On the last Program for International Student Assessment, a well regarded standardized test, students in Shanghai outscored their American counterparts in every subject. But it's not just the Chinese we're trailing; we ranked 23rd and 32nd, respectively, in science and math, well behind dozens of our international economic competitors. Additionally, the World Economic Forum ranks the United States 48th in quality of mathematics and science education.
Norman Augustine, lead author of the Congressional report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economy, believes that our public school system compares abysmally with those of other developed nations, particularly in the fields of science, mathematics and technology.
Along with engineering, these three disciplines represent the four pillars of STEM education. They also offer America our greatest hope of prosperity in the 21st century -- a century that will be defined by the ability of our greatest innovators to solve our greatest problems in the quickest and most efficient way possible.
In the words of Wharton Professor Jeremy Siegel, "Economic growth is based on advances in productivity, and productivity is based on discovery and innovation."
However, the challenge isn't just to have the most scientists; it's to have the most creative scientists, the most ingenious engineers and the most open-minded mathematicians. In the coming years, we will be forced to address long-simmering problems like climate change, pandemic illness, and energy production, but will also surely be met with new ones that require every ounce of our imagination and skill. For this, we will need to be at our best and our brightest. That means a dramatic improvement in STEM education and a dramatic increase in the number of students choosing STEM careers.
Recognizing the peril of our predicament, and hoping to fill a leadership vacuum, the College Board has made STEM education one of our top priorities. Through AP courses and exams, as well as partnerships with likeminded organizations, we have undertaken a nationwide effort to maintain American competitiveness in the industries of the future.
The AP program has for years been a critical investor in our nation's intellectual blood bank. Recent research tells us that students who take AP science and math courses -- particularly minority students and women -- choose to major in STEM subjects at dramatically higher rates than other students. The research also shows that, after taking AP math and science courses, students perform at much higher levels in college math and science courses than students with the same SAT scores who did not take AP math or science.
Moving forward, we are in the process of shifting the focus of AP science courses to emphasize not just what students know, but what they can do -- the process and practice of science; in other words, the exams are testing less "what" and more "how." We are also exploring the potential for new AP courses in Engineering, Energy and the Environment, as well as Anatomy and Physiology.
This commitment to expanding educational opportunity is matched by our friends at the Siemens Foundation, who annually recognize the top male and female STEM students in each state, based on the number of 5's they receive on eight AP math and science exams.
Siemens presents each winner with a $2,000 scholarship, and the students with the best scores in the country receive a $5,000 scholarship. This type of recognition is important for students and for the cause. Recognition creates role models who set positive examples. Recognition evokes aspiration and ambition. And it fosters a climate where students tell themselves, "Failure doesn't mean I can't, it just means I haven't."
"The most fundamental building block of innovation is newly acquired knowledge," Augustine says. I think he's right. Let's see if we can prove it. Let's educate our way out of the economic doldrums, and let's set America on the right path for the future.