performance. WASHINGTON--A little-known program in the Department of Education that scientists can tap into to help educate youth has seen its funding increase more than 50 percent for this year and is on the White House list for another boost next year. One of the best-kept secrets in science education, the department's Eisenhower Program for Mathematics and Science Education is part of the national effort to make U.S. students first in the world in scientific and mathematics achievement by the year 2000. The program, authorized first as Title II of the 1984 Education for Economic Security Act and renamed after the late president in 1988, provides support this year through a $12 million national competitive grants program. Another $200 million is distributed to states and local school districts according to formulas based on population and economic factors. The White House is seeking $239 million for the states and $15 million for the national grants program in fiscal year 1992. Bush has also proposed an additional $40 million for the program, to reward schools that have made the most progress in improving student performance in math and science. Although it started small, the Eisenhower program has received major funding increases in the past two years. Its budget rose by more than 50 percent in fiscal 1991, which began last fall. And if Congress approves the $294 million request, the program would represent nearly 45 percent of the total proposed federal spending--some $660 million in 1992--on precollege science and math education (see accompanying story). "We're strongly interested in connecting cutting-edge scientists and researchers to education," says Allen Schmieder, director of the national component of the Eisenhower program. "And we're encouraging state and local people to use their funds to support cutting-edge scientists." Education experts would like to see those scientists more active in offering advice to federal officials, serving as resources for local schools, reviewing proposed changes in state curricula, and being role models for children. The program also serves as a source of unskilled but eager labor for scientists. Some have tapped teachers for their research projects, while others have developed new science and math materials and projects for use in the classroom. Entomologist Jay Whitesell, of Valdosta State College in Georgia, runs one such project. For many years Whitesell had wanted to study the migration of the cloudless sulfur, a common yellow butterfly that flits unobtrusively in large numbers through the southeastern United States. He received $3,000 for traps and compasses from the state's Eisenhower funds, and he taught teachers how to do the legwork for this research project. Now three years old, the program has spread to more than 25 schools. It's been hard work, says Whitesell. It takes time to set up the equipment, which often must be modified to work correctly. And progress in science can be slow. For example, although these young scientists have marked thousands of butterflies in the hope that someone will come upon a marked specimen and report its whereabouts, not one has yet been found. But these teachers and their students, despite their initial lack of success, have already experienced the thrill of solving problems, he says. They have learned how to modify traps and have developed simpler marking methods. And they can see how the data they collect may provide insights into the migratory patterns of this insect. At the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Susan Henderson says Eisenhower funds have let teachers tap into "a gold mine." As director of the Research Explorations for Teachers program, Henderson helped to launch a noncredit course in which she and her colleagues acted as matchmakers between nonscientists who wanted to work in a lab and scientists with projects that needed to be done. "Many scientists are concerned about science literacy," says Henderson. "What we can do is offer them a chance to reach out [to the general population]. We do the work for them, and they have the chance to act on what they believe." This year, thanks to money from the Eisenhower Program and from the National Science Foundation, she can offer summer stipends to 10 elementary and 20 high school teachers. And so far the response has been gratifying. Two weeks after announcing the program, she had already received 100 inquiries. Other scientists have leveraged Eisenhower funds to reach out to large numbers of teachers and students. Physicist Jerald Tunheim, president of Dakota State University in Madison, S.D., became interested in teaching science to children after wondering how his preschool-age son would learn about his field. "I felt that the concrete experiences that young children have are extremely important to their ability to learn college physics and to move on to more abstract concepts," he explains. Over the past 10 years, Tunheim and an early childhood education expert, Judy Branum, have developed a series of experiments suitable for children. He's received a couple of small grants from local and state Eisenhower program funds and has been hired by local schools to do in-school workshops. "The teachers were very open and enthused and very flexible in adapting their class to hands-on science," he says. "Their enthusiasm was something that was tremendously uplifting for me." With a national Eisenhower grant under his belt, Tunheim is now training mentor teachers and making a video so that even more teachers can learn to do these experiments. "Without this support," he says, "I would have continued to have done small local workshops, but we would have never been able to extend our workshop [to its current size]. The program has gone far beyond my expectations." Tunheim sees the Eisenhower program as a unique resource for scientists. "In