Abstract
A diverse and highly qualified chemistry teaching workforce is critical for preparing equally diverse, qualified STEM professionals. Here, we analyze National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data to provide a demographic comparison of the U.S. secondary chemistry teaching population in high-needs and non-high-needs public schools as well as private schools during the 2011–2012 academic year. Our analysis reveals that the chemistry teaching workforce is predominantly white and significantly lacks in-field degrees or certification across school types, though high-needs and private schools are most affected by this lack of teacher qualification. Given these results, we attempt to retrosynthetically identify the pathway yielding a qualified chemistry teaching workforce to draw attention to the various steps in this scheme where reform efforts on the part of individual faculty, academic institutions, and organizations can be concentrated.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-17-2016
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.6b00216
Funding Information
The authors gratefully acknowledge NSF Award DUE-1035451 for supporting this study.
Related Content
The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.6b00216.
Repository Citation
Rushton, Gregory T.; Dewar, Andrew; Ray, Herman E.; Criswell, Brett A.; and Shah, Lisa, "Setting a Standard for Chemistry Education in the Next Generation: A Retrosynthetic Analysis" (2016). Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Faculty Publications. 1.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/stem_facpub/1
Supporting Information
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons, Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in ACS Central Science, v. 2, issue 11, p. 825-833,
Copyright © 2016 American Chemical Society
This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice License, which permits copying and redistribution of the article or any adaptations for non-commercial purposes.