Qualifications of Humanities Teachers in U.S. Public High Schools
- Results from the most recent SASS show that the academic credentials held by public high school educators differ widely by subject area (Indicator I-21a). In music, 87% of teachers with a principal assignment in the subject held a postsecondary degree in the subject and were certified to teach in the field. In comparison, only 26% of history teachers with a principal assignment in the subject had both credentials (note that not all states offer teacher certification in history). And while only 2% of music teachers lacked both certification and a degree in the field, 34% percent of history teachers lacked both credentials. The SASS data indicate that at least some history teachers without a degree in the discipline did have a degree and/or certification in social studies, general social science, or another social science discipline. (NCES, like several other data sources on which the Humanities Indicators relies, treats history as a social science discipline rather than as one within the humanities.)1
- In the languages, 73% of teachers of German had both a college major and certification in the discipline, as compared to 71% for French, 69% for English, 63% for Spanish, and 49% for Latin.
- Due to variation in class size and the fact that some high school teachers provide instruction in multiple subjects, the share of teachers with a given qualification and the share of students taught a given subject by teachers with such a qualification can differ. For instance, while 73% of teachers of German had both a certification and a major in the subject, just 66% of students taking the language were taught by someone with both qualifications (the widest reported gap among the academic subjects examined here; Indicator I-21b).
- Public high school students in music classes were the most likely to be exposed to a teacher who was both certified in and possessed a degree in the subject matter being taught, with 85% of such students having a teacher who had both qualifications.
- Aside from music, less than 73% of students in each of the other major subjects were taught by a teacher with both a college major and certification to teach the subject, ranging from 72% of students in the natural sciences down to 23% of students in history.
- Although 53% of students taking history were learning from teachers with a degree in the subject, only 23% of history students found themselves in classes led by a teacher with both a college major and certification in the subject (note that not all states offer teacher certification in history). However, 68% of students taking social science courses (which include history courses) had a teacher with both a major and certification in general social science (including social studies) or a constituent discipline, suggesting that some students are taught by instructors who lack history credentials but do have a background in the social sciences. (Please see the endnote for further explanation of the relationship between the “history” and “social science” categories.)
- The percentage of public high school students taught by a teacher with both certification and a degree was similar across the living languages, ranging from 67% among students in English classes to 64% for students of Spanish.
- From 2004 to 2012, every academic subject saw a declining percentage of students taught by a teacher with a postsecondary degree in that subject. The largest decline occurred in history, where the percentage fell from 66% to 54% (Indicator I-21c). While still above the levels recorded in the 1990s, the share for 2012 is the second recorded decline since the peak in 2004.
- The percentage of public high schoolers learning English language and literature from a teacher with a postsecondary degree in the subject fell from 83% in 2004 (the highest level recorded) to 79% in 2012 but remains higher than in the late 1980s, when the U.S. Department of Education began collecting these data. The downward trend for English since 2004 is similar to that observed in natural science and mathematics (in which 78% and 70%, respectively, of students in 2012 had a teacher with a postsecondary degree in the subject).
Endnotes
- 1Credentials of "Social Science" Teachers in Public High Schools As part of its analysis of the 2012 Schools and Staffing Survey data on public high school teachers’ qualifications, the National Center for Education Statistics examines the rates of teacher certification and subject degree-holding for “social science” teachers. This general category includes teachers with a primary assignment of social studies or a specific social science subfield/discipline, including history (just as the general category of “natural science,” included in the graph for Indicator I-a9, includes chemistry teachers, for example). A history teacher “is considered to hold an in-field major or certification in the broad field of social science if he or she holds a major or certification in any of the following fields: social studies (general), anthropology, area/ethnic studies, criminal justice, cultural studies, economics, geography, government/civics, history, international studies, law, Native American studies, political science, psychology, sociology, or other social sciences. However, this same teacher must hold a major or a certification in history to be counted as in-field in the specific subfield of history.” (Jason Hill and Chelsea Stearns, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Selected Subjects: Evidence from the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2015), B-19.) In 2012, 50% of social science teachers had a primary teaching assignment in history. As Indicator I-a9 shows, 68% of social science teachers had certification and a degree in general social science (or social studies) or one of its constituent disciplines. Only 6% lacked either a major or a certification in the field. As Indicator I-9a shows, more than a third (37%) of public high school students took history in 2012 with a teacher lacking both certification and a degree in the discipline, but only 6% of students taking social science classes were taught by a teacher lacking both credentials.
