Nov. 10

New Push on Producing Science and Math Teachers

Vastly increasing the number of math and science teachers in public schools has long been a goal of education reformers who see it as a long-term solution for ensuring the country’s economic competitiveness and closing the gap in student achievement.

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In particular, state and regional colleges have typically been at the forefront of teacher education, producing the bulk of the nation’s teaching corps. Hoping to address what some have seen as a tendency among top public universities to shortchange teacher education in favor of lucrative research and grants, a group of almost 80 such institutions announced on Sunday a national initiative to boost the number of teachers in the critical fields of math and science.

Among the institutions signing are the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of North Carolina system, the University of Maryland at College Park, Purdue University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of California system.

“Higher education institutions have the potential to bring about tremendous improvements in U.S. mathematics and science achievement by educating a larger number of highly qualified teachers,” said Richard Herman, chancellor at Urbana-Champaign, in the announcement. “Yet for too long institutions like mine have stood aside on this important issue. We cannot continue on the sidelines. One of the best paths for meeting the need for more science and mathematics teachers is to commit ourselves to this important initiative and inspire more of the nation’s top mathematics, science and engineering students to become our top teachers.”

Over 75 public colleges and universities have already signed on to the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative, an organized effort by members of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. The institutions — from over 30 states — will commit faculty and staff, supply data to the association and work with state agencies to formulate specific targets for the number and kinds of teachers needed.

“My sense is that if we’re successful, this provides considerably more energy to existing initiatives,” said Howard J. Gobstein, NASULGC’s vice president for research and science policy. “It provides an overarching communications and collaborative structure across existing initiatives on campuses, and perhaps most importantly, it brings the guidance and the commitment of the top level of the institutions to set this as an institutional priority.”

One of the primary challenges of encouraging students to become teachers is the incentive structure — the availability of higher-paying jobs in industry for well-qualified graduates in science and engineering fields.

“I think that’s going to be a constant challenge, that well-prepared science, math and engineering students will have many career options, and to become a teacher with ... mostly lesser pay, it’s definitely a challenge to entice these students into that career,” Gobstein added. “However, with national initiatives such as Teach for America, and perhaps the national economic situation, we are finding and we can see that going into teaching as a profession ... it’s tapping into a vein for a desire for service by many students.”

The initiative aims to “substantially” boost the number (and quality) of science and math teachers in middle and high schools, in part by building on partnerships with other school systems and state governments. The approach could vary by institution, and the intent is for the association to serve as a clearinghouse for all the efforts, sharing data and experiences from various states.

An example of the kind of program the national initiative is looking to support is UTeach, which began at the University of Texas at Austin in 1997 and has served as a model for similar programs through the National Math and Science Initiative, which works to scale up and replicate successful efforts.

Gobstein said NASULGC was planning a meeting of representatives from each participating campus in the spring, likely to be hosted by the University of North Carolina.

— Andy Guess

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Comments

Florida’s unique approach

As far as I know, Florida has a unique approach to producing HQT STEM teachers. It involves prepping current out-of-field STEM teachers for the statewide subject area exams using “Fast Packs.”

It is a convenient way to produce HQT teachers (without upsetting school principals and other union members), and provides funding and work for web-delivery personnel.

http://www.flbog.org/pressroom/newsclips_detail.php?id=3508

But this leaves an open question — whether the teachers are higher quality or not.

Glen S. McGhee, Dir., at Florida Higher Education Accountability Project, at 9:40 am EST on November 10, 2008

science and math teachers

Glen,What is a STEM teacher?

dALE, English Dept at Roanoke-Benson HS, at 10:46 am EST on November 10, 2008

STEM: Science, technology, engineering & mathematics. The acronym is widely used within the fields, but not well-known in other academic areas.

Cathie M. Currie, Ph.D., at 12:20 pm EST on November 10, 2008

Good news

The last time we made as major a commitment to STEM stuff was in the 60’s when Kennedy said we are going to the Moon. The by-product of that effort was the computer/cellphone/camera/... you are using now. In Obama’s economic address he spoke about a commitment to converting to renewable energy sources. Although I have no more insight than Gov. Palin, I predict that in about 10 years, every new home will come with solar panels that are more efficient, cheaper and easily installed. This will be one of the byproducts of the 21st century commitment to a Green planet. We are going to need a bunch of young scientists/mathematicians to carry this out. Let’s get started.

