| Jason LaTurner
University of Texas, Austin
The choice to teach math and science: Social values and the collegiate experience
FINAL REPORT:
Ideally, students in our primary and secondary schools have teachers who are certified, know their discipline, and are committed to the profession. However, recent trends reveal that between 25 and 40 percent of high school students are taught a math or science class by an individual that has neither majored, minored or been certified in the subject material (Smith, et al., 1997). The evidence is particularly disconcerting for poor or minority students who are even more likely to be taught math and science by teachers with inadequate qualifications (Murnane and Vegas, 1997; Smith, et al., 1997). Clearly, a reversal of these trends is in order. Policymakers need a better understanding of what influences the choice to teach in order to ensure qualified teachers for all of our students. With that in mind, the goals of my dissertation are to examine: 1) the influence of social values on the decision to become a math or science teacher; 2) the role ofthe collegiate experience in this process; and 3) the role ofthese components in teacher retention.
The influence of social values (Mumane and Vegas, 1997; Weiner, 1989; Lortie, 1977) and the college experience (Tinto, 1993; Boyer, 1987) on career preference and the choice to teach has been widely investigated. Unfortunately, much of this research is methodological flawed, as samples investigated are frequently either college students preparing to teach or those already in the profession, therefore lacking a "non-teaching" control group. My study uses Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B), a nationally representative longitudinal dataset collected from recent baccalaureate recipients during their senior year and one year and four years after graduation, thereby capturing the choice to teach. For the majority of this study, I use B&B: 93/94, which provides data on students' college experience and their work status one year after bachelor's degree completion. Additionally, I use B&B: 93/97, which re-interviews respondents (four years post-graduation) to validate components of analysis examining stated expectations and retention in teaching. My first component of analysis involved using means tests of significance in order to create descriptions ofthe teaching population at large and subdivided by various moderating factors. I then carried out two-stage logistic regression analysis to develop predictive models ofthe choice to teach controlling on covariates. Additionally, I used standard logistic regression to examine the roll of math and science teacher preparation type on early retention in the profession.
While previous studies have found that teachers tend to be "socially oriented," my dissertation reveals that these values are not predicative of who becomes math and science teachers. At the same time, a desire for extrinsic rewards such as financial remuneration and "status" are overriding factors in the decision to not become a teacher. Additionally, I found that having "alternatives" does matter, as shortages in fields such as math and sciences are likely the result of potential teachers in these areas having the greatest number of options outside the profession (Darling-Hammond, 1999). While changes in teacher compensation are often advocated (Levin, 1985; Darling-Hammond, 1997 and 1999), my findings on the choice to teach strongly indicate that the first step to enlisting more teachers (or more simply to persuade individuals to consider the profession) is to raise starting salaries and the accompany~ing pay structure. Though the barriers to change are daunting, the simple finding that only 41.9% of new math and science teachers in this sample were fully qualified should be cause for alarm. Continued work on the choice to teach math and science is imperative so that policymakers can be convinced of the importance of financially rewarding qualified teachers.
Back to Funded Dissertation Grants Page |