(Atlanta, Ga.) A new report issued by biotechnology organizations BIO, Battelle, and the Biotechnology Institute claims that states including North Carolina are failing to properly prepare students pursuing biosciences in higher education. The report was issued at BIO 2009 in Atlanta, a major biotechnology event taking place this week drawing 15,000 attendees from across the U.S. and overseas.

North Carolina and the Research Triangle Park region are well-represented at BIO, with dozens of individual exhibitors and presenters as well as a North Carolina pavilion which hosted a visit by Governor Bev Perdue on Tuesday. While statistics show North Carolina boasting more than five percent of the nation’s drugs and pharmaceuticals employees, the low grade for bioscience education could mean trouble for maintaining a key pipeline for developing the bioscience workforce of the future.

“The bioscience industry is a knowledge-based sector dependent upon the skills of its workers,” said James Greenwood, President of BIO and member of the Board of the Biotechnology Institute, adding, “The prospect of the United States losing its competitive edge in student achievement and the subsequent skills of our future workforce is a matter of significant concern.”

Based on 2008 scores on the ACT – a national standardized test for college admission – the report states that only 28 percent of North Carolina high school students are ready for college-level biology courses. This ranks North Carolina 33rd in the country, while no state reached 50 percent of student readiness.

National findings in the report show that 52 percent of 12th graders are at or above a basic level of achievement in the sciences, while nearly one in eight U.S. high-school biology teachers are not certified to teach biology.

Efforts are underway within various state entities to address bioscience education issues. For example, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center offers a laboratory supply, video, and equipment loan program and holds biotechnology workshops for educators each summer. Other programs, such as Learn NC from the UNC School of Education and the Kenan Teaching Fellows Program are available for teacher education, while additional professional development programs for middle and high school teachers are provided by Duke University, North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Community College System.

The North Carolina section of the bioscience education report is available online: http://www.bio.org/local/battelle2009/NC_bio_09.pdf.