Education Betterment Survey Series

Continuing the Battle:
The Mathematics and Science Education Crisis

There are many Teacher Recruitment Programs (TRP) designed to alleviate the shortage of highly qualified mathematics and science teachers; however, little is known of the effectiveness of these programs, and the shortage persists.

For this reason, I purpose that the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) undertake a massive research project to collect up-to-date data on current teachers, former teachers, TRPs, and students preparing to become teachers. This Project will help future TRP development in our Countrys ongoing endeavor to solve our mathematics and science teacher shortage.

What Is Our Current Situation?

Currently many school districts across the country have difficulty staffing teaching positions for mathematics and science, as well as other subjects. As a result, many TRPs have been developed to solve this problem by attempting to create a larger teacher population. These programs started to form in the late 80s and continue today, however even the effort to increase the teaching population has a shortfall. For the 1993-1994 school year, 286,000 new teachers were hired; but during that same year, 213,000 teachers left the profession (Ingersoll, 2000), resulting in a net gain of only 73,000 teachers. In the 1999-2000 school year, there was a net loss of 50,000 teachers (BHEF, 2000). As a nation, we spend so much money on TRPs to increase the available teaching population, but we seem to be losing teachers as fast as they can be replaced and know little of the effect these programs have on teacher retention. In fact, there is no collection of data on the actual number of new teachers that participated in these programs compared to all new teachers, and there is no data on the likelihood of retention of new teachers given that they participated in a TRP (Ingersoll, 2000).


How is it Affecting Us Already?

As a result of the shortages of teachers, many students go through their education without receiving instruction from a qualified mathematics or science teacher, and we can already see the effects. Currently, 40 percent of students that plan to major in science and engineering end up dropping out or switching majors; and of all college freshmen, 22 percent need to take remedial mathematics courses (BHEF, 2005). Not only are we losing mathematics and science teachers, but we are also losing professionals in these fields. The number of qualified individuals for these fields has been on the decline since the late 90s (Clewell & Forcier, 2000).


What Do We Need to Understand About the Current Situation?

To move forward in our nations battle against mathematics and science teacher shortages, we must better understand the effectiveness of TRPs and what factors play a role in a teacher exiting the field.

What we need to understand about the current situation

What is the effectiveness of TRPs?
o How many people participate in TRPs?
 How many starting teachers participate in a TRP compared to not participating in a TRP?
 How many participate in each different TRP?
 Where are these TRPs and participants located throughout the country, during participation and while teaching?
o How do TRPs effect the likelihood that a teacher will continue to teach?
 What is the probability of a teacher continuing to teach, given that they have participated in a particular type of TRP and are teaching in a particular region?
 What is the difference between the number of entering participants to a given TRP compared to the number of participants who start teaching?
 On average, how much does it cost each TRP to take on a participant?


Why and how likely is it that a teacher will quit teaching?
o What are the topmost reasons a teacher lists for discontinuing teaching?
 What are the topmost reasons for each region/state/district?
 Is there one or multiple reasons and how do they effect each other?
o What is the probability that a teacher will leave?
 What is the probability that a teacher will discontinue teaching for various reasons given teaching in a particular region/state/district?
Does participation in a TRP effect this probability?
 Given different regions/states/districts, what are the reasons for differing probabilities for teachers discontinue teaching ?
 Is there any correlation to the probability that a teacher will discontinue/continue teaching given they attended a particular university?


By being able to answer these questions and taking them into consideration, further efforts of solving the mathematics and science teacher shortage will be more effective.


How Should We Obtain This Information?

I propose for the commission of the NCES to create, distribute, and compile a series of four surveys known as the Education Betterment Survey Series (EBSS) as follows:

1. EBS-Current Teacher(EBS-CT)
2. EBS-Former Teacher (EBS-FT)
3. EBS-Recruitment Program (EBS-RP)
4. EBS-Former Student (EBS-FS)


Creating the EBSS

Each survey will be conducted in an electronic format containing multiple choice and free response questions. In particular, all regions, states, districts, schools, and universities will be included in the survey along with methods for adding new ones as time goes on. The EBSS will target information as follows:

EBS-CT:
How satisfied is the teacher?
Did the teacher participate in a TRP? Which one?
What university did the teacher study at?
What school is the teacher teaching at?
What subject is the teacher teaching?

