An estimated 17% to 30% of new teachers in the U.S. leave the profession within their first 5 years of teaching. Some challenges that prompt new teachers to leave the field include stress, lack of appropriate support, and feeling unprepared to handle behavioral and academic issues among their students. Research supports the finding that teachers…

Students who attend different colleges in the U.S. end up with vastly different economic outcomes. We study the role of relative value-added across colleges within student choice sets in producing these outcome disparities. Linking high school, college, and earnings registries spanning the state of Texas, we identify relative college value-added…

College-educated immigrants in the United States are more likely to have advanced degrees and to major in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields than their U.S.-born peers with college degrees. But their educational levels have not always translated into occupational gains: They are more likely than U.S.-born workers to be…

Improving the quality of the teacher workforce is high on the nation's education policy agenda, but school systems continue to face difficulties in staffing STEM and special education classrooms with qualified teachers. This article documents the mismatch between the supply and demand of STEM and special education teachers in Washington State,…

In the U.S., STEM subjects--science, technology, engineering, and math--face urgent needs for great STEM teachers and well-educated students. An Opportunity Culture can help by extending the reach of excellent STEM teachers already in our schools and creating a teaching profession that attracts and retains these teachers through higher pay, within…

West Virginia Code §18B-1D-8 statutorily mandates the West Virginia Higher Education Report Card. This annual accountability report provides year-end higher education statistics for both of the state's higher