A new statistical analysis from the National Center on Education Statistics finds the majority of high school teachers assigned to core subjects of English, mathematics, science, and social sciences have both a postsecondary degree and a teaching certificate in their field.
The report examines teacher certifications in 11 subjects: English, mathematics, science, social science, French, German, Latin, Spanish, art, music, and dance/drama.
Fully 75 percent of English and science teachers, 74 percent of social science teachers, and 66 percent of mathematics teachers had both in-field credentials. A majority of high school classes in those subjects were also taught by teachers with majors in their fields, but gaps emerged in more specialized high school classes within those fields. Most of the foreign-language and arts teachers also taught in-field.
