Sec. 2. Findings

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The Congress finds the following: There is broad consensus that increasing the number and quality of workers in STEM fields is critical to maintaining United States economic leadership and global competitiveness. Scientific innovation has produced approximately half of all United States economic growth since 1950. Due to shortages of skilled workers, approximately 600,000 United States manufacturing jobs remained vacant in 2011. Over the past 10 years, growth in STEM jobs in the United States was three times greater than that of non-STEM jobs.

Additionally, STEM jobs are forecasted to grow at an even faster rate in the next decade. United States employees in STEM fields earn higher wages, receiving 26 percent more on average than their non-STEM counterparts. Employment in engineering fields is expected to grow by 11 percent by 2018. Among individuals holding undergraduate degrees, engineers earn some of the highest starting salaries on average. Employment in computer systems design and related services, which is dependent on high-level math and problem-solving skills, is projected to grow by 45 percent by 2018.

In 2008, 31 percent of United States college graduates majored in science or engineering fields, as opposed to 61 percent of graduates in Japan and 51 percent of graduates in China. In 2011, the World Economic Forum ranked the United States 48th in quality of mathematics and science K–12 teacher instruction. Recent reports on standardized testing show that students in the United States perform average or below average in mathematics and science as compared to their international peers.

In 2011, only 45 percent of United States high school graduates were ready for college-level math, and only 30 percent were ready for college-level science. In 2007, 33 percent of public middle school science teachers and 36 public of public middle school math teachers either did not have a college degree in the subject or were not certified to teach the subject. United States teachers generally spent more time in the classroom with students and less time on professional development than their counterparts in top-performing countries.

United States teachers cite inadequate support from administrators on curriculum development as one of the top reasons for leaving their jobs. Exposure to projects and problem-based learning give high school students the skills that they need to be successful in engineering undergraduate and graduate programs of study as well as future careers.