Physics Teacher Recruiting and Training

The United States has a shortage of K-12 STEM teachers, and a critical shortage of high school physics teachers. Only one in three US high school students takes physics. Yet only one third of those who teach high school physics has a degree in physics or physics education. The situation is worst in urban and rural districts. 55% of NYC high schools do not even offer physics. High school physics is a prerequisite for many STEM careers that are critical to US economic competitiveness, and that have historically provided a path for upward socioeconomic mobility.

Research universities like Cornell are a major factor contributing to this teacher shortage. US colleges and universities that focus on teacher training tend to have relatively unselective admissions and attract relatively few students that are strong in physics, and so produce few highly qualified physics teachers. At research universities, such students are abundant, but the institutional ethos drives them toward careers at the frontiers of science and technology (even though most will not end up there) and provides little support for students with K-12 teaching interests. We can't hope to address national shortages of STEM professionals and the inadequate gender, racial and socioeconomic diversity among STEM faculty if we don't address the problems in our high schools.

In 2007 I obtained funding from the American Physical Society's Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) project and Cornell's Provost to establish a program to recruit and train more high school physics teachers. With major contributions from Physics Teachers in Residence Marty Alderman (2007-2009) and Jim Overhiser (2009-2018), we have put high school STEM teaching careers back in the sights of Cornell STEM majors, and have established a program to recruit, provide early field experience to and mentor Cornell undergraduates with teaching interests.

Full details of our program are available at our website.