Is There a Severe Shortage of Math and Science Teachers in Massachusetts?

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1. K Quinn says:

   December 4, 2012 at 10:21 am

   Love the irony of importing foreign teachers to teach English.

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   • Mark Collins says:

     December 4, 2012 at 10:41 am

     So many good points raised. Too bad investigative journalism seems to be a thing of the past. However, if there are any budding J-school students out there or a Prof looking for a class project, may I suggest this as a worthy one.

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2. CS Sandeen says:

   December 4, 2012 at 10:55 am

   I have a friend from Turkey who has taught English at the university level. Where can she apply for a job in Massachusetts? She is a devoted teacher and very very well-qualified. Thank you

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3. timholt2007 says:

   December 4, 2012 at 12:05 pm

   When my district goes out recruiting nationwide, it is almost without fail that the students coming from Colleges of Education across the spectrum, are graduating in fields that there are not high demands for: Elementary education generalists, Social Studies, PE, etc. There are very few graduating as math, science or special ed specialists, areas of great demand, as has been the case for years. If COE across the country would start MAKING their students get certified in high demand curricular areas, and steer them away from areas where there is little or no demand, then there would be no shortage. So yes, I can see that there could be shortages, especially in districts in rural areas, or low SES areas.

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   • David Eckstrom says:

     December 4, 2012 at 8:51 pm

     If there is a shortage of STEM teachers (I don’t know if it’s true) it is not likely because COEs are failing to “make” their students become certified in STEM areas. It’s much more likely that the shortage (again, if there is one) is due to the fact that most everyone who goes through the very difficult work or becoming educated in a STEM field will succumb to the temptation to have an economically satisfying life by not going into teaching.

     One example. I just heard from a former student who graduates with a BS from a run-of-the mill state school next spring in an engineering field. She has two job offers on the table right now. The low one starts at $69,000 per year. She could take one of those jobs, or she could go to school for another year and a half and get her teaching license and come work at my school for a starting pay of $31,000. If she stayed in teaching and worked her behind off, in 15 years she would top out at $59,000, but only if she earned a doctorate in the meantime, otherwise it’s about $56,000. But hey, summers off. Hmm. Tough decision.

     I teach high school STEM and I hear these stories every year from former students. It’s not a mystery to me why they don’t go into teaching.

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     • teachingeconomist says:

       December 5, 2012 at 1:00 am

       I think your analysis is correct, and the solution is to pay STEM teachers enough so that properly trained teachers can have an economically satisfying life by teaching in high schools.

       The reason why 92% of high school music instructors have undergraduate degrees in music is because teaching in high school allows them to do the thing they love. Mathmatics majors, which make up only 25% of high school math teachers, can do mathamatics in a number of other, higher paying occupations.

4. M.F. says:

   December 4, 2012 at 1:46 pm

   This is a recurring problem. In the 1990’s NYC had shortages of science and math teachers. At the High School for Graphic Arts, NYC in Hell’s Kitchen, two science teachers were hired from Austria. Their English was perfect, yet they had communication problems with the slang spoken by NYC teenagers and constant disciplinary problems. At the end of one year they burned out and returned home. Then there was a very sweet Iranian math teacher whose students were failing because they could not understand him.(including myself) but he had tenure. At Norman Thomas HS, NYC, 2005, “high impact” school, hired teachers from Spain. One of them was constantly having break downs. “Mis estudiantes son monstruos!” She was right. She returned to Spain after one year of teaching. Can you blame them? It is now the most undesirable profession.

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5. Carol says:

   December 4, 2012 at 5:22 pm

   Actually the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times and 60 Minutes [May 2012] have covered the issue.

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6. Confused says:

   December 5, 2012 at 6:06 am

   Massachusetts should come here to Louisiana to find teachers!
   For many teachers in other countries this IS top pay here and the chance to live in the USA is an awesome opportunity for them, improves their English, is great job experience on a resume and gets them out of areas with economic problems or wars or higher poverty then we have. For a school to choose between a teacher on a visa who loves the pay, is excited to be in the USA and after 4 years will leave anyway OR a teacher who expects a profession with respect, pay comparable to the education and experience and not student test scores and high expectations of their students…..easy choice.

   When you take a teacher with a science background and place them into an environment that is filled with faux science it wears them down! Not all science teachers are like this but I think my state has many .Until you have worked with someone who really doesn’t believe in science or evolution it is really hard to understand how horrible it is. I never dreamed such science teachers existed until I ended up here.

   If someone can get a job using their degree, with great pay, respect, expectations that they and their peers are all solidly prepared and professional why would they teach, but I can only speak for Louisiana. Here straight A’, football and fun, happy students and smiling parents are required. Good science teachers burn out and leave, we don’t see many foreign born here outside of Baton Rouge or New Orleans because the communities don’t like foreigners. Two great teachers with awesome educational backgrounds were run off because the parents said they couldn’t understand them. Both teachers spoke better English than I do, their accents were slight and they were wonderful teachers but did science, not just fun stuff and students had to work hard and football players grades dropped. One parent accused one of these great teachers of smelling like an Immigrant!!! They both quit after 3-4 years and went into research for local biotech companies and are making so much more with less stress and real days off.

   I have never been called a STEM teacher, just a science teacher. Here ONLY the robotics and physics teachers are called STEM. I am in trouble right now for having expectations of real scientific inquiry from students and now have parent complaints of “She’s too hard!” ” Many science teachers in my state are NOT certified in science, do not have science degrees, and will flat out tell their students they do not believe in science but they have to teach it. Some have been teaching for many years and have NEVER gone back to school for university graduate classes. They go to the fun stuff like Space Camp. I have a BS in Bio and Chemistry and half way through a MS. Ran out of money! ARGH!

   When I have discussions with my peers only one other teacher understands since she has a BS also in Resp. Therapy and tons of handson college science classes and worked in a science field for 15 years before switching to teaching. Science Fair season is upon us and while the two of us are making ours do valid scientific inquiry and experiments, the other teachers have approved their kids evaluating which dog food their dog likes better, which color candle burns faster, which brand of paper towel holds more water and do plants like rock music!! They did their projects and papers in a week and mine are still in the research stage-BUT THE STUDENTS AND PARENTS LOVE the other teachers, grades were high and the two of us are just mean and overly picky. These 9ths graders can’t even write a hypothesis, nor do they hesitate a second to cut and paste from an on-line article and present it as their own. But ask them if they made ice cream last year in middle school science and boy they go on and on about how fun it was and what flavor they made. Ask them why they made it and they will tell you, “To eat it!”. Ask them what science they learned from it and they will say, “How to make ice-cream!”

   Science is not a priority for our state and the support for science is nil because here in Louisiana we are still debating if evolution is a bogus theory and trying to get the Bible entered as an alternative text! Guess I will start looking for info on teaching in Massachusetts.

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7. Teaching Economist says:

   December 6, 2012 at 11:14 pm

   The school district in my town is in the presses of implementing a teacher evaluation program based on the work of Charlotte Danielson. Do folks think this sort of approach is valid?

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   • teachingeconomist says:

     December 6, 2012 at 11:16 pm

     Process, not presses.

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