US Failing its Top Science Students

High-achieving students unrecognized or underserved in nation's classrooms

17 September 2010

President Barack Obama speaks to students at Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sept. 14, 2010.

In a back-to-school speech in Philadelphia a few days ago, President Barack Obama told high school students to study hard, even at subjects in which they don't think they can excel.

"Even if you don't think of yourself as a math person or a science person, you can still excel in those subjects if you're willing to make the effort. And you may find out you have talents you never dreamed of."

Overlooked and underserved

Those words are echoed in the National Science Board report: Preparing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators: Identifying and Developing Our Nation's Human Capital. The study explores ways to promote so-called "STEM" careers, the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

A new report finds the nation's brightest students are often overlooked in an attempt to raise math and science achievement overall.

Camilla Benbow is dean of education at Vanderbilt University and co-author of the report. She says finding and nurturing tomorrow's innovators is essential to keeping the country competitive in an ideas-driven global economy. The nation's brightest students, she adds, have been too often overlooked in an attempt to raise math and science achievement overall.