STEM the Tide: Reforming Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education in America

CHAPTER 4: Top-Notch Teachers

chapter 4 Top-Notch Teachers The last change in teaching was 550 years ago in the 15th century when the printed book came in. We are still teaching in exactly the same way. Peter Drucker No matter how many task forces are convened, how many curriculum projects are funded, or how many high-stakes tests are given, successful education ultimately comes down to the interaction and communication between a teacher and his students. Therefore, the surest way to improve STEM education in America is to improve teaching. We need to • attract the best college graduates to teaching, • provide them with meaningful education and training, • keep them from leaving the position in despair, • provide professional development for current teachers, • respect these professionals to whom we entrust the education of our children, and • pay them appropriately. This chapter describes findings and conclusions from the latest research about teachers and profiles some extraordinary programs that are making a difference . It focuses on how to recruit better teachers and on what effective teachers do. Unfortunately, many American students do not currently have access to outstanding teachers, teachers with expertise in the fields they teach. Teacher Quality and National Achievement The research literature addresses teacher quality mostly at the general level of all subjects, not just STEM fields. Because most of this literature also applies to STEM, we begin by considering the teacher quality problem, both in general and in STEM. 78 s t e m t h e t i d e Motoko Akiba, Gerald LeTendre, and Jay Scribner studied teacher quality and national achievement in 46 countries using data from the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) research study. They concluded that although the quality of teachers in America is about the same as in other countries, an opportunity gap exists between students depending on their socioeconomic status. Between poor students and privileged ones the access gulf is “among the largest in the world.” Their research uncovered “empirical , cross-national evidence of the importance of investing in teacher quality for improving national achievement.”1 Akiba and colleagues also present data about teacher qualifications in each of the 46 nations that participated in the 2003 TIMSS study. I was particularly interested in the likelihood that a student in each country would be taught mathematics by someone who had been a math major in college. Frequently, students in secondary school fail to learn math because their teachers simply do not understand the subject. Table 4.1 presents data which show that the United States ranked 41 out of 46 countries. The United States’ ranking is troubling. Students in Lithuania, Syria, Tunisia, Iran, Botswana, Jordan, Ghana, and the table 4.1 Global rankings and percentages of math teachers with math degrees 1. Latvia 98.1% 24. Israel 74.6 2. Cyprus 97.7 25. Morocco 73.1 3. Bulgaria 96.6 26. Jordan 72.3 4. Romania 96.5 27. South Africa 68.1 5. Flemish Belgium 95.9 28. Sweden 66.7 6. Russia 95.6 29. Philippines 62.4 7. Serbia 95.6 30. Hong Kong 61.9 8. Saudi Arabia 93.3 31. Australia 61.5 9. Lithuania 92.3 32. Macedonia 60.0 10. Moldova 87.5 33. Slovak Republic 59.5 11. Singapore 85.7 34. Indonesia 58.8 12. Egypt 85.1 35. Ghana 57.4 13. Armenia 84.6 36. Chile 52.9 14. Syria 84.1 37. Palestine 51.2 15. Tunisia 82.7 38. New Zealand 49.9 16. Slovenia 80.9 39. Netherlands 49.4 17. Japan 80.7 40. Bahrain 48.9 18. Estonia 79.9 41. United States 47.3 19. Taiwan 79.7 42. Malaysia 45.9 20. Iran 77.8 43. Hungary 40.9 21. Botswana 77.1 44. Korea 40.4 22. Scotland 75.9 45. Norway 37.4 23. England 75.6 46. Italy 20.8 Source: Data from Motoko Akiba, Gerald K. LeTendre, and Jay P. Scribner, “Teacher Quality, Opportunity Gap, and National Achievement in 46 Countries,” in Educational Researcher 36, no. 7 (2007): 369. t o p - n o t c h t e a c h e r s 79 West Bank and Gaza are more likely to have a teacher with a math degree than are students in America! One Program That Works: CGU Teacher Education One particularly useful model for improving teaching skills is the on-site...