STATUS OF SECONDARY EARTH SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: INDICATORS AND TRENDS

Earth and Space Science topics appear in the news every day and affect all our lives. We deal with the effects of natural hazards, make decisions about resource use, and adjust our activities according to the daily weather forecast. Secondary school students may learn about Earth and Space Science topics in courses addressing environmental science, integrated science, physical geography, or in other science subjects. However, the Earth and Space Sciences are not necessarily a required part of the curriculum in many U.S. schools, particularly at the high school level.

The release of the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, 2013) puts the Earth and Space Sciences on an equal footing in national science education standards with the Life Sciences; the Physical Sciences; Engineering and Technology and Applications of Science. Yet, the reality of practice falls short of these standards:

• Only one (1) state requires a year-long Earth/Environmental Science course for high school graduation, while thirty-two (32) states require a Life Science course and twenty-seven (27) states require a Physical Science course.
• A high school Earth and Space Science course is not universally accepted by four-year institutions of higher education for admission.
• There is no Advanced Placement (AP) Earth and Space Science course or examination, although AP courses are a major driver for a subject’s inclusion in the high school curriculum nationwide.

These indicators and others are detailed in the first annual report on the status of secondary Earth and Space Science education in the United States. This report was released in October 2013 by the Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding, a service of the American Geosciences Institute. The report also includes statistics on the presence of the Earth and Space Sciences in:

• national and state science education standards;
• high school graduation requirements;
• high stakes science assessments;
• college admission requirements; and
• the Advanced Placement program.

The Center report will provide a yearly “snapshot” of the health of the Earth and Space Sciences in our nation’s school systems.