California's K-12 education system is the largest in the nation, with over six million students and three hundred thousand teachers. Building an understanding of how to work within such a system in the face of significant shortfalls is no easy task.
"Gaps in the collection, use, and availability of data seriously compromise efforts to plan and monitor the teacher workforce at both the state and local levels," said Margaret Gaston, executive director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (the Center). "This leaves policymakers and education officials with little in-depth understanding of the current shortage of qualified teachers, the inequitable distribution of fully qualified teachers, or a clear picture of future workforce needs."
As CCST's 2002 report, Critical Path Analysis of California's Science and Technology Education System indicated, many students are graduating without the basic skills needed to succeed in California's high-tech industries. That study called on industry, academic, and government leaders to work together to overhaul science and engineering education, to increase enrollment in these subjects, and to expand the state's ability to research S&T educational issues. Further research by the Center has underscored what appears to be a serious shortage of qualified math and science teachers. To formulate recommendations for addressing this shortage, a great deal of groundwork needs to be done in order to define and quantify the science and math workforce and skills gap and identify appropriate strategies for California to enhance its production of science and math teachers.
"We need reliable data to monitor the match between teachers' assignments and their credentials, understand what attracts teachers to the profession, and determine what contributes to their decision to leave it," said CCST Executive Director, Susan Hackwood. "Without such data, it is very difficult to effectively determine what strategies may be effective in boosting our science and math teacher workforce."
For their ongoing joint project, California's Math and Science Teacher Shortage: A Critical Path Analysis, CCST and the Center have assembled a team of eight researchers from across the state to examine different aspects of science and math teacher production, retention, and professional development. Each member brings a different range of expertise to the table, as well as access to a wide variety of data sources.
"While a variety of public and private institutions gather a great deal of data on teachers - including the California Department of Education, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the California State Teachers' Retirement System, and universities that prepare teachers - these data sources cannot provide some of the most basic information about the teacher workforce on a regular basis," added Gaston. "Because these agencies were established to perform specific, independent functions that are not linked by a common plan for data use, they act in isolation and make decisions that often prevent their data from being used in analyses of the state's overall teacher workforce."
CCST and the Center are drawing upon the cooperation of CCST's constituent institutions to bring together as wide a range of data sources as possible, including some not normally made public. In addition, with the assistance of the California Teacher Advisory Council (Cal TAC), CCST and the Center are conducting their own surveys of science and math teachers to obtain some of the missing pieces of the puzzle on why teachers stay in the teaching profession or go into other careers.
"We are particularly excited about the prospect of leveraging Cal TAC members' experience and ability to tap into the science and math teacher workforce to gather new data for this study," said Hackwood. "Cal TAC will be playing an important role in the production of this analysis, and will make sure that we are accurately reflecting the expertise of the classroom as well as the researchers."
As with the 2002 Critical Path Analysis, the individual researchers will produce separate standalone studies which will serve as the basis for an integrated document which will offer recommendations to the state and to the institutions involved in teacher production and professional development. The study, which is being funded by the Stuart Foundation, is scheduled for completion in 2006.
Principal Investigators:
- Science Teacher Preparation: Herbert Brunkhorst
College of Education, California State University, San Bernardino
- Recruitment of Qualified Science and Mathematics Teachers: Pamela CluteOutreach and Educational Partnerships, University of California, Riverside
- Math Teacher Preparation_Judy Kasabian
Division of Mathematical Sciences_El Camino College
- Math Teacher Professional Development: Yvonne Lux
The Educational Research and Leadership Institute, California Lutheran University
- Teacher Preparation in Private Institutions: Eugenia Mora-Flores
Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California
- Science Teacher Professional Development: Dan Walker
Mathematics and Science Teacher Education Program (MASTEP) _College of Science _San Jose State University
- Data Collection and Analysis - UC : Patrick Callahan
Mathematician in Residence, University of California Office of the President
- Data Gathering and Analysis Using SRI Data Sets: Patrick Shields
Center for Education Policy, SRI International
