Towards a high quality high school workforce: A longitudinal, demographic analysis of U.S. public school physics teachers

Efforts to improve the number and quality of the high school physics teaching workforce have taken several forms, including those sponsored by professional organizations. Using a series of large-scale teacher demographic data sets from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), this study sought to investigate trends in teacher quality at the national level in the two and a half decades between 1987 and 2012. Specifically, we investigated (i) details about the degree backgrounds, main teaching assignments, and experience levels of those assigned to teach physics; (ii) whether the proportion of those with certifications in physics as a fraction of the entire physics teaching workforce had changed; and (iii) if workforce diversity (with respect to race and gender) had changed over time. Our data indicate that trends in these domains have generally been positive, but still fall short of having a highly qualified physics teacher in each classroom. Additionally, the population of physics teachers has more novices and fewer veterans than it did 10 years ago, although veteran physics teachers are not as rare as those in other branches of high school STEM fields. We also analyzed trends in physics teacher race and gender diversity and found them to lag behind other STEM and non-STEM teacher communities. High school physics is still mostly taught by white males with backgrounds from outside of physics. Implications for future policy decisions at the local and national levels are discussed, including attending to the specific needs of degree-holding and non-degree-holding physics teachers separately and localizing teacher recruitment and preparation efforts in regional centers.

Figure 1

Distribution of courses taught by (a) physics teachers with a physics degree (standard error $\le 5.7\%$) and (b) physics teachers with a physics degree and a main assignment in physics (standard error $\le 6.8\%$) calculated for the five most recent survey years. Physics degree holders alone are not considered in this analysis.

Figure 2

Proportions of reported degree (or minor) of (a) physics teachers (standard error $\le 4.48\%$) and (b) teachers with a main assignment in physics (standard error $\le 7.17\%$) calculated for each survey year. Data is unavailable prior to 1993 due to a change in the survey design.

Figure 3

(a) Main teaching assignments for all physics teachers between 1987 and 2011 (standard error $\le 4.38\%$). (b) Top five nonphysics main assignments for each survey year (standard error $\le 6.63\%$).

Figure 4

Proportion of physics teacher with each certification status calculated for each survey year (standard error $\le 6.61\%$).

Figure 5

(a) Kernel density plots for all physics teachers’ experience between 1987 and 2011. The reference line in each panel represents the median for that survey year. (b) Percentages of all physics teachers with up to 15 years of teaching experience (orange) compared to those with more than 16 years over the time span studied (standard error $\le 4.17\%$).

Figure 6

(a) Racial distribution of physics, STEM, and non-STEM teachers calculated for each survey year (standard error $\le 4.3\%$). (b) Gender distribution of physics, STEM, and non-STEM teachers calculated for each survey year (standard error $\le 2.99\%$).