Higher student achievement requires excellent teachers who are trained in teaching strategies that promote active, inquiry-based learning. An understanding of science content is not enough. Teachers need to be able to let students explore their own questions and raise issues in class with which teachers may be unfamiliar.

To improve achievement, teachers are not the only people in the classroom who have to change. Students must change, too. They must become more responsible for their own learning. Students may have to work harder and spend more time on projects before and after school. Teachers and administrators must hold students to higher standards than they have in the past.