Fred Flener, retired, at 1:40 pm EST on November 10, 2008

Low wages may be seen as a continuing problem but it is a serious problem. When compared to the cost of living, over the length of my career of 19 years as a Science teacher, my salary increases did not even meet the half way mark. I have continually lost buying power over my career. The amount of paperwork has increased to the point where many days I have to make the decision to show a video so that I can get paper work turned in by the due date. Since I get to work at 6:30a.m. and leave at 4:45 p.m. daily I don’t think telling a teacher to work extra to get this work done is realistic. If teachers accurately kept their time working on school work during the day and dividing by their pay, there would probably be more leaving the profession. These are real problems that need to be addressed not mentioned and passed over as I have heard for the last 19 years.

Cheryl Wilson, Science Teacher, at 2:05 pm EST on November 17, 2008

I think this push for quality STEM teachers is great...but why skip over the elementary teachers? So many kids have already lost interest in science & math by the time they hit middle school and get the better prepared STEM teachers. I think we’re missing the most important teachers by just preparing the secondary educators.

Cindy, at 4:10 pm EST on November 17, 2008

Math,science,engineering versus football?

In our culture football wins. Ross Perot said it simply. “more algebra, less football” Thats the problem-Too much football.

emilkissel, at 5:30 pm EST on November 17, 2008

Great thought, but who’s going to do it. The pompous know it alls who sit in the ivory towers and think they know the reality of what its like to be on the front line.

or The people like me who have been on the front line for 35 years? When you are ready to include the important people like me, get in touch with me. Until then, its just rhetoric designed to make the universities and colleges, relevant in this area.

Gordon Zibelman, Middle School Science Teachers, at 7:05 pm EST on November 17, 2008

Hard to find a job

This is great that there is a push to create more math and science teachers, but it is already difficult to find a job as a licensed secondary science and Spanish teacher in California. I think it would be more effective to help place the already licensed science teachers first!

Nina Oakley, at 7:05 pm EST on November 17, 2008

Physics

Let’s think about what other industries do when there are shortages. Do pro football teams “work” with colleges to insure enough qualified quarterbacks? Do IT departments pray more students will major in computer science? Do hospitals wait for doctor “recruitment” programs to bear fruit?

No — they just pay more money. It’s money, money, money. Believe me, if someone could get 80K out of college to teach science, they would major in science. They would get a Masters. They would do whatever it took to get into a teaching job. Then, there’s no argument over qualifications.

For the most part, teachers deserve twice the pay the get. However, if current hiring trends continue, we will actually see *lower* teacher salaries in the future. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Watered-Down QualificationsAvailable at budget rates from any fly-by-night online “university", the so-called “Masters” in Education is a joke (were they actually funny) Notice that the same institutions never offer truly academic Masters. This leads to…

2) “Food-Club” TeachersIf quality depends on supply and demand, then principals/district HR are the consumers. Unfortunately, their job is to meet the bottom line. If they can hire two novice teachers with no focus in science for the price of one qualified instructor, it’s a no brainer. In the eyes of a district’s administration, it’s getting “a pulse with the right paperwork” (and we’re shocked when new teacher’s quit...) This trend, in a large part, is caused by...

3. The Uninformed VoterWho in their right mind doesn’t vote for a school levy? People who don’t need doctors, engineers, or scientists it seems. People who like higher crime, teenage pregnancy, and more drugs in the community. People who don’t care about their property values. Note: the single highest determining factor in home prices: good schools. But this pales with the ultimate death-knell of public education...

4. Vouchers/Online Public “Schools"Vouchers and “for-profit” public schools went nowhere in the last two decades (I guess all those public school teacher really *were* doing something, after all...)

But it’s not over — the next wave will employ online “education".

