JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING VOL. 21, NO. 3, PP. 269-276 (1984)

RECENT TRENDS IN SECONDARY SCIENCE EDUCATION IN NEW JERSEY

DAVID SOUSA

West Orange Board of Education, West Orange, New Jersey 07052

Abstract

This article compares the results of two surveys sent to New Jersey science supervisors in 1978 and 1982 regarding the status of secondary science education in their schools. I t discusses trends that have developed during the four-year period and compares them to national trends revealed in recent studies. The comparison shows that New Jersey faces many of the same problems in science education found across the country. Instruction time in science, double laboratory periods, and the use of national curriculum studies have all declined. Respondents also reported a marked increase in the number of science teachers leaving the classroom for jobs in business and industry. The recruiting of qualified teachers was a difficult task and over 9% of the public schools reported having to use teachers with emergency certification in science to meet their staffing requirements. Difficulties in using staff effectively, in obtaining adequate financial support, and in providing professional development programs were the major concerns of science supervisors.

Introduction

Precollege science education in the United States appears to be in serious trouble. Recent studies show that high school students are turning away from science and that their scores on science achievement tests have been declining steadily over the last decade (Heylin, 1982). During that same time period, reduced budgets have cut in half the time spent in laboratory experiences even for those students who take science (Bromley, 1982). Science teachers (partic- ularly those in the physical sciences) are leaving the classroom in alarming numbers to accept positions in business and industry, and they are being replaced frequently by unqualified teachers (Heylin, 1982). Moreover, the general public does not see science as a basic skill, even in this era of rapid advancements in science and technology (National Science Foundation, 1980). In fact, the public seems to have less confidence in the ultimate value of scientific re- search and in its contributions to the public good (Handler, 1980). These disturbing trends are occurring across the country but are more severe in certain geographic regions. The New Jersey Science Supervisors Association (NJSSA) decided to investigate the extent to which some of these trends were appearing in New Jersey secondary schools. Of particular interest was whether the data collected in New Jersey schools would confirm the bleak picture revealed by several of the recent national studies.

In early 1982 NJSSA mailed surveys to the science department chairpersons of the 382 accredited public and independent secondary schools in New Jersey. The survey gathered data

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about the science curriculum and staff in each school so that a comparative study could be made with similar data collected four years earlier. The 1978 survey was also conducted by NJSSA in collaboration with the New Jersey Science Teachers Association, although it did not include independent schools. Many questions in both surveys were similar, such as those dealing with specific science programs in use, and instruction and laboratory time. But the 1982 survey also asked questions on timely topics, such as the existence of laboratory safety programs, and on topics covered in some national studies, specifically the turnover and recruitment of science teachers and problems of major concern to science supervisors.

The 1978 surveys were mailed to 320 public secondary schools and were returned by 143, a 44.7% response. In 1982, the surveys were sent to 299 public and 83 independent secondary schools. Responses were received from 176 public schools (a 58.9% return) and from 34 in- dependent schools (a 41 .O% return). The combined 1982 return of 210 surveys yielded a 55.0% response. In both surveys, responses were received from all sections of the state, including rural, suburban, and urban schools. Inner-city schools had a lower return rate.

Results and Interpretations

In reviewing the 1982 surveys, it was interesting to note that the data received from independent schools were much more similar to the public school data than they were differ- ent. Nevertheless, for consistency the 1982 public school data only were used in the compara- tive portion of the study.

Comparing the 1978 and 1982 Surveys

A comparison of the responses collected in the 1978 and 1982 surveys revealed some trends that have occurred during the four-year period. Table I compares the responses on items related to student enrollment, the use of national curriculum studies, double laboratory periods, and advanced placement courses.

Enrollment. Between 1978 and 1982 the percentage of secondary students in science courses in the samples rose from 61.9% to 67.0%, an increase of 8.2%. This increase may be due in part to a recent state requirement that all students entering the ninth grade as of September 1981 successfully complete one year of science to graduate. Nevertheless, this trend runs counter to the latest national data which indicated that enrollments in high school science courses since 1960 have declined from 60% to 48% (Heylin, 1982, p. 39).

National curriculum studies. With the exception of a modest increase in the use of the Introductory Physical Science (IPS) program, all of the major curriculum studies showed a marked decline. Similar trends have been reported in other parts of the country (Shymansky, Kyle, & Aport, 1982a). In New Jersey the decreases ranged from a drop of 23.0% for BSCS- Blue Version biology to 61.0% for ESCP-Earth Science. When asked to explain this decline, science supervisors suggested that the national studies were losing ground for three reasons: (1) the course content in the studies has not kept pace with the rapid changes in technology and advances in scientific research; (2) because of the new state requirement, more students are now taking science who do not have the academic ability demanded by the national studies; (3) the public and their school boards are generally disenchanted with national programs and are encouraging the development of science curricula at the local level.

