Help more children excel at science

Ann Golob is director of the Long Island Index, which provides data about the Long Island region.

Last week the Intel Science Talent Search announced its latest crop of semifinalists, and 57 Long Island students ranked prominently on the national list. Congratulations to the youngsters whose brains and hard work earned them this distinction, and to the adults in their lives who supported them. They well deserve our recognition and esteem.

There are other local students who also deserve our consideration, even if their names didn't appear in the newspaper. I'm speaking here not of the kids who worked hard but weren't selected by Intel. I'm talking instead about the children who never had a chance to apply.

Long Island's success in the Intel competition appears quite impressive. Of all semifinalists nationwide, 20 percent come from Nassau and Suffolk public and private high schools. Since we live in a region where our school districts are deeply divided by race, ethnicity and wealth, the Long Island Index researched this issue further. We discovered that in a 10-year period, 50 percent of our winners came from just seven of about 150 public and private high schools on Long Island. This year, nine districts garnered almost two-thirds of the awards.

These winning districts have established outstanding, obviously effective research programs to aid their students in conceiving and developing top-notch projects. Often schools team with local research institutions, which lend their expertise and sometimes their facilities.

What a golden opportunity such programs offer to bright, curious, hardworking young people - if they are fortunate enough to attend schools that provide them. But what about the bright, curious, hardworking child on the other side of the district line where there is no such program? What a lost opportunity for him or her.

It's a lost opportunity for our region as well. Imagine if all Long Island children had the chance to participate in such programs. How many winners might we have then? How many budding scientists would we nurture?

And how much better would we live up to our conviction that all our children deserve an equal chance?

Expecting every Long Island high school to set up such a program is unrealistic and inefficient. Instead consider the rankings of high schools nationwide, and notice which ones consistently appear at the top of the list. Many are magnet schools that specialize, often in math, science, and/or technology. Students apply to these schools either from multiple districts, or in a very large district (such as in New York City) from across the district. Such schools extend the opportunity of a highly accelerated program to every child able and willing to meet the challenge.

We could do something similar here on Long Island; the means are at hand. The BOCES programs, which provide excellent training in the arts, vocational arts, and more, could also offer specialized high-caliber training in science, math, and technology. This would both expand educational opportunity and equalize it. While costs would need to be defined and funded, a regional solution would be far more economical than multiple individual approaches.

District superintendents and high school principals sometimes resist regional programs for fear they could draw away top students. But research has shown that students who have such programs in their own districts rarely opt to go elsewhere for a similar program. Moreover, a school should not keenly feel the loss of a few top students. If it does, then perhaps it really should focus on nurturing a larger group of strong scholars.

Long Island is beset by deeply rooted problems: a declining economy, sky-high taxes, a lack of housing options, a maze of overlapping governments that hobbles positive change. Next to these intractable problems, expanding access to intensive math and science programs is easy.

We can do this. We'll produce more Intel semifinalists and launch more of our children into successful careers. Our whole region will be the winner.