Do you like what the University of Phoenix and their lot have done with higher education? Just wait until for-profit online education hits primary and secondary education. Once school vouchers become the law of the land, just wait for “cash-back” incentives for your tuition vouchers. Think high school is too hard? How about getting the same credit for 60% of the work.

Public education, crumbling under the weight of non-funded government mandates and specious lawsuits, will have it’s spine neatly and finally broken when it’s “best” minds decide that being able to complete a standard high school curriculum in a 3-day week sounds like a really good idea (or that having 80% of resources spent on the bottom 20% just isn’t fun anymore.)

TJ Evert, at 9:35 pm EST on November 17, 2008

Science Biology

The current movement to produce science teachers is barely making the cut. The reason being that the push focuses on creating a science teacher without the core subjects being of a true science discipline. These teachers are education majors with a hint of science education. Thus they cannot convey the importance of science to their students because they themselves do not fully appreciate scientific thought except that it gives them job security.

Stavros, Science Coordinator at NYC DOE, at 5:50 am EST on November 18, 2008

Respect

I think everyone is forgetting the biggest reason for the shortage of math and science teachers ... lack of respect. It really isn’t so much the money as the lack of respect one gets even when you say you’re a teacher. My own uncle, a blood relative, has made derogatory comments about my chosen field in my presence. Why get into a field that Americans have no respect for? I can’t imagine doing anything else, but there are some really hard days where I wonder if I should have chosen engineering.

KMitchell, at 6:30 am EST on November 18, 2008

One piece to this picture that seems missing is technology education teachers. Formerly known as “shop” or “industrial arts”, technology education makes connections to science and math through hands-on in-depth learning. We are the “T” and “E” in STEM. Many technology education teacher preparation programs are shrinking in numbers and disappearing. How can technology education get involved in this movement to encourage people to go into teaching? -Gus Goodwin Technology Education TeacherPortland, Maine

Gus Goodwin, Technology Education Teacher at King Middle School, at 7:45 am EST on November 18, 2008

Math/Science Teacher Shortage

I believe that the teacher shortage is due to the compensation discrepency. A person will make 2- 2 1/2 times their salary in the corporate world. It is much more difficult to get a degree in math/science (I have a Mechanical Engr. degree) and the compensation should be comparable or people will continue to turn to the corporate world. I want the same schedule as my children, which is why I went into education along with the love to teach others the joy of math and science!

Kris Bergk, HS Math/Science Teacher at Maranatha Christian Academy, at 10:40 am EST on November 18, 2008

Contextual Science

There is a need for physics PT and Physics In Context, chemistry (Material Science) and biology instructors (Applied Bio/Chem), to teach contextual based programs at the high school level.

Will these areas of teacher training be addressed by the universities involved in this push?

Dan White, Regional Mgr at Energy Concepts, Inc., at 9:15 pm EST on November 18, 2008

A different title, perhaps?

It should have been called “Yet Another Push for STEM teachers.”

Haven’t we all thrown in the towel yet?

I look forward to the upcoming days when “students” are “classified” as “spelling phobic,” instead of math anxiety, what with the advent of spell-check.

DFS, at 6:45 pm EST on November 19, 2008

It is after Thanksgiving and I am finally getting a chance to read this article! I have 178 students I see every day so you can imagine the paperwork required. I am a physics teacher soon to retire. My daughter is a senior at MI State Univ. She is majoring in Physics and may consider a career in teaching. I am asking her to look for a job in industry first. She can not afford to pay for another 2- 2 1/2 years of schooling to get a teaching certificate. At MSU the student teaching alone is two full semesters during which they are in the high school every day so it is not possible to take any ed classes at the same time. Well I guess one could if they didn’t want to do a good job in the classroom. That means 1- 1/2 years of ed classes and 1 year of student teaching. How is she going to pay for this. She already had to pay for 4 years to get her physics major. The students in Ed school come out with Integrated Science degrees not Physics degrees. That does not make them highly qualified in Physics but only highly qualified in general/unified science. How are you going to get true science majors to become teachers if they have to pay for extra schooling to then get a lower wage job than an industry job? I worry about the future of public education.A. Kalisz

Anne Kalisz, Teacher, at 12:00 pm EST on November 29, 2008