Re: The "typical" high school physics teacher

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>]

Hi Joe-
        For Illinois, the answer is not simple.  The requirements are set
by the the state Board of Education according to guidelines set out in
the Illinois Administrative Regulations.  (Illinois has an Administrative
Procedures Act that is modeled on the corresponding Federal Act).  The
actual practice may vary from the formal requirements because no
local superintendent of schools is going to let a teaching position go
unfilled.  It follows that physics teaching is a good job for a valued
athletic coach.
        I have one friend who was hired as a public high school physics
teacher after obtaining a biology degree from the U. of Illinois.  My
understanding is that she had no college physics courses.
        You would have to do a school-by-school survey to determine the
actual practice.
                                        Regards,
                                                Jack
On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, Joe Taylor wrote:

> Hello.
>
> My name is Joe Taylor. I am conducting research at Penn State University on
> the nature of high school physics teacher preparation in the US.  I am
> having difficulty finding information as to the average number of
> mathematics, statistics, and physics courses that the "typical" high school
> physics teacher is required to take as a part of his or her undergraduate
> preparation.
>
> Can someone point me in the right direction?
>
> Thank you very much.
>
> Joe

--
Adam was by constitution and proclivity a scientist; I was the same, and
we loved to call ourselves by that great name...Our first memorable
scientific discovery was the law that water and like fluids run downhill,
not up.
                          Mark Twain, <Extract from Eve's Autobiography>