Overview

Explaining Current Need

Does a state currently have a need¹ for additional teachers to staff classes in science and mathematics? The answer to this question reflects the adequacy of the state's supply of science and mathematics teachers to meet the state's teacher demand. A satisfactory answer, however, addresses not only the extent to which the aggregate supply statewide meets the aggregate demand, but also the extent to which individual schools and districts throughout the state are able to staff the science and mathematics classes they offer with individuals who are adequately qualified to teach them.

It is the precisely the purpose of Establishing a State's Current Need for Science and Mathematics Teachers to provide guidance in developing the sort of thorough and reliable assessment that would make such a satisfactory answer possible. The focus of the discussion is on the need for teachers in a state's public schools because it is a state's or district's direct responsibility to address the need for teachers in those schools. Certainly, at a time when there is an increasing dependence upon private schools – especially private charter schools – to provide educational services in a district, a need assessment of teachers in these schools also would be worthwhile to include private schools, as well. The focus here is also limited to secondary science and mathematics because the need for teachers at the secondary level is more acute and the related policy issues are distinct from those in elementary education.

The most straightforward approach to determining the extent of current teacher need involves obtaining several kinds of present-time information from individual schools and districts. The most fundamental information is the number of classes that are not staffed by adequately qualified teachers, but additional information that can reveal difficulties in hiring, recruiting, or retaining teachers is also important. What makes a teacher adequately qualified is vigorously debated, but possessing an appropriate state license² to teach the science or mathematics classes to which a teacher is assigned should be the minimum criterion.

A few states have sophisticated teacher data systems that ensure a high degree of uniformity and completeness of data from throughout the state, but most states must still rely on local data sources that may not be completely reliable. For present-time estimates, states have no choice but to do the best they can with the data at their disposal. They may want to consider significantly upgrading their teacher data capacity in the future, not only to improve their ability to track their teacher workforce and better estimate teacher supply and demand but also to ensure a more powerful accountability system in line with federal recommendations.

Data Checklist

To construct an estimate of a state's current need for science and mathematics teachers, the state should ideally have the following information at its disposal (with good confidence in its reliability), both for individual districts and for the state as a whole. The "Basic Data" are the minimum kinds of data required to develop a reliable first-order estimate of the state's current unfilled need for teachers. The "Bonus Data" are data that, if available and reliable, will enable states to refine that first-order estimate. Clearly, states and districts ultimately must make a need determination with the best data available, even if it does not meet the ideal for quality or scope.

Basic Data:

• The number of classes in science and mathematics that are not currently staffed by adequately qualified teachers – teachers who have demonstrated adequate knowledge of the subject they are teaching and who have either full teaching licenses or temporary licenses pending completion of a teacher preparation program in which they are currently enrolled
• The number of classes in science and mathematics that had to be cancelled because schools and districts could not find adequately qualified individuals to teach them
• The years of experience of science and mathematics teachers in each school in order to determine whether some schools have a disproportionately inexperienced faculty that could indicate difficulty in recruiting or retaining good teachers

Bonus Data:

• The average rates of student and teacher attrition in science and mathematics during the school year – in order to account for any additional need for teachers during the year that might arise after the current need assessment is made
• The relative difficulty local district administrators had in filling positions during the current and previous few years in science and mathematics (ideally expressed as the number of applicants per position, compared with the number of applicants for similar positions in other districts and the number of applicants for positions in other subjects)