The first reason suggests a misunderstanding of the purpose of the national programs. They were not designed to keep pace with the day-to-day advancements in science. Rather, they emphasized the processes of science through inquiry and discovery, and focused on developing the higher cognitive skills of students. They appear to have been successful in several areas. A

SECONDARY SCIENCE EDUCATION 27 1

TAME I Comparison of Selected Responses to the 1978 and 1982a Surveys

Percent 1978 1982 Chanse

Enrollment

Percentage o f student body enro l led i n science courses 61.9 67.0 t 8.2

National Curriculum Studies

Percentage o f schools us ing

I P S 23.8 25.2 + 5.9

BSCS-Blue Version 21.7 16.7 - 23.0

BSCS-Green Version 21.0 12.8 - 39.0

BSCS-Ye1 low Version 14.6 10.5 - 28.1

CHEM Study 43.4 25.2 - 41.9

PSSC Physics 31.5 23.3 - 26.0

(Harvard) Pro ject Physics 30.8 20.0 - 35.1

ESCP-Earth Science 15.4 6.0 - 61.0

Double Laboratory Periods

Percentage o f schools w i t h double laboratory periods i n

IPS 3.0 3.0 0

Biology 48.2 38.6 - 19.9

Chemistry 78.2 69.4 - 11.2

Physics 77.4 71.4 - 7.8

Advanced Placement Programs

Percentage o f schools o f f e r i n g

AP Biology 32.8 50.0 + 52.4

AP Chemistry 25.9 45.4 .I. 75.3

AP Physics 13.3 26.7 t ioo.8

None 49.7 33.5 - 32.6

ahcludes only public school responses.

recent study indicated that students in national curriculum courses outperformed students in traditional @re-1955) science courses by 14 percentile points in both achievement and attitude scores. Moreover, their process skills and analytical skills were enhanced by participation in these courses (Shymansky, Kyle, & apor t , 1982a).

Double laboratory periods. Significant decreases were noted in the percentage of schools offering double laboratory periods. In biology the decrease was 19.9%, while in chemistry the decrease amounted to 11.2%. Physics showed a 7.8% decline. There was no change in the per- centage of schoo¶s offering double lab periods in IPS but these schools represented only 3% of the samples.

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Two reasons were most frequently cited for this reduction. First, less money has been avail- able in recent years for replacing the expensive supplies and equipment needed to support double laboratory sessions. This is consistent with the results reported in a survey conducted for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) in December 1981. Of the 450 science teachers who responded, 60% reported cuts in their budgets for supplies and equipment (Shy- mansky & Aldridge, 1982b). Second, reductions in teaching staff have resulted in shifting more teachers from a schedule of four classes that meet six periods per week (this included the double laboratory period) to one of five classes meeting five periods per week. The double laboratory period has frequently been sacrificed with this change.

Advanced placement programs. All of these programs showed substantial growth since 1978, from a 52.4% increase in AP biology to a 100.8% increase in AP physics. As expected, the percentage of schools offering no AP course in science declined by 32.6%. Science super- visors noted that AP courses (both in and outside science) have increased, largely because of pressure from parents and students who want to take advantage of the substantial savings in college tuition that can result from successfully passing these courses and their related AP examinations. However, these same supervisors expressed concern that some teachers of AP courses were not academically qualified to teach the more sophisticated material. They noted a sharp decline in the number of teachers attending workshops or taking graduate science courses. These data also coincide with an NSTA survey which revealed that 79% of the science teachers responding had not completed at least one 10-hour course or workshop in over ten years (Shymansky & Aldridge, 1982b).

Instruction time. Changes in instruction time are shown in Table 11. Chemistry and IPS had small increases in instruction time since 1978 but biology and physics had significant reduc- tions. Some science supervisors suggested that the declines in biology (10.1%) and physics (7.2%) could be due to the introduction in recent years of lower level courses that require less teaching time. With the exception of chemistry, these data are reflecting to some degree the reductions in double laboratory periods discussed earlier (see Table I).

Additional I982 Information The 1982 survey included additional questions of current interest to science educators. The

results were separated into the public and independent school categories. Safety. Three questions were asked about safety policies and programs in each school.

