Task Force on Education
Final Letter Report (December 2, 1998)

The Honorable Bill Richardson
Secretary of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585

Dear Secretary Richardson:

The Task Force On Education, a subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, has now completed its work. I am pleased to convey to you a summary of the Task Force's final recommendations on the Department's role in math, science and technology education. This letter, together with those appended, will represent our final report.

The Department and its predecessor agencies have historically helped attract and train students for careers in science and technology, and wisely so. Strengthening the quality and practice of science, math, and engineering education in the United States is an essential priority for the nation, as the flow of reports pointing to the poor achievement in these areas among youngsters in American schools keeps reminding us. Such investment in education is a benefit not only to the nation but to the Department itself. Given its goals, it is a significant priority for the Department to ensure that the best talent is available to sustain its ongoing mission.

The Task Force hence concludes that the Department's mission to "support continued United States leadership in science and technology" gives it a vital, and indeed urgent, cause for investing in math, science and technology education. The Department's own interest, its ability to carry out its mission, rest on the capacity and creativity of well-trained scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.

The Department of Energy's niche in education is founded in its diverse laboratories and research facilities with their cadre of scientists, engineers and technicians working at the forefront of science and technology. The Department's laboratories and facilities are marvelous adjunct educational institutions and unparalleled resources for bringing people together with the work that is resulting in some of today's greatest scientific and technological advances. The Task Force believes it's imperative for the Department to continue harnessing its extraordinary and diverse scientific and technical capabilities to address some of the nation's most pressing educational problems.

That said, the Task Force recognizes it is not the Department's mission to fix the problem of science education in this country. Instead, we think the Department should view education as a very important role within its appropriate sphere of activities, focusing on those areas in which it has unique strengths and which can add the greatest value. The Department's programs in education must be closely linked to its programmatic activity and mission, to the organization of the laboratories and facilities, to the special strengths of those institutions, and to the particular strengths of the scientists and other technical experts working there. Programs will obviously differ among laboratories and facilities. Such variety is healthy and reflects the varying kinds of work they conduct and the different communities in which they reside.

An important role for the Department, through your leadership as Secretary, could be to stimulate discussion and collaborations among the several agencies and departments of government which have a major stake in the scientific literacy of the public. We suggest that you may want to consider some communication with your counterparts to assess their views on how best to proceed across the government as a whole.

The role of the Department's headquarters and its field offices in science education should be one of encouragement, coordination, and advocacy for the Department's mission, its programmatic activities, and the importance of education as part of achieving its mission. The Department's headquarters personnel can support these activities across the laboratories and facilities by seeing that programs are evaluated for effectiveness, tracking their overall impact, communicating best practices, and ensuring that those programs are focused and mission related.

The Task Force adheres to the theory that education best proceeds from the thinking and commitment of those who are actual educators. In this case, working collaboratively with the scientists and others at the laboratories, educators can take advantage of the diverse research conducted by the Department's laboratories and facilities. The Task Force believes these institutions should have the flexibility to craft and carry out education programs that build on their strengths.

The Task Force found the Department's undergraduate, graduate, and post graduate programs to be excellent. These programs represent critical investments toward the goal of ensuring the availability of a pool of first-rate scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to support the Department's work. We emphatically encourage the continuation of providing research opportunities at the Department's national laboratories and facilities for college level and beyond, faculty as well as students.

While celebrating and encouraging the continued success of the collegiate programs, the Task Force identified two further areas of greatest potential contribution for the nation. The first lies in science, math and technology education at the K-12 level. The second relates to improving the scientific and technological literacy of all Americans.

The Task Force believes the Department's mission justifies its dual role in educating future scientists, as well as in improving the public understanding of science:

• Ensuring a steady flow of scientists directly supports the Department's mission of maintaining a well-trained future laboratory workforce. Students with scientific aptitude should have opportunities at the Department's national laboratories and facilities where they can obtain the specialized research skills and hands-on experience working on projects that are unique to government research and development.
• It is also in the Nation's best interest for the Department to use its resources to enhance public understanding of science. Citizens who have knowledge of science and technology are better-informed voters. The effect is to raise the quality of decision-making and of understanding and support for the Department's multifaceted programs and projects. Everyone learns math and science in grade school, and at this level teachers have an impact on both potential scientists and average students.

The quality of math and science curriculum and instruction is key to both attracting gifted students to science and laying the foundation for basic scientific literacy. The Task Force believes the Department can make an invaluable contribution to the country and ensure its own skill support by harnessing its cadre of technical people and research base to enhance science, math and technology education at the K-12 level. An example of the good use of the Department's resources is its support of the Science Bowl. The Science Bowl attracts the best and brightest students while at the same time raising public awareness of the importance of science education. The Task Force encourages the Department to raise the profile of the Science Bowl to broaden its positive impact.

