While large gaps persist in subject-specific training and credentials to teach STEM courses like physical sciences and computer science, the STEM teacher workforce in high-need schools has been surprisingly resilient despite increasing staffing pressures over the last three decades, according to new research from the Brookings Institution.
Schools have long faced difficulty finding qualified staff to teach science, technology, engineering and math courses — known as STEM — for myriad reasons. For example, schools cannot pay salaries as high as companies in private industries that hire those with STEM degrees, and there are more classes to cover than ever due to increased STEM requirements in the high school curriculum.
Despite these positive findings, the report also notes that challenges and stubborn gaps remain between high- and low-need schools, with STEM teachers in high-need settings found to be consistently less qualified than those in low-need settings across measures related to credentials, degrees and experience.
“The levels of teacher qualifications are either stable or slightly improving for most measures considered, with some qualification gaps between high- and low-need schools slightly narrowing. However, our findings are not all good news. The remaining gaps in some qualification measures are still quite large,” researchers wrote. “The teacher workforce has been challenged in recent years, and high-need schools often struggle the most when staffing challenges are acute. Our evidence indicates that the STEM teacher workforce has shown resilience despite these mounting pressures.”
Although researchers didn’t examine why the STEM teacher workforce has remained resilient, they posited that the many public and private initiatives aimed at shoring up the STEM teacher workforce, especially in high-need settings may be proving beneficial.
Researchers also found that over the last 30 years, STEM teachers now include among their ranks more women and teachers of color. Studies have long shown that students tend to do better when exposed to at least some teachers who share their racial background, and all students do better when they are exposed to a diverse set of teachers. Similarly, when girls in high school and college are taught by women in STEM subjects, they’re more likely to see it as a viable field of study.
Prior to 2010, fewer STEM teachers were women, and those in the field were disproportionately teaching in high-need settings, according to the report. Now, about 60 percent of STEM teachers are women, with small and non-significant differences across school settings.
Meanwhile, the racial makeup of the STEM teacher workforce “differs significantly across school settings, with a gap showing greater white teacher representation in low-need settings; this gap might be slightly increasing with time and now stands at nearly 25 percentage points,” researchers concluded.