FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The shortage of highly qualified science and mathematics teachers in middle and high school classrooms across America is a crisis that leaders of universities are addressing through the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative.

The presidents of 74 public universities and 11 university systems representing an additional 33 campuses comprise the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative, developed by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, the nation’s oldest higher education association.

Gay Stewart, associate professor of physics in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as a team leader representing the University of Arkansas, one of 27 institutions chosen to form the Leadership Collaborative, a select group of universities that have made individual commitments to the initiative.

Their goal: to ensure the U.S. remains a leader in engineering, technology and innovation through improving science and mathematics education.

All 107 institutions in Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative are committed to increasing the diversity and number of highly qualified science and mathematics teachers in their states by working with state agencies to identify the immediate and long-term needs for high school teachers.  

The problem is particularly critical in Arkansas, which has a low percentage of residents with college degrees.

“The majority of physical science teachers in Arkansas, and in fact nationally, do not have a degree in the area in which they teach, making it hard for them to provide students the school experience they need to be prepared for, and feel excited about, further studies in science,” said Stewart.

In the 2008 Bayer Facts of Science Education poll, chief executive officers and other senior executives leading America’s Fortune 1000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics companies say they are concerned about the country’s ability to attract and retain highly skilled workers in these fields.

“One way to counter this talent issue is to build a diverse educational pipeline,” said Stewart. “But these executives also say that the American pre-college education system is failing to engage girls and minorities in science careers.”

Nationally, only special education is recognized as a field more seriously in need of well-prepared teachers than physics, chemistry and mathematics.

Activities of the Leadership Collaborative have been funded by a $1.5 million, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation’s Math and Science Partnership: Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance. The support will enable researchers to identify and address the factors that lessen the effectiveness of programs for preparing secondary mathematics and science teachers. Their findings will be widely shared through the Internet and collaborative meetings.

The University of Arkansas is the only university in Arkansas to commit to the initiative, which includes the University of California system, the University of Wisconsin system, the University of North Carolina system and the University system of Georgia, as well as major campuses in Texas, Missouri, Colorado, Ohio and Michigan.