Attracting PhDs to K-12 Education A Demonstration Program for Science, Mathematics, and Technology (2002) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Appendix A Executive Summary: Attracting Science and Mathematics PhDs to Secondary School Education
Appendix A Executive Summary: Attracting Science and Mathematics PhDs to Secondary School Education
Pages 49-62
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 49... ...
Appendices
|
From page 51... ...
Finding qualified teachers of science and mathematics will pose a special challenge, as many school districts already find it difficult to recruit science teachers. This report examines whether recent Ph.D.s in science and mathematics might provide an additional resource for helping to meet the nation's need for qualified secondary school science and mathematics teachers in the coming years, while creating valuable connections between U.S.
|
From page 52... ...
SCOPE OF STUDY The NRC project to attract science and mathematics Ph.D.s to secondary education was organized into three phases. The first phase was designed to tell us whether there was any interest among Ph.D.s in becoming secondary school teachers and, if so, what incentives states and school districts might use to attract them.
|
From page 53... ...
In addition, the committee interviewed high school and magnet school principals, school district superintendents, state education policy makers, and graduate school deans to identify obstacles in the way of Ph.D.s taking secondary school positions as well as programmatic changes that could be used to attract Ph.D.s to secondary science and mathematics education. The committee also conducted interviews with Ph.D.s already working in secondary education to understand any barriers they had to overcome in
|
From page 54... ...
FINDINGS Interest in Secondary Teaching Based on our survey results, a large enough number of Ph.D.s appear to be sufficiently interested in secondary education for the NRC to explore a program to attract Ph.D.s to secondary school teaching positions. However, we cannot estimate the exact percentage of Ph.D.s who might ultimately consider secondary school teaching as a career.
|
From page 55... ...
In addition many university faculty do not promote non-acaclemic careers for Ph.D.s, much less careers in seconclary school eclucation. Incleecl, graduate students typically aspire to positions in academic science ancl mathematics similar to those of their mentors, ancl the socialization process in graduate school strongly reinforces this career path.
|
From page 56... ...
Other incentives that would serve to attract Ph.D.s to teaching careers would be access to a regional- or university-based science teaching resource center that provided science kits, loaned laboratory equipment, and organized field opportunities for science experiments in which students could participate. Many Ph.D.s would like to continue their involvement in science in some way.
|
From page 57... ...
We recommend that the committee overseeing the second phase of the NRC's project on attracting Ph.D.s to secondary science and mathematics education convene a workshop consisting of stakeholders in secondary school and postsecondary science and mathematics education to discuss in detail how demonstration programs might be structured. Based on the findings of the phase one study, we urge the committee overseeing phase two to consider the following programmatic features for demonstrations programs.
|
From page 58... ...
Drawing from survey results, the committee suggests that state demonstration programs place and support Ph.D.s in a variety of secondary school education positions, including teaching positions in regular public secondary schools and science and technology magnet schools, as appropriate to the needs of the state. States should consider regional clustering of Ph.D.s in their demonstration programs to facilitate networking, to optimize use of laboratory and science teaching resources, and to forge links between demonstration programs and university education science departments.
|
From page 59... ...
As a practical matter, however, courses leading to certification are not likely to be attractive to this population unless they can be accomplished in a fairly compressed manner. We found that 44 percent of our survey respondents and more than two-thirds of those who had previously considered teaching careers indicated that they would consider teaching positions if they could receive their main training prior to beginning teaching by taking an intensive summer course in education.
|
From page 60... ...
National Fellowship Program. Two-thirds of our survey respondents and almost 90 percent of respondents who had previously considered secondary school careers would consider taking a position as a secondary school teacher if they were awarded a fellowship that provided training, placement, and special opportunities for networking with peers, and covered living expenses during the training period.
|
From page 61... ...
We asked our survey respondents if they would consider a secondary school teaching position if they were guaranteed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the end of a two-year teaching position, or if one year of their student loans were forgiven for each year of employment in a fulltime teaching position. Given the low favorable response to these scenarios and the additional cost burden that they would place on a national program, we do not recommend that such incentives be offered as part of a national fellows program.
|
From page 62... ...
We also found that respondents would consider teaching if they were guaranteed a summer fellowship, with travel expenses, in a research laboratory. The phase two committee should consider how states could develop links to universities and businesses to provide summer research opportunities for Ph.D.s, as they already do for science teachers in some states.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.