They were: (1) Has the administration adopted a safety policy? (2) Is there a safety instruction program for the professional staff? (3) Is there a safety instruction program for students? The responses to the first two questions are displayed in Table 111. More than half of the public schools reported no official safety policy (56.0%) and no safety instruction program for their teachers (59.1%). A higher percentage of independent schools reported the existence of safety policies (65.5%), but instructional programs were found in only about one-fourth of them (24.2%). These results were unexpected considering the extent that state and national govern- ment agencies and professional organizations have emphasized safety in recent years.

The responses t o the third safety question could not be accurately tabulated. Most respon- dents chose to make statements rather than give a yes or no answer. The statements indicated that many different techniques were used to instruct students in laboratory safety. The extent of such instruction varied widely with tlie individual teacher, grade level, and course.

Science teacher turnover and recruitment. Three questions were asked regarding the extent of science teacher turnover. They were: (1) Has there been a reduction in science staff due to declining enrollment? (2) Have science teachers resigned in the past two years to accept jobs in business and industry? (3) Are there staff members teaching with emergency science certifica- tion?

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TABLE I1 Comparison of Instruction Time Reported

in 1978 and 1 982a Surveys

Percent 1978 1982 Chanse

Average minutes per week in

IPS 21 3 220 + 3.3

Biology 238 21 4 - 10.1 Chemistry 266 270 .+ 1.5

Physics 29 1 270 - 7.2

Earth Science 222 222 0

ahcludes only public school responses.

The responses to these questions are shown in Table IV. The percentage of public schools reporting the loss of staff due to declining enrollment (39.2%) was slightly less than the per- centage that lost teachers to business and industry (41.5%). These data contradict the common notion that separations from the teaching force are due largely to declining enrollments. At least in science, more schools reported that teachers are leaving to take jobs in business or in- dustry than for any other reason. Surprisingly few independent schools reduced staff because of enrollment (2.9%), but the percentage losing teachers to business and industry (50.0%) was higher than the public schools. It appears that the number of students taking science in in- dependent schools is relatively stable. However, the fact that independent school salaries are generally lower than public school salaries may explain why a greater percentage of independent schools are losing teachers to other jobs.

The percentage of public schools using teachers with emergency certification (9.1%) was disturbing. In New Jersey an emergency certificate is issued to an unqualified teacher only after the local superintendent verifies to the state education department that a fully qualified teacher in that subject could not be found. Thus, in over 9% of the public schools in the sample, science is being taught by teachers who are not fully qualified in their subject areas. While this percen- tage is below that found in the NSTA surveys (Shymansky & Aldridge, 1982b), it nevertheless represents a substantial increase over the 1-2% range that had existed for many years in New

TABLE 111

Number and Percentage of Schools Indicating Existence of Safety Policy and Programs

Yes Percent No Percent Total

Has administration adopted a safety policy?

Publ i c 73 44.0 93 56.0 166

Independent 19 65.5 10 34.5 29

Is there a safety instruction program for staff?

Publ i c 72 40.9 104 59.1 176

Independent 8 24.2 25 75.8 33

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TABLE IV Number and Percentage of Schools Indicating Extent of Staff Turnover

Yes Percent No Percent Tota l

Has dec l i n ing enrol lment reduced science s t a f f ?

Publ i c 69 39.2 107 60.8 176

Independent 1 2.9 33 97.1 34

Have science teachers resigned f o r business o r indust ry?

Publ i c 73 41.5 103 58.5 176

Independent 17 50.0 17 50.0 34

Are there s t a f f teaching w i t h emergency science c e r t i f t c a t i o n ?

Publ i c 16 9.1 160 90.9 176

Independent 4 12.1 29 87.9 33

Jersey. The data from independent schools were of little meaning since state certification is not a requirement for employment.

The survey also asked respondents to judge the extent of difficulty they have had in recruiting new (and certified) science teachers for their schools. Their responses are indicated in Table V. Approximately 90% of both the public and independent schools in the sample reported that recruitment was moderately to very difficult. Many supervisors noted that the most difficult positions to fill were in physics and earth science. These observations are supported by the Akin (1980) studies which revealed that the greatest teacher shortages in the Middle Atlantic states were in these two fields. Of equal interest was that 90% of the sample schools (189 out of 210) were faced with recruiting at least one science teacher within the two- year reporting period.

