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Statistical literacy is key in this heavily polarized information age for an informed and critical citizenry to make sense of arguments in the media and society. The responsibility of developing statistical literacy is often left to the K-12 mathematics curriculum. In this article, we discuss our investigation of K-8 students' current opportunities to learn statistics created by state mathematics standards. We analyze the standards for alignment to the Guidelines for the Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE II) PreK-12 report and summarize the conceptual themes that emerged. We found that while states provide K-8 students opportunities to analyze and interpret data, they do not offer many opportunities for students to engage in formulating questions and collecting/considering data. We discuss the implications of the findings for policy makers and researchers and provide recommendations for policy makers and standards writers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following three articles are the results of papers presented and discussed at a symposium entitled "Improving the Workforce of the Future: Opportunities in Undergraduate Education," held August 12-13, 2000, in Indianapolis, IN. This symposium was sponsored by the American Statistical Association through its Undergraduate Statistics Education Initiative. The first article was the keynote address at the symposium. The latter two articles are position papers that were developed in part through discussions among representatives from liberal arts colleges, research universities, industry, and government at a May 1999 meeting at the ASA Headquarters and a subsequent April 2000 workshop in Alexandria, VA. This workshop was partially supported by the National Science Foundation. Other position papers based on symposium discussions are being developed and are scheduled to appear in the Journal of Statistical Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a topic, which is titled as, "How to Hope With Statistics," and it arises from the Second International Conference on Teaching Statistics, held in Victoria. The author was program chair of the conference and had all sorts of outstanding helpers. He acknowledged that help by working their names into Bob Hope's song, "Thanks for the Memories." If one can't become a congressman, he/she should try to influence one. If someone can't become a senator, he/she should try to support the ones who can do the greatest good. If he/she doesn't become a governor, they should try to help create "quality communities" within their state. If someone can't be a mayor, help with the troubles of the city; it's a big statistical problem involving assessment. Even if one's not president of a school board,he/she should try to stimulate better math and science education in your community. Champions of causes, pioneers, leaders are in demand. One should decide tonight that he/she will be one of them. Make a commitment. Statistics will help; it is a guide to the unknown. There is hope with statistics.

Statisticians and statistics deal with the effects of chance events on the treatment of empirical data. The author in the article aims to illuminate the consequences of activities of statisticians other than their field for the practice, for the writing, and for the teaching of statistics. The author views that emphasizing the central role of chance in all aspects of statistics is controversial. Controversy also exists about the sources of chance effects. The need of the time is to integrate theory with application. simultaneously, applications must be the testing ground for statistical theory and methods, and must provide the motivation for further advances. The role of the American Statistical Association has been discussed to better serve this field and statisticians across the U.S. The co-operation between mathematics and statistics has also been considered, as statistical publications have been flooded with mathematical virtuosity, and that flood has been permitted to impede statistical creativity. The article also explores methods by which the "great" gap between the statistics departments and statistics in the applied world can be filled.

This article focuses on the developments in the field of statistics in the U.S. during the 20th century. In many of these developments, members of the American Statistical Association, past and present, were prominent leaders, advisors and active participants. They played important roles in the rise of modern business, government and education; the progress of the sciences; the achivement of rationality in administration and in the professions; the improvement of working and living conditions; and the enhanced productivity of human effort in both manual and intellectual enterprises. During these momentous years, the theory and practice of statistics have been shaped by the kinds of problems our members have encountered in their diverse activities. Today, the growth and evolution of statistics are proceeding more rapidly than ever. Clearly, there is a great demand for more and better statistical information than is now available and for better availability of what does exist. In the face of all these changes: more urgent and more exacting demands for statistics, the introduction of electronic computers and increasing sophistication in their use, mounting concern about the dangers of centralized data files, and other trends of our time, we must remind ourselves that the fundamental obligation of many statisticians remains the day-by-day work of operating existing systems of statistical reporting and of making such improvements as the circumstances permit.

The article presents information on various developments related to statistics. Although some work concerning the assessment of subjective probabilities has been reported in the statistical literature in recent years, much of this work has been conducted by statisticians rather than by psychologists. Most statisticians are probably not aware of the voluminous literature on the psychology of judgment. Clearly, psychological factors are relevant and important in the assessment of subjective probabilities, and psychologists tend to approach the topic from a somewhat different viewpoint than statisticians, as might be expected. The area of cognitive processes may have important implications for probability assessment, and further work needs to be done to investigate such implications. Of course, the assessment of probabilities forces people to recognize uncertainty explicitly and to quantify it. The lack of encouragement, together with the related lack of familiarity, sometimes causes negative reactions to statements involving probability. For example, the decision of the U.S. National Weather Service a decade ago to issue precipitation probabilities to the public on a regular basis drew some negative response.