This is a follow-up of a post I made a few days ago.

Letter to the Editor: Maureen Downey recently quoted Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall, who said “There is no way for students to do well on NAEP science if they are not reading and doing math. ” (Editorial, Nov. 20, 2006) I believe Dr. Hall’s thinking is the result of the Federal No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB), which tests in reading and mathematics, but not science. The school curriculum, unfortunately is directly tied to the NCLB, and in Atlanta’s case (and many urban districts), science gets pushed aside.

Instead, science ought to be over emphasized in Atlanta’s schools, K – 12. How can science in Atlanta’s curriculum not be emphasized in a city of immense scientific resources?

There are four major universities (Clark Atlanta University, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University), each with outstanding science departments, and each with expertise in science education. Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located in Atlanta, and staffed with outstanding science educators. Zoo Atlanta is home to the Georgia Panda Project, and is involved in many other educational projects. And just last year, the former co-owner of Home Depot financed the Georgia Aquarium, advertised as the world’s largest aquarium. The Atlanta Botanical Gardens are some of the most beautiful in the country, and they are located in Atlanta adjacent to Piedmont Park. Finally, I would add that the Atlanta School District has had a history of serious involvement in science education over the past 30 years, and there is no reason why science could not be used to foster fundamental changes in the district.

Here in the most scientifically literate community in the Southeast is a school district that serves youth that could prosper if provided an education that went beyond the basics. A strong science curriculum can foster literacy in other areas such as reading and math, and bring to students the excitement and wonder of science, from astronomy to geology to zoology.

Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8, a new report published by the National Research Council suggests sweeping changes in science, and in particular a new generation of science standards built around core ideas, rather than the very broad approach of the current standards. Furthermore, they suggest that new standards reflect the new knowledge about the cognitive abilities of students. At the high school level great strides have been made in some urban schools that have partnered with the Gates Foundation to create smaller high schools focused on new 3Rs: rigor, relevance, and relationships.

It would be a step in the right direction if the presidents and directors of Atlanta’s institutions collaborated with the school district in a team effort to explore what can be done to improve science education in the schools, and turn the tide in such a way that we do not look the other way when students do not do well on a national test, and claim that we need to pay attention to the areas of the curriculum that are tested by the Federal Government and the State.