EBS-FT:
Asks the same questions as EBS-CT in relation to their last teaching position as well as:
What was the reason for the teacher leaving their last position?
Would the former teacher ever consider going back to teaching?
Is the former teacher working in a new field? What field?

EBS-RP:
How many new participants enter the program every year?
How many participants become teachers every year?
What is the scope of targeted population pool for the program?
What is the cost of each participant?
What is the program doing to attract and/or maintain participants as teachers?

EBS-FS:
What university was/is the student studying at?
Why did the student decided to discontinue a teaching degree?
Was the student a participant in a TRP?
What subject was the student planning on teaching?
Is the student going to pursue a different degree? What degree?

Distributing the EBSS

The Surveys should be distributed yearly to keep up-to-date information on the playing field. Administering the surveys electronically will make participation in the EBSS easier, but since this will be a national survey and school districts are largely separated from national policies, there will be no way to obtain a survey from everyone in the population pool. Participation can only be made voluntary, but several things can be done to ensure participation. To obtain a larger sample pool from teachers, school districts and individual schools will receive a small grant based on a percent participation within the district/school. Participating TRPs will also receive small grants.

The EBSS , once created, will be available for any individual/organization to fill out via a public website, but certain methods will be used to help people find and take the surveys as follows:

EBS-CT: Individual school districts will be given information about the EBS-CT to be distributed to all teachers within the district.

EBS-FT: Individual school districts will be encouraged to let Ex-teachers know about the EBS-FT.

EBS-RP: A list of all known TRPs will be used to distribute information of the EBS-RP.

EBS-FS: Information will be distributed to universities with known education preparation programs to encourage students who leave the program without finishing to take the EBS-FS.

Compiling the EBSS

Since the EBSS will be completely administered online, a great deal of the information will be directly computed by a program for statistical analyses, but there are portions that will need to be reviewed by a team of individuals to extract necessary information. A report will be generated every year that will be accessible publicly. Every year the report will show statistical data of how TRPs, schools, and universities affect mathematics and science teacher retention. This will lead to future policies and research based on positive teacher retention as well as negative teacher retention.

What Will We Need to do That?

At first, an entire team of writers and programmers will be needed to create the EBSS. After launch this team will be modified for tech support and ongoing revision and enhancement of the EBSS.

Before the surveys are taken; a list of all TRPs, school districts, and universities with education programs will be compiled. A team of individuals will be needed to inform such a massive group of the creation of the EBSS and the importance of participation. After the EBSS has been running for several years, this team will be downsized and its responsibilities reduced to maintaining contact with these groups to encourage continued participation with the EBSS every year. Additionally, information about the EBSS will accessible through the Department of Education.

Is It Worth It?

It is hard to foresee the cost-benefit of implementing the EBSS, but it is easy to foresee the consequences of not implementing something like the EBSS. For over two decades we as a nation have tried through many ways to fix the teacher shortage issue, especially among mathematics and science teachers; but the problem seems largely unmitigated. In fact, some numbers have indicated that the problem is getting worse. If the mathematics and science teacher shortage continues, it is likely the professional mathematics, science, and engineering work force will continue to decrees in our country. America cannot afford to fall behind in the global economic market; but if these problems persist the way they have been, we may just do that. We cannot afford to let that happen.

Final Thoughts

Through the EBSS we will understand an up-to-date status of the mathematics and science education crisis. We will know if TRPs are having any significant effect on the crisis, and we will be able to create more effective TRPs and discontinue ones that are not effective. We will also know the current reasons for teachers leaving their jobs and be able to create/change policies in order to retain future teachers. Furthermore, the EBSS will be able to see if the new TRPs and policies are having an effect on the crisis. This is just a first step, but we cannot move forward in a battle unless we understanding the battle first.



Works Cited

Business-Higher Education Forum. (2005, January). A Commitment to Americas Future: Responding to the Crisis in Mathematics & Science Education. http://www.bhef.com/publications/MathEduReport-press.pdf

Dr. Clewell, B., & Forcier, L. (2000, March). Increasing the Number of Mathematics and Science Teachers: A Review of Teacher Recruitment Programs. Commissioned by the national Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. http://www.ed.gov/inits/Math/glenn/ClewellForcier.pdf (case sensitive)

Ingersoll, R. (2000, February). Turnover Among Mathematics and Science Teachers in the U.S. Prepared for the national Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. http://www.ed.gov/inits/Math/glenn/Ingersollp.doc (case sensitive)