By Nathan Bernier, KUT Radio
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-838223.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Bioscience is big business in Texas. And it's growing at a rapid clip. A study last week said the life sciences industry injected 75-billion dollars into the state's economy last year and supported well over 200 thousand jobs. But a new national report comparing science education in public schools across the country puts Texas near the bottom of the pack.
Mitch Horowitz: "Our focus is on middle and high schools, not because they by themselves can do the job, but if you don't do it right there, you miss the pipeline."
That's Mitch Horowitz with Battelle. One of the organizations that helped compile the state-by-state analysis of bioscience education in America. Using data from the U.S. Department of Education, the study ranked Texas 41st on A-P science and biology scores. Texas 8th graders did a bit better, ranking 35th nationally in science tests.
Kowalski: "Well, I think it's a serious wake up call."
Tom Kowalski is the head of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute. He acknowledges that Texas is lagging in science education but says things are improving.
Kowalski: "One of 'em, obviously is right in our backyard with Austin Community College and the type of life science programs that they have. Another is down the road on I-35 in Temple, Texas with the Temple Bioscience Institute. That particular program works with 15 school districts in a state of the art facility."
Other glimmers of hope include the U-Teach project at the University of Texas at Austin. It has doubled the number of U-T math and science majors who are becoming teachers. U-Teach co-director Mike Marder says parents need to demand better teachers in their communities.
Marder: "If you want your child to be successful in school and have the science education that a 21st century demands, nothing less than a science major or a mathematics major to teach your child will do."
But Marder says state rankings, like the one released yesterday, don't tell the whole story.
Marder: "In talking about educational numbers, people frequently talk about averages. They talk about states rank. But there is a much more difficult story to be told about how different groups are facing the situations. White students and students of affluent and professional parents see a very, very different educational system than minority students, and students of low income parents."
For example, only 12 percent of Hispanic students met the state's SAT criteria last year. White students did three times as well. Marder says one of the main factors is access to quality teachers. However, as a whole, Texas appears to be slowly improving its science and math scores. One author of the state-by-state analysis of bioscience education tells KUT that he thinks Texas will rank among second tier states when the repeat the study in two years.
I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.