The U.S. Board of Education looks to continue the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics project following a meeting held Monday, Sept. 10, at Google headquarters in Mountain View with corporate and educational leaders.

The goal of the STEM project is to change the way schools educate students by focusing more on skills needed for future jobs, mainly those in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, according to Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter.

The project’s purposes include deficit reduction, higher education quality and better preparation to allow students to be successful in the workforce, according to Kanter.

“Forty percent of high school students are already prepared for work and need no secondary education,” Kanter explained.

If enacted, the STEM plan would focus on educating the 60 percent of high school students that are not prepared for the workforce, according to Kanter.

Another issue the plan hopes to tackle is the problem of budget deficit in education.

“Every dollar invested in early childhood education produces a 10 percent annual return on investment,” said Carol Larson, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Lucile Packard Foundation.

The STEM project hopes to solve the education deficit by making students more effective at acquiring and maintaining jobs in expanding areas of the economy.

 

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