Girl Scouts [Heart] Science

When DISCOVER approached Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secretary of Education, for this interview, we experienced firsthand the frustrations of government bureaucracy. The secretary’s office was excited to speak to us and intrigued by our chosen interviewer: Wes McCoy, an award-winning teacher who is the chairman of the science department at North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Georgia. But as the date of the interview drew nearer, political reality intruded. Spellings had many other commitments she considered more pressing than discussing the state of American education with a science teacher. In the end, we managed to catch her between speeches at the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy in Fairfax, Virginia, where Spellings was attending a conference. McCoy was nervous (“I’m not an interviewer”) but determined to “get answers to some really important questions that a lot of science teachers have for the DOE.” Despite the unpromising setting of the interview, he was ultimately satisfied that he got some insights into the thinking of the person who, more than any other individual, is responsible for understanding and improving science education in this country.