Former U.S. Education Secretary Expects RTTT to Boost Science and Math Quickly

The former U.S. education secretary says Tennessee should expect some results from new Race to the Top programs within the next year or two. The state is receiving half a billion federal dollars to spend on classroom innovation over the next several years.

Margaret Spellings was education secretary under George W. Bush. She says it should only take a couple years for Race to the Top to yield quantifiable results in so-called STEM disciplines like science and math.

“I think we’re going to see more kids taking math and science high-level courses, we’re going to see more teachers teaching it, we’re going to see higher scores on AP tests and raised scores in math and science, God willing. We’re going to see more teachers who choose that as a profession.”

But Spellings says retooling the state’s approach to training and recruiting teachers in those fields could take several years.