The University of Northern Iowa will host a summit this week to address concerns about math and science education in the state. The most recent data shows Iowa has a shortage of 173 teachers in science and 121 teachers in mathematics. Stacey Christensen, with UNI Public Relations, says those attending the summit will discuss ways the state can attract more teachers for those subject areas.
She says ideas might include incentives or boosting math and science teacher pay. In addition, the discussion could include restructuring the curriculum at the college level to attract more future educators to math and science. Christensen says the summit will also address improving student performance in those subjects.
"We really need students that are well prepared in math and science," Christiansen says, "because the three new industry sectors – bioscience, advanced manufacturing, and information solutions – all of those are going to need strong backgrounds in math and science." The summit is scheduled for this Wednesday (July 11) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in UNI’s Maucker Union.