PhysTEC: Building a Solution to the National Physics Teacher Shortage

American Physical Society, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

A severe shortage of qualified STEM teachers, necessary to educate and inspire the future technical workforce, undermines our nation's economic competitiveness and its scientific and technological leadership. The situation in physics is particularly alarming: fewer than half of all high school physics classrooms are led by a teacher with a degree in physics, and physics is the number one shortage area for new K-12 teachers. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) project vision is that every student will have the opportunity to learn physics from a highly qualified teacher, thus enabling the U.S. to meet the high demand for STEM professionals. Since 2001, PhysTEC, led by the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), has been working to engage physics departments in establishing the educational infrastructure needed to address the national physics teacher shortage. The project developed over 40 model teacher preparation programs that more than doubled their production of highly qualified physics teachers, and these new teachers have high retention rates. These PhysTEC Sites also demonstrated considerable success in sustaining their programs beyond their funded period. To disseminate effective practices and knowledge, the project established a national coalition of more than 300 Member Institutions; these institutions collectively prepare over half of the nation's highly qualified physics teachers. Building on this widespread engagement of the physics community and project knowledge and experience from many successful programs, PhysTEC will pursue three interrelated goals toward building a solution to the national physics teacher shortage. The project will: (1) directly engage dozens of institutions to prepare greater numbers of highly qualified physics teachers, (2) test the effectiveness of "levers" for engaging physics departments to enable the development of scalable change initiatives, and (3) validate a model for thriving programs that prepare large numbers of highly qualified physics teachers. PhysTEC will develop "next generation PhysTEC Sites that offer improved models for physics teacher preparation, including Comprehensive Sites that establish thriving programs to prepare 5 or more physics teachers per year, and Recruiting Sites to develop an appropriately scaled model for smaller institutions. The project will also explore innovative modalities for directly engaging larger numbers of institutions at lower cost and offer readily scalable solutions. Improving the national infrastructure for preparing greater numbers of highly qualified physics teachers will help ensure excellence in physics education for tens of thousands of K-12 students across the nation each year, and thousands of college students including future teachers will benefit from transformed courses at PhysTEC Sites. In addition, PhysTEC will disseminate knowledge on teacher preparation to a broad national audience, including the 60,000 combined members of APS and AAPT, through conferences, workshops, publications, online communications, and a website. Further, the project will engage with disciplinary professional societies and other organizations to offer PhysTEC as a paradigm to address teacher shortages in other STEM fields. This project integrates knowledge gained from previous efforts with theories of institutional change to inform a complex, systems approach to change initiatives. A comprehensive evaluation plan will investigate the effectiveness of PhysTEC initiatives to engage physics departments, develop capacity for change, and improve physics teacher preparation; formative evaluation will guide improvements to PhysTEC initiatives. Participating institutions will adopt research-based practices, including instructional practices shown to increase student learning and develop knowledge and skills for teaching physics. Peer-reviewed publications will add to the knowledge base for STEM teacher preparation. This award is funded by the Division of Physics within the NSF Mathematics and Physical Sciences Directorate and by NSF's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program.