Noyce Program Annual
Conference
8 July 2010
Washington, DC
National Task Force on Teacher Education
in Physics
Monica Plisch
Assistant Director of Education
American Physical Society
Need for High School
Physics Teachers
Relative Demand by Field
Fields with Considerable Shortage (5.00 - 4.21)
Severe/Profound Disabilities (Spec. Ed.)
Mathematics Education
Physics
4.47
4.46
4.39
Multicategorical (Spec. Ed.)
Mild/Moderate Disabilities
Chemistry
Mental Retardation (Spec. Ed.)
Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (Spec. Ed.)
Bilingual Education
Learning Disability (Spec. Ed.)
Visually Impaired
Dual Certificate (Gen./Spec.)
Hearing Impaired
Speech Pathology
4.39
4.37
4.35
4.34
4.31
4.31
4.28
4.24
4.23
4.23
4.21
2008 AAEE (American Association of Employment in Education)
Educator Supply and Demand in the United States Report
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
2
Physics Teacher Education
For comparison,
secondary teachers with
a major in the field
(2004):
Science (all)
77%
Math
61%
English
76%
Social Studies 79%
Source: Schools and staffing survey,
National Center for Education Statistics
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
3
Demographics of High
School Physics Teachers
1200
30%
1000
25%
800
20%
600
15%
Physics
Enrollment
AP or Honors
Physics
400
200
0
1985
10%
5%
Percent taking AP or
Honors Physics
Enrollment (1000's)
• 23,000 Physics Teachers Nationwide
• 1,200 new physics teachers each year
• ~400 of these have physics major or minor
• Number taking
physics growing by
1% per year
0%
1990
1995
2000
Year
Source: AIP Statistical Research Center
www.ptec.org/taskforce
2005
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
4
TIMSS-Physics Performance
http://timss.bc.edu
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
5
Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics
(T-TEP)
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
6
T-TEP Charge
 Increasing the number of qualified high
school physics teachers – Are there
generalizable, yet flexible, strategies that
institutions can employ?
 Identifying best practice – Are there
effective:
a) strategies in recruitment
b) models of professional preparation
c) higher education systems of support during the
first three years of teaching
 Research, Policy, Funding Implications
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
7
T-TEP Members
Stamatis Vokos, Chair (Seattle Pacific)
Eugenia Etkina (Rutgers)
J.D. Garcia (University of Arizona)
David Haase (North Carolina State)
Drew Isola (Allegan Public Schools)
Eugene Levy (Rice)
Valerie Otero (University of Colorado)
Mary Ann Rankin (University of Texas)
Jack Hehn (American Institute of Physics)
Warren Hein (American Association of Physics Teachers)
Ted Hodapp (American Physical Society)
Cathy O'Riordan (American Institute of Physics)
Monica Plisch (American Physical Society)
David Meltzer, Senior Consultant (Arizona State)
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
8
T-TEP Data Sources
Consulted results of research in teacher education
Analyzed multiple types of publicly available data
Surveyed all 758 U.S. physics departments (79%
response rate) to obtain quantitative teacher
production data
Interviewed faculty or staff in identified institutions to
verify and enrich survey data
Conducted 12 site visits to institutions
Collaborated with APLU, AACTE, KSTF, ACS
Gathered advice from teacher education experts,
program officers at foundations, and policy makers
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
9
Site Visits to Promising Programs
Diversity in Geographic location, Size, Type, Mission, Demographics,
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
and graduating large numbers of physics teachers (>2/year)
10
Findings: How are physics teacher
prepared
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
11
Finding #1: Few are doing PTE
1
Few physics departments and schools of
education are actively engaged in the
recruitment and professional preparation of
physics teachers.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
12
Finding #1: Few are doing PTE
Distribution of Graduates Across Institutions
# Institutions
80
60
Phone Interviews and/or Site Visits
40
20
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Number of Graduates in 2-yr Period
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
13
Finding #2: It takes a champion who cares
2
Without exception, all of the most active
physics teacher education programs have a
champion who is personally committed to
physics teacher education.
With few notable exceptions, these program
leaders have little institutional support.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
14
Finding #3: Ph.D. granting departments
produce fewer physics teachers
Physics departments award more than 200
bachelor’s each year from education programs
 About 150 from bachelor’s & master’s departments
 About 50 from PhD departments
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
Finding #4: Little or no collaboration
4
Few institutions demonstrate strong
collaboration between physics departments
and schools of education.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
17
Finding #5: No physics-specific
pedagogy
5
Programs do little to develop the physicsspecific pedagogical expertise of teachers.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
18
Finding #6: Universities don’t support
recent physics teacher graduates
6
Few programs provide support, resources,
intellectual community or professional
development for new physics teachers.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
19
Finding #7: Little support for teachers who
are teaching physics outside their major
7
Few institutions offer a coherent program of
professional development for in-service
teachers, even though most teachers of physics
are not adequately prepared to teach physics.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
20
Findings Summary: A Grim National
Picture
 Few are doing physics teacher preparation
 If they are there is an under-supported champion
 Ph.D. departments produce fewer physics
teachers
 Little or no collaboration with Schools of Education
 Little or no physics-specific pedagogy
 Little support for recent graduates
 Little support for those teaching physics outside
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
21
Findings Summary: A Grim National
Picture
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
Finding #8: There are things that
work!
8
There exist thriving programs that can serve as
models and resources for other institutions.
 A program champion or a group dedicated to physics teacher education
 Active collaboration between physics and education departments
 A sequence of courses that are focused on the teaching and learning of
physics
 Early teaching experiences led by the physics department
 Individualized advising of teacher candidates by faculty knowledgeable
about physics education
 Mentoring by expert physics teachers
 A rich intellectual community for graduates
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
23
Recommendations
 Commitment

