Who's Teaching What in High School Physics?

Abstract

During the 2012–13 school year, approximately 27,000 teachers taught at least one physics course in a U.S. high school. About one-third of those teachers have earned a degree in physics or physics education; the vast majority of the others have earned degrees in a variety of other science fields.1 About 53,000 physics classes were taught, ranging from conceptual physics through AP and second-year physics classes.2 Using data from our 2012–13 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics Teachers, we look at the teaching experience and academic preparation of teachers teaching various physics classes. We see that teachers with a degree in physics or physics education teach mostly physics classes (as opposed to non-physics). Furthermore, teachers with physics teaching experience and a degree in physics or physics education teach more AP and Honors physics classes than any other group of teachers.