[Excerpt] Concern about slackening productivity growth and deteriorating competitiveness has resulted in a new public focus on the quality and rigor of the elementary and secondary education received by the nation's front line workers. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, for example, reports that 93 percent of 17 year olds do not have "the capacity to apply mathematical operations in a variety of problem settings." (1988 p. 42) Higher order thinking and problem solving skills are believed to be in particularly short supply so much attention has been given to mathematics and science education because it is thought that these subjects are particularly relevant to their development.