Bill Coordinates Science Education

New mechanisms to enable federal agencies and states to coordinate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education would be created under bipartisan legislation introduced last week in Congress. The Enhancing STEM Education Act of 2008 (H.R. 6104) rolled out in the House by Rep. Michael Honda (D-Calif.) and in the Senate by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is aimed at making U.S. students and the future workforce more competitive in science-related fields. "Current federal efforts in STEM education are neither coordinated, nor coherent, nor cooperative," Honda said at a press conference. The bill would set up a STEM education committee within the Office of Science & Technology Policy to design coherent federal STEM education programs. It would also create an office of STEM education within the Department of Education to work on solving these problems. And the bill would establish a clearinghouse for educators to research the latest innovations in STEM education. The American Chemical Society is among the groups that support this bill.