* The Natural Science category aggregates teachers of general science and specific science disciplines (e.g., chemistry). Such teachers are considered to hold a credential in the subject they teach if the degree or certification is in general science or a specific science discipline.
** The Social Science category includes (and treats as credentialed in social science) history teachers who have a postsecondary degree and/or certification in general social science (including social studies) or a constituent discipline. (The collector of these data treats history as a social science discipline rather than as one within the humanities field.) See the Note on the Credentials of “Social Science” Teachers in Public High Schools for further explanation of the relationship between the “history” and “social science” categories.
Where there are no bars, the population in that category was too small to achieve a reliable estimate. Some of the estimates should be interpreted with caution, as their standard errors are between 30% and 50% of the estimated values. Please contact cfuqua@amacad.org for details.
Source: Jason Hill and Chelsea Stearns, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Selected Subjects: Evidence from the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2015), 19 table 2.
Please see the Note on the Credentials of “Social Science” Teachers in Public High Schools for an explanation of the relationship between the history and social science categories included in the graph.
Where there are no bars, the population in that category was too small to achieve a reliable estimate. Some of the estimates should be interpreted with caution, as their standard errors are between 30% and 50% of the estimated values. Please contact cfuqua@amacad.org for details.
* The Natural Science category aggregates teachers of general science and specific science disciplines (e.g., chemistry). Such teachers are considered to hold a credential in the subject they teach if the degree or certification is in general science or a specific science discipline.
** The Social Science category includes (and treats as credentialed in social science) history teachers who have a postsecondary degree and/or certification in general social science (including social studies) or a constituent discipline. (The collector of these data treats history as a social science discipline rather than as one within the humanities field.) See the Note on the Credentials of “Social Science” Teachers in Public High Schools for further explanation of the relationship between the “history” and “social science” categories.
Where there are no bars, the population in that category was too small to achieve a reliable estimate. Some of the estimates should be interpreted with caution, as their standard errors are between 30% and 50% of the estimated values. Please contact cfuqua@amacad.org for details.
Source: Jason Hill and Chelsea Stearns, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Selected Subjects: Evidence from the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2015), 29 table 7.
Please see the Note on the Credentials of “Social Science” Teachers in Public High Schools for an explanation of the relationship between the history and social science categories included in the graph.
Where there are no bars, the population in that category was too small to achieve a reliable estimate. Some of the estimates should be interpreted with caution, as their standard errors are between 30% and 50% of the estimated values. Please contact cfuqua@amacad.org for details.
* The Natural Science category aggregates teachers of general science and specific science disciplines (e.g., chemistry). Such teachers are considered to hold a credential in the subject they teach if the degree or certification is in general science or a specific science discipline.
** Data not collected for this subject in 1988.
! Interpret data with caution. The standard error for each of the estimates for this subject is between 30% and 50% of the estimated value.
Source: For years 1988–2000: Marilyn M. Seastrom et al., Qualifications of the Public School Teacher Workforce: Prevalence of Out-of-Field Teaching 1987–88 to 1999–2000, Statistical Analysis Report NCES 2002-603 Revised (Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 2002), 62 table B-9. For 2004: Beth A. Morton et al., Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Core Subjects: Evidence from the 2003–04 Schools and Staffing Survey, Statistical Analysis Report NCES 2008-338 (Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 2008), 27 table 5.
For 2008: Jason G. Hill, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Core Subjects: Evidence from the 2007–08 Schools and Staffing Survey, Statistical Analysis Report NCES 2011-317 (Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 2011), 20 table 5. For 2012: Jason Hill and Chelsea Stearns, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Selected Subjects: Evidence from the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2015), 29 table 7.
In 2003–2004, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) changed the method by which it collects teacher certification data: “In an effort to improve the reliability of the items, separate questions were used to ask about main teaching assignment and certification. Respondents were first asked to identify the subject code for their main assignment and then, in a later section of the survey, to identify subject codes for all subjects covered by the certification(s) they held. A determination of whether or not teachers were certified in their main assignment is up to the analyst; the analyst is able to match the course taught with certification areas, rather than rely on teacher self-reports.” (Beth A. Morton et al., Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Core Subjects: Evidence from the 2003–04 Schools and Staffing Survey, Statistical Analysis Report NCES 2008-338 [Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 2008], 57–58.)
Due to the resulting noncomparability of these and subsequently collected certification data with the information collected in previous years, the trend analysis presented here focuses solely on teachers’ educational backgrounds. Please see the “Note on the Credentials of ‘Social Science’ Teachers in Public High Schools” for an explanation of the relationship between the history and social science categories included in the graph.