Problems that concern science supervisors. The supervisors were asked to rank numerically seven major problems areas in order of importance. The results are shown in Table VI. Super- visors in both public and independent schools were in agreement on the three major problem areas: (1) using staff effectively, (2) obtaining adequate financial support, and (3) providing professional staff development. These three problems were also among those frequently cited

TABLE V Number and Percentage of Schools Indicating

Difficulty in Recruiting Science Teachers

Publ i c Independent

Number Percent Number Percent

Not d i f f i c u l t 17 10.9 3 9.1

t loderately d i f f i c u l t 66 42.3 17 51.5

Very d i f f i c u l t 73 46.8 13 39.4

Tota ls 156 100.0 33 100.0

SECONDARY SCIENCE EDUCATION 275

TABLE VI Problems Identified by Science Supervisors as Major Concerns

b Pub1 ica Independent

Rank Percent' Rank Percent'

2 68.2 Using staff effectively 1 62.7

Obtaining adequate finances 2 55.4 3 40.0

Developing professional staff 3 48.8 1 71.4

Maintaining supplies 4 36.1 5 27.8

Declining student enrollment 5 34.2 7 0

Recruiting new staff 6 31.0 4 36.4

Maintaining faci 1 i ties 7 19.1 6 25.0

an = 176. bn = 34. CPercentage of supervisors ranking problems as first or second major con-

cern.

in recent surveys of science teachers and supervisors in Michigan and Iowa (Yager, Bybee, Gallagher, & Renner, 1982), and in the NSTA studies (Shymansky, & Aldridge, 1982b).

Some respondents said that the effective use of staff was becoming more difficult because of the addition of unqualified or barely qualified science teachers with limited subject area backgrounds. Others noted that the loss of younger teachers was producing an older staff which was less flexible in accepting more challenging assignments. The decline in financial support was recognized by supervisors as a sign of the tight economy and most felt that little could be done to reverse this trend in the near future.

Concerns over professional development varied. A few supervisors admitted there was little faculty interest in pursuing inservice or college courses, while a larger group reported strong faculty interest but no funding to implement the programs.

The data in this section also corroborated responses made in other parts of the survey dis- cussed earlier. For example, independent schools ranked staff recruitment higher than the public schools, but were not at all concerned about declining student enrollment.

Discussion

The results of the surveys were valuable in two ways: First, they identified some important trends in secondary science education in New Jersey during the four-year period. Second, they substantiated the data collected in numerous national studies which reveal the serious problems facing precollege science education in many parts of the country. As for New Jersey, the survey results were a mixed blessing. Contrary to the national trends, student science enrollments have increased along with the number of advanced placement courses. However, the state has many problems in common with other parts of the country. Instruction time in science and the scheduling of double laboratory periods have declined markedly. Like their colleagues else- where, New Jersey science teachers are leaving for jobs in business and industry in growing numbers. Meanwhile, replacing them becomes increasingly difficult and more schools are being forced to use unqualified teachers in science classrooms. Fewer teachers are interested in pro-

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fessional development, yet those who are find there is less money available to help them. Ironically, this is occurring at a time when scientific research and technology-and their impact on society-are growing increasingly complex.

The trends revealed by the New Jersey and national surveys raise some serious questions for science educators:

(1) What can be done to reduce the loss of qualified teachers from the classroom? (2) How can federal, state, and local education officials be convinced to restore

(3) What strategies can be employed to give science education the priority it re-

(4) How can we encourage more students to consider science teaching as a career?

funding for professional development?

quires in a highly technical society?

The survey data clearly call for immediate and prolonged attention to these questions. If the trends are allowed to continue, it is reasonable t o doubt whether this nation can success- fully meet the science needs of its students and society in the coming years.

References

Akin, J. M. Teachers supply and demand: a recent survey. Madison, WI: Association for

Bromley, D. A. The other frontiers of science. Science, 1982,215(4536), 1035-1044. Handler, P. Public doubts about science. Science, 1980, 208(4448), 1093. Heylin, M. High school science problems gain spotlight. Chemical and Engineering News,

National Science Foundation, What are the needs in precollege science, mathematics, and social science education? Views from the field. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation,

Shymansky, J. A., Kyle, W. C., Jr., & Alport, J. Research synthesis on the science curriculum projects of the sixties. Educational Leadership, 1982a, 40(1), 63-66.

Shymansky, J. A., & Aldridge, B. G. The teacher crisis in secondary school science and mathematics. Educational Leadership, 1982b, 40(2), 61-62.

Yager, R. E., Bybee, R., Gallagher, J. J., & Renner, J. W. An analysis of the current crisis in the discipline of science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1982, 19(5), 377- 395.

School, College, and University Staffing, 1980.

1982,60(21), 39-41.

SE 80-9, 1980.

Manuscript received April 12, 1983