Physics and education depts., university administration,
professional societies, funding agencies
 Quality

Focus on student learning in pre-college classroom
 Capacity

Multi-partner collaborations adopt bold strategies to boost #
of qualified individuals going into teaching (STEM majors,
career changers)
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
24
T-TEP Recommendations—
Commitment
1) Physics and Education departments should recognize
that they share responsibility for physics teacher
education.
2) Institutions should join national consortia, e.g., PTEC,
SMTI
3) Disciplinary professional societies should advocate and
support discipline-specific teacher professional
education.
4) NSF and U.S. Dept. of Education should develop a
coherent vision for discipline-specific teacher
professional education and support programs that
address critical issues.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
T-TEP Recommendations—Quality
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Teaching at all levels should be informed by physics education
research.
Experiences for teachers should integrate physics content, physicsspecific pedagogy, and practice, with reflection.
Programs should support learning communities of teachers.
General science certification should be replaced with subjectspecific endorsements.
Accreditation criteria should be revised to be based on subjectspecific teacher preparation.
Physics education researchers should set research agenda for the
study of teacher knowledge/skills/dispositions and meaningful
student achievement.
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
T-TEP Recommendations—Capacity
1) Institutions should use multiple strategies for recruiting
talented STEM majors into teaching careers
2) Institutions should develop a course of study that
strengthens all components of the teacher professional
continuum (e.g., coherent offerings for inservice, as well
as preservice teachers)
3) Institutions, school systems, business partners, STEM
professionals, should pool subject-specific teaching
expertise and contexts to create communities of practice
(e.g., physics teaching and learning regional centers)
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
Summary
 The national landscape shows a system that is
largely inefficient, mostly incoherent, and massively
unprepared
 Physics departments, schools of education,
university administrators, school systems, state and
federal government, as well as business and
foundations have indispensable collaborative roles
to play
 We have excellent models from a handful of isolated
pockets of excellence
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
Questions
 What can T-TEP do to help you with your
work at your institution?
 What steps should T-TEP take to push the
recommendations forward?
© 2010 T-TEP, www.ptec.org/taskforce
29
PhysTEC Project Partners
• National Science Foundation: PHY; DUE (MSP, ATE, CCLI,
Noyce); DMR
• APS Campaign for the 21st Century
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
30
PhysTEC Project Goals
• Demonstrate successful models for:
• Increasing the number of highly-qualified high school
physics teachers
• Improving the quality of K-8 physical science teacher
education
• Spread best-practice ideas throughout the physics
teacher preparation community
• Transform physics departments to engage in
preparing physics teachers
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
31
PhysTEC Project
National Coalition
•
•
•
•
•
•
Demonstration Projects
National Conference
• Comprehensive (< $100k/yr)
• All key elements
Recognized Programs
• Teacher in Residence
Community Leaders
Sharing Innovative Ideas • Pilot sites (< $25k/yr)
• Innovative ideas
Broad Dissemination
• Possible: TYC, LAs, TIRs
180 member institutions • National models
• Institutional support
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
32
Increase in Physics Teachers
Educated at PhysTEC Institutions
25
Number of Teachers
(3 year totals)
Before PhysTEC
20
Years 1 - 3
Years 4 - 6
15
10
2001- 20042004 2007
5
0
Arizona
Arkansas
Cal Poly*
Colorado*
Western
Michigan
Non
PhysTEC**
*Became a PhysTEC site 2003 or later
**Number of physics certifications averaged over 319 institutions in 15 states. Note that all PhysTEC
teachers are more highly qualified than the minimum standards in most states.
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
33
Arkansas Success Story
25
Physics Majors
Number of Graduates
Physics Teachers
20
15
Dramatic increase
in majors enabled
a large increase in
physics teachers
PhysTEC funding
ends; program
sustained locally
10
PhysTEC
funding starts
5
0
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
Year
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
34
PTEC Member Institutions
…committed to improving the education of physics and
physical science teachers
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
35
RFP Components
• Site Types (Pilot, Comprehensive)
• Funding (up to $25k, $100k/yr for 3 years)
• National Models
• Research
• Key Elements
• Expectations (reporting, data, meetings)
• Review process
• Timeline
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
36
Key Components
• Recruitment
• Master teacher (TIR)
• Course transformation
• Early teaching experience
• Learning Assistants
• Collaboration (physics, education, schools)
• Relationships with practicing teachers
• Sustainability
• Assessment
• Induction and mentoring
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
37
Timeline
• RFP: October
• 2-3 page pre-proposal: 1 November
• Full (15 page NSF style) proposal: 1 January
• Funding decision: April
• Project Start: August
• PhysTEC 2011 Meeting: 23-25 May (held in
tandem with UTeach Institute)
www.ptec.org/taskforce
©2010, T. Hodapp, Email: hodapp@aps.org
38