The Task Force strongly supports programs which directly assist K-12 students, but concludes that, in the end, the preparation of teachers constitutes the single most important determinant for the quality of math, science, and technology education, and represents the single most critical area in which the Department can play a part. The Task Force is convinced the Department can make the greatest difference for the greatest number of students by leveraging resources and concentrating on programs which improve the quantity and quality of the Nation's 1.4 million teachers of math and science.

Appended to this letter is a list of exemplary student and teacher programs at DOE laboratories and facilities. The list contains just a few of the many examples of how the Department's laboratories and facilities make a difference in the quality of science, mathematics, and technology education in their surrounding communities. Undoubtedly there are many more, and we encourage the Department to allow the laboratories and facilities the flexibility to continue and to expand their educational endeavors, and to encourage their pursuit with intensity and focus.

For the Department to make a difference in K-12 education, it must leverage its limited resources through collaboration with other federal and private associations and organizations in sponsoring public activities which highlight science education. Examples include the following programs envisioned by the Department:

• A collaborative effort between DOE and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) to implement a mentoring program for teachers. The program aims to recruit 2,000 scientists from DOE's laboratories and facilities to be mentors for K-12 teachers. The program will be on-line and will allow each teacher to develop long-term relationships with a laboratory mentor. The information generated in the electronic communications between mentor and teacher will be collected and maintained on a database by subject area. In this way, other teachers will have access to the information, which will allow much greater dissemination and impact.
• The National Science Foundation (NSF) and DOE plan to form a partnership to enhance teacher capabilities and improve science, math, engineering, and technology education in the United States. The NSF is interested in using DOE's laboratories for research-based professional development for high school teachers to expose them to scientists in a research environment in the belief that this will enhance their knowledge content and thus make them more effective teachers.

Another example is the Department's participation in the science and technology aspects of the White House's Millennium Project.

Obviously most collaboration is going to occur at the laboratory level and be characterized by cooperation with local institutions. Therefore, the Department should encourage the private contractors who work at its sites to be substantially involved in educational efforts in their surrounding communities. These efforts should be well coordinated with the programs at the laboratories and facilities. The greater the number of people and organizations involved, the more leverage and impact the programs will have. In addition, the laboratories' expertise in technology privatization should be encouraged for educational efforts.

The Task Force would also like to mention the potential role of the Department's laboratories in Information Technology (IT). The Task Force believes IT will radically alter the way information is delivered and the way teaching occurs, just as IT has already altered the way education is delivered. IT has the potential for stimulating more rapid and robust learning, for providing greater dissemination of information, and for affecting many people (i.e. anyone who has a computer). Since many of the Department of Energy laboratories are at the forefront of IT, the Department is in a unique position to lead the way in making use of its strengths and capabilities in IT for the purpose of education.

As Secretary of Energy, you are in a strong position to work with other U.S. government agencies and Departments to improve the level of science education in the United States and to highlight scientific literacy. Just by speaking publicly about the importance of science education you can increase its viability as an issue and help spawn ideas and collaborations across government and with the private sector to improve science, mathematics and technology education. The Task Force recommends several actions you might undertake in support of the Department's efforts.

We suggest that you request reports from the Laboratory Directors on their education programs and solicit their ideas for new initiatives on a quarterly basis. Top-down encouragement and a more flexible policy environment are sometimes required to persuade people to become more personally involved and to institutionalize education programs at the laboratories. We also suggest that you ask the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board regularly to review the Department's role in education to ensure that it remains an ongoing function, and to track outcomes and results.

Finally, as the Country marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Arab Oil Embargo, we are reminded of the importance of energy security and the essential role energy plays in our daily lives. During its deliberations and discussions with the public, the Task Force found that neither the Department's energy mission -- nor its other missions -- are well known or understood. This lack of pubic awareness and understanding deprives the public of important information and weakens the policies for which the Department is responsible.

In the Task Force's view, Secretarial leadership and commitment are required to promote greater public understanding of the Department's missions, including the science it conducts, and the relationship between the Department's work and the future of the Nation. The central idea of public understanding of science is for citizens to understand how science works, why it matters, and how some of the critical problems the Department of Energy faces in carrying out its mission affect people's lives.

The Task Force very much appreciates the opportunity to provide these comments on the Department of Energy's role in education. We wish you the very best for the tasks that lie ahead.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

/s/

Hanna H. Gray
Task Force Chair

cc: Dr. Walter Massey
Chairman, Secretary of Energy Advisory Board