Who Teaches High School Physics?

In the US, most high school students take biology and chemistry, but not all take physics. Physics is among a set of courses that might be taken in a third or fourth year of science. The physics-taking rate, defined as the proportion of high school seniors who will have taken at least one physics class prior to graduation, has continued to increase since 1987 (see Table 1 here .) With the welcome addition of more physics students comes the need to understand who is teaching high school physics and what their qualifications are.

In the US, primary and secondary education are governed at the state or local level; therefore, not all high school physics teachers have the same credentials. Requirements to be “fully qualified” to teach physics vary from state to state. Some states do not distinguish among the “physical sciences” when assessing teacher credentials, so teachers become qualified at a broad level. In these cases, a teacher who is fully qualified in physical sciences and teaches physics may not hold a degree in physics or physics education. In addition, teachers in private schools may not have to meet state or local licensing requirements.

This report examines the characteristics and qualifications of high school physics teachers in the US. We define a “physics teacher” as anyone who teaches at least one high school physics course. Since 1987, AIP has regularly conducted surveys of high school physics in the US. The data in this report come from a 2019 survey conducted with a sample of high school physics teachers. (See the Survey Methodology section later in this report.) Using the results of the survey, we describe a typology of physics teachers, ranging from specialists to newcomers, and examine high school physics teachers’ demographics, qualifications, and teaching loads. We find that most high school physics teachers are experienced teachers who teach physics regularly. About one-third of these experienced teachers also hold a physics or physics education degree.

Demographics

In Table 1, we provide a closer look at the teachers who taught at least one physics course during the 2018-19 academic year. Compared to 1997, we see that the teachers are slightly older and are more likely to have a graduate degree. In fact, the proportion of teachers with doctorates has doubled to 8% since 1997. During the 2017-18 academic year, about 2% of high school teachers and about 3% of high school teachers teaching science held doctorates.[1] These numbers do not change much year-to-year, so it appears that a larger proportion of high school teachers teaching physics have doctorates than the overall group of high school teachers. Nearly three out of four high school physics teachers have earned graduate degrees (73%). This compares favorably with 60% of all secondary teachers and 62% of high school science teachers who have earned a graduate degree.

Table 1

We call anyone teaching at least one physics class a physics teacher; for many teachers, most of their classes are in other subjects.

The representation of women among high school physics teachers has leveled off at just under two-fifths identifying as women. Among all secondary teachers, about 60% identify as women.[2] So, women are underrepresented among high school physics teachers.

Table 2 provides information on the percent of physics teachers with a degree in physics. Overall, the proportion remained relatively stable between 41% and 45% throughout the 2000s.

Table 2

Characteristics and Teaching Loads

Our previous analysis showed that almost half (46%) of physics teachers teach all or mostly physics. On the other hand, almost two physics teachers in five (39%) teach primarily subjects other than physics (see Figure 2 here ). Simply knowing whether teachers teach mostly physics does not give enough information about their qualifications. Therefore, we present a classification of high school physics teachers that combines whether they have a major in physics or physics education with their teaching experience (Table 3). Based on three criteria (frequency of teaching physics, major in physics or physics education, and high school teaching experience), we classify teachers into five different groups.

Specialists have a degree in physics or physics education and have taught physics for at least half the years they have been teaching. (We choose the criterion of teaching physics in alternating years because some smaller schools offer physics in alternating years. Teachers at those schools simply cannot teach physics every year.) The difference between Specialists and Apprentice Teachers is in teaching experience, with Specialists having five or more years of high school teaching experience and Apprentice Teachers having less experience.

Occasional Teachers may have a degree in physics and have five or more years of high school teaching experience but have not taught physics for at least half of the years they have been teaching.

Career Teachers do not have a major in physics or physics education; some do have a minor in the field. In addition, they have taught at the high school level for more than five years and taught physics at least half of the years they have been teaching.

Finally, Newcomers are within their first five years of teaching at the high school level and do not have a major in physics or physics education.

Table 3

In Figure 1, we see that about two-thirds of the high school teachers teaching physics are Specialists or Career Teachers. In other words, most high school physics teachers are experienced high school teachers who have taught physics in at least half the years they have been teaching.

Figure 1

In Figure 2, we see that Specialists and Apprentice Teachers are more likely to teach all physics classes or mostly physics than the other types of teachers. In addition, they are less likely to teach most of their classes in some other discipline. While 12% of Occasional Teachers teach all physics, recall that they may have a degree in physics or physics education but have not taught physics in at least half the years they have been teaching, meaning that they do not meet the criteria to be a Specialist.

Figure 2

Conclusion

We have examined the proportion of physics majors among teachers who teach at least one physics class in a US high school and combined physics teaching experience with other characteristics to delineate among Specialists, Career Teachers, Occasional Teachers, Apprentice Teachers, and Newcomers. The physics-taking rate has doubled since our first survey in 1987; yet, fewer than half of the graduates from a US high school will have taken at least one physics course. Perhaps continued growth in the physics-taking rate would lead to a higher proportion of teachers teaching all or mostly physics. Nevertheless, the majority (68%) of high school physics teachers already meet this criterion. In addition, those with physics or physics education majors (Specialists and Apprentice Teachers) are the most likely to be teaching all or mostly physics. The larger number of high school physics students are likely well-served by their experienced teachers, especially since many of them also majored in physics or physics education.

Survey Methodology

This study is based on a sample of one-sixth of the public and private high schools classified as regular, technical, or emphasis schools in the United States. Data collection for this round began in the fall of 2018. High schools already report similar information in other surveys. Therefore, we contact only a sample of schools to reduce the reporting burden on high schools.

We define a high school as a school with at least three students enrolled in grade 12. Many of these are traditional high schools; some comprise grades 7–12, and others grades K–12.

We began with web searches for each of the 3,751 high schools in our sample. If we could identify a physics teacher at the school, we collected the contact information for that teacher. If not, we collected contact information for the principal or science chair. We then contacted each of the schools where we had not identified a physics teacher by phone and email to determine whether physics was offered at the school and, if so, who taught it. We collected data on whether physics was offered from 3,371 of our 3,751 (90%) sampled schools. We compared demographics for the nonresponding schools with those of the responding schools and found no evidence to suggest that the two groups differ significantly. Therefore, we believe we have a representative sample of schools.

During the spring of 2019, we contacted each of the 3,538 teachers we had identified in the fall to learn more about physics in each of the high schools. We heard back from 42% of the teachers.

The reports from this survey series have exclusively focused on physics courses taught in high schools. In some cases, students at one school might attend a physics class at another school synchronously or asynchronously via video. These cases have been included in our previous studies.

Acknowledgments

We offer our sincere gratitude to the responding principals, teachers, and staff at our sampled schools for helping us provide this information.

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