The United States faces a growing shortage of workers with advanced training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—the so-called STEM fields—and the problem, which undermines the country’s global economic competitiveness, can be laid to a lack of preparation for college-level work in those fields by high-school students, according to a new report from ACT Inc., the organization that runs the college-admission test of the same name.

The report, “Developing the STEM Education Pipeline,” echoes findings that have appeared in a number of recent reports, including one last spring from the Goverment Accountability Office (The Chronicle, May 4). The problem drew the attention this summer of the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education (The Chronicle, July 18).

Among other things, the report recommends better coordination of course requirements between high schools and colleges, stronger high-school curricula in STEM fields, and better assessments of students’ progress toward college readiness—like the tests offered by ACT Inc.