my opinion, it is by far the most open program in the federal government, allowing people who are not part of the old boys' system to participate," he explains. "It's giving the school districts some money that's flexible so they can get some new types of programs. It provides something far beyond what the National Science Foundation is doing." Yet it is a resource that most scientists are not aware of, according to Schmieder and Tunheim. "Its use is so entrenched that you wouldn't even know it's discretionary money," says Schmieder. He urges scientists to take the initiative and contact their local school officials, in particular those involved in curriculum development. "I think that's the greatest single need," he adds. Tunheim agrees. "It's our responsibility to support science education," he says. "We as a field have not done enough to communicate the joy of science or the fun of research to the youth of this country." Federal program administrators realize the value of bringing together the education and scientific communities. Lee Wickline, director the School Effectiveness Division, which administers the Eisenhower program, is looking for scientists to be part of a new advisory board that will oversee the program. Otherwise, he says, "there is the danger that people who don't know science as scientists do, or don't know what scientists do, could give advice that is wrongheaded." Wickline adds that "it is important to have scientists as visible as possible, not only at the federal level, but also at the state, local, and school levels." Toward that end, he says he hopes his department will be able to host several workshops to help local and state coordinators entice scientists to become more involved in the program. "We do want to involve more people from math and science," says Margaret Franklin, associate director of the Mathematics and Science Education Network, which coordinates programs at 10 North Carolina universities and runs the state's higher-education grants component. "We want to get them working together with educators." Franklin says she welcomes every opportunity to inform scientists about the program. But acceptance is slow. "There seems to be a lack of interest," says Franklin, who often passes out information about the program at seminars on funding opportunities. "They stop by my booth and say, `Oh that's an education thing,' and head off." Eisenhower program officials say that most scientists are more likely to know about, and be involved with, the programs run by NSF or the several professional organizations now at work to revamp science and math curricula. "But the monies will not have a lot of influence unless they reach the local level," says Wickline. "I see the Eisenhower program as being the conduit for delivering these [reform] programs." Adds Franklin, "As these [educational] changes are put in place, there is going to be a lot of work required to bring teachers up to speed." The Eisenhower Program for Mathematics and Science Education was an early beneficiary of President Bush's pledge to raise scientific literacy among the public, and today it's at the vanguard of programs to improve science and math education in the nation's schools. As mandated by Congress, 4 percent of the Eisenhower funds must be set aside for national grants. That money is available for awards of several hundred thousand dollars to institutions--including universities--that want to develop teacher training programs with national significance. In 1991, Congress added $4 million to the program, bringing its current budget to $12 million. Next year it is slated to get another $3 million. The bulk of the funds in the Eisenhower program passes directly to the states and school districts based on a formula that takes into account both the number of people served and their economic status. Some of that money is set aside for colleges and universities to spend on efforts to improve precollege science and math education. Those funds are usually administered by the state agency that is responsible for higher education. Three-fourths of a state's Eisenhower funding goes to the state education agency, which then distributes all but 10 percent to school districts. That 10 percent is normally used to cover administrative costs and to support demonstration projects. Administered by the Department of Education, the Eisenhower program is one of a growing number of national efforts in math and science education. Last year, for example, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy took on the job of coordinating such efforts by creating an interagency Committee on Education and Human Resources. Precollege education has become one of the committee's highest priorities. In January the panel, after surveying efforts in the departments of Energy, Education, Defense, Commerce, Interior, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Labor and at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency, found that the federal government spent $1.49 billion on mathematics and science education in 1990 and will spend $1.72 billion in 1991. The president's 1992 budget calls for this amount to increase by $225 million, or 13 percent, primarily in precollege programs. In the current 1991 budget, precollege programs grew by more than 50 percent, to $514 million. Most of that money is channeled through the Eisenhower program and NSF. Support for undergraduate education rose by just 3 percent, to $417 million, but in 1992 it is slated for a 14 percent increase, to $477 million. Graduate education still gets the largest share of federal science and math education support, some $784 million. But its proposed 2.4 percent rise in 1992, to $803 million, is the smallest increase. --E.P.

Eisenhower Program For Math And Science Gets Major Boost

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