|
|
Idaho's Governor, business and community leaders, parents and educators share a common desire to afford our children the best opportunities and to create a promising future for our state. They also share a concern for the challenges created by a growing need for individual and collective competencies in mathematics and science. These concerns are echoed nationwide. As example,
-
U.S. students score lower on tests of math and science skills such as the TIMSS
-
High school graduation rates in the U.S. trail behind most other countries.
-
Idaho's young people graduate from high school with fewer
advanced level math and science courses than their peers nationally. (Shaklee, Brown, and Higley, 2005)
Advancing math performance in Idaho's students and positioning our state for the challenges of rapidly advancing technologies will require that we think outside of the box and recognize our strategic building blocks.
Research supports these essential building blocks for success:
-
Invest Early: In the first five years - laying the critical foundation during the period of a child's most rapid brain development.
-
Engage Parents: As their child's first teacher in the early years and support that engagement throughout their school years.
-
Rethink Math Expectations: Facilitate dispositions for math and science literacy early in life and nurture the world view of all students to ready them to operate in a global culture that includes mathematics.
-
Utilize Every Resource to Find the Solution: When we think outside of the box we expand our possibilities.
|
|
