Repairing the Illinois High School
Physics Teacher Pipeline

High School Physics Teacher
Recruitment, Preparation and Retention:

The Illinois Model

A report from the ISAAPT Ad Hoc Committee on High School Physics Teacher Recruitment, Preparation and Retention

Illinois Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers

Special Session Meetings

Workshop, Illinois Central College, East Peoria & Bradley University, Peoria, IL, October 14-16, 2004
Cracker Barrel Discussion, Illinois Central College, East Peoria, IL, April 7, 2006
Cracker Barrel Discussion, Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, IL, October 12, 2007
New/Crossover High School Physics Teacher Workshops, February 27, 2010.
Local science alliance leader meeting held at Blackburn College, Carlinville, IL, March 27, 2010

This web site is maintained by the ISAAPT standing committee on
Recruitment, Preparation, an Retention of High School Physics Teachers

David Sykes, Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, IL

Thomas Foster, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL

Carl J. Wenning, Chair, Illinois State University, Normal, IL

(Last updated May 1, 2010, cjw)

Recent Developments:

• Local Physical Science Alliance - 12 zones established across Illinois, spring 2010. Up to $5,000 in support obtained from Illinois Science Teachers Association to host a zone leaders meeting at Illinois State University during August 2010.
• New/Crossover High School Physics Teacher Workshops (sponsored in part by the American Association of Physics Teachers) First workshop at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, February 27, 2010. See announcement.
• Recruiting the Next Generation of Middle and High School Science Teachers (8-page booklet for teachers, September 10, 2007)
• A Career in Science Teaching? Think About It! (tri-fold brochure for students, September 6, 2007)
• Illinois-Science-Teaching.info web page with links to major Illinois science teaching associations, last updated September 5, 2007)
• Updated the ISAAPT High School Physics Teacher Recruitment web page; (September 7, 2007)
• Repairing the Illinois High School Physics Teacher Pipeline PowerPoint presentation delivered by Carl J. Wenning at Cornell University's conference The Role of Colleges and Universities in Preparing Future Physics Teachers (June 19, 2006)

Reports:

• Executive Summary (updated November 24, 2004) A four-page PDF overview of the Full Report.
• Full Report (updated November 29, 2004) A detailed 16-page PDF review of all findings, recommendations, and references.(Full Report published simultaneously in the Journal of Physics Teacher Education Online, 2(2), 24-32.
• Summary of 2004 State of Illinois PTE Program Survey Results

ISAAPT Autumn Meeting (Thursday/Friday, October 14/15, 2004)

Presenters:

Follow-up Discussion Participants:

Session Agenda

Session PowerPoint Presentations:

• Status of the Illinois High School Physics Teacher Pipeline, Presented by Carl J. Wenning, Illinois State University. In this presentation Wenning provides a review of the literature in relation to the recruitment, preparation, and retention of physics teachers. He identified national trends and explained how these trends are reflected in the Illinois market place. He provides information about the leaky nature and low flow volume of the physics teacher preparation pipeline within Illinois, and makes a few suggestions about how that pipeline might be repaired.
• Teacher Candidate Perspectives, Presented by Kenneth Mellendorf, Illinois Central College. Mellendorf provides a summary of the findings in relation to those factors that most and least (and even negatively) affected the decisions of teacher candidates to become high school physics teachers.
• In-Service Physics Teacher Survey, Kimberly Shaw, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Shaw provides a review of those teacher practices most closely aligned with the factors that help high school students decide to become physics teachers. She also reviews those factors that make teachers enjoy their jobs, and those which most make them want to leave teaching.
• Teacher Certification and University Program Accreditation, Lynn Steffen, Illinois State University. Steffen provides an overview of the accreditation processes that teacher education programs in Illinois must undergo. She speaks about the relationship of teacher education unit accreditation in relation to the requirements by the National Science Teachers Association for specific teacher preparation programs.
• Alternative Certification Programs, Michael Lorber, Illinois State University. Lorber provides a summary of the nature of ISU's second iteration of the alt. cert. program. He shares the course requirements and notes the nature and extent of this program's impact on the need for teachers of physics. Please note that Alternative Certification is no longer available through Illinois State University. (Note added 11/02/2009)

Survey Data Sets:

• Survey of Physics Teacher Education Candidates This survey and data set were collected by Carl Wenning. He surveyed 24 of 33 declared physics teacher education majors at Illinois State University in an effort to determine which factors most influenced their decisions to become teachers in general an physics teachers in particular.
• Survey of In-Service High School Physics Teacher This survey and data set were also collected by Wenning. In a survey of about 20 teachers, he was able to gain a sense of teaching practices that relate most closely to those factors that appear to influence high school students to become physics teachers. He also attempted to identify what factors teachers most and least enjoyed in relation to their teaching.

Review and Recommendations PowerPoint:

• Teacher Recruitment and Retention Presented by Shaw, Mellendorf, Weber, and Wenning. A "sneak preview" of the two-days session with recommendations from the committee presented at the ISAAPT autumn meeting on Saturday, October 16, 2004.

ISAAPT Spring Meeting (April 7/8, 2006)

• Cracker Barrel Discussion Agenda

ISAAPT Fall Meeting (October 12, 2007)

• Cracker Barrel Discussion Minutes

ISAAPT Spring Meeting (April 4, 2008)

• Cracker Barrel Discussion Minutes

ISAAPT Ad Hoc Committee Membership:

2004-2008, David Sykes, Lincoln Land Community College
2004-2007, Kimberly Shaw, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
2004-2008, Carl J. Wenning, Illinois State University, Chair
2007-?, Tom Foster, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

State of Illinois Special Reports: (The latest report can always be found here.)

• Directory of Approved Programs for the Preparation of Educational Personnel in Illinois Institutions of Higher Education
• Educator Supply and Demand in Illinois - 2004 Annual Report
• Educator Supply and Demand in Illinois - 2005 Annual Report
• Educator Supply and Demand in Illinois - 2006 Annual Report
• Educator Supply and Demand in Illinois - 2007 Annual Report
• Educator Supply and Demand in Illinois - 2008 Annual Report
• Educator Supply and Demand in Illinois - 2009 Annual Report (reports typically near end of year)

Reports on Tomorrow's Teachers:

• Public Agenda Report I - A Sense of Calling: Who Teaches and Why?
• Public Agenda Report II - Attitudes About Teaching
• NEA's Status of the American School Teacher
• Does Teacher Preparation Matter? Teacher Certification, Teach for America, and Teacher Effectiveness
• Rising Above the Gathering Storm (Executive Summary only)