Improving Indicators of the Quality of Science and Mathematics Education in Grades K-12 (1988) / Chapter Skim
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8 Indicators of Financial and Leadership Support
8 Indicators of Financial and Leadership Support
Pages 143-151
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From page 143... ...
First, indicators of the particular resources purchased with school funds and how these resources are used to produce instruction, including time spent on specific subjects, provide more reliable evidence of the adequacy of financial support for mathematics and science instruction rid -- / ~ 143
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From page 144... ...
The amount of time and effort that would be needed to develop, implement, and operate such a cost-analysis system in each local district is likely to discourage this approach to a financial indicator, particularly in view of the mixed findings in the literature on the connections between general educational expenditures and educational outcomes (see, e.g., Cohn and Riew, 1974~. After considerable discussion, the committee concluded that the best indicators would focus, not on dollars per se, but on the things money buys in a good educational program, namely, competitive salaries; the materials, supplies, and facilities needed to teach and learn well; time for teachers to plan instruction and engage in other professional activities; and opportunities provided to teachers for professional growth.
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From page 145... ...
The committee believes that it would be valuable to collect information annually on the level of federal financial support for elementary and secondary school science and mathematics instruction. This information should be broken down by discipline supported, school level (elementary, middIe school, high school)
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From page 146... ...
The budget categories of NSF provide a useful starting point for developing indicators, but some analysis of project support would be necessary to report trend lines (Knapp et al., 1987~. It is not satisfactory to base an indicator of federal financial support on the NSF budget alone, since NSF is only one of several sources of federal support for science and mathematics education.
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From page 147... ...
And third, science and mathematics education activities may not be distinguished from other subject areas. Thus, neither review of agency budgets nor analyzing lists of projects or activities may be effective in developing a reliable indicator of federal financial support for science and mathematics education in grades 1-12.
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From page 148... ...
The kind of disaggregation of financial support for science and mathematics education found in the NSF budget could be used as a model for developing the recommended cross-agency indicator of federal support. A somewhat similar argument could be made for a state-level indicator of financial investment in mathematics and science education.
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From page 149... ...
The School Mathematics Study Group, probably the most influential curricuTum-reform group of mathematics in the 1960s, was organized under the auspices of the American Mathematical Society, representing active researchers in mathematics, which "made it possible for a large number of distinguished college teachers and research mathematicians to enter wholeheartedly into cooperation with high school teachers in a concerted effort to improve the quality and presentation of school mathematics" (Wooton, 1965:13~. It is not evident to what extent the scientific community remains involved in the improvement of science education.
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From page 150... ...
This includes development and distribution of all kinds of educational materials such as newsletters, classroom curricular materials, comic books for elementary school children, textbook series for prospective chemistry technicians, and a variety of training programs (Kenneth Chapman, personal communication, September 26, 1986~. This sort of information should be available in a systematic way, but it is not.
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From page 151... ...
Recommendation Supplementary Indicator: The committee recommends that indicators be designed using budgetary data of scientific bodies and information on staff time and volunteer time devoted to education and that these indicators be routinely available to reflect the commitment of resources by scientific bodies for the improvement of mathematics and science education in the schools.
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