Policy

The debut of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in a handful of states and a growing awareness among research universities that they must improve undergraduate instruction are arguably the two biggest recent changes in the U.S. science education landscape. They also embody the political adage of thinking globally and acting locally, a timely message as the Obama administration heads into the homestretch and voters prepare to elect a new Congress.

In survey after survey over the last decade, employers have complained of difficulty finding workers with the right mix of skills, despite record numbers of job seekers and college graduates. Concerns about pervasive mismatches between worker skills and employer needs have driven a host of initiatives designed to fix the “skills gap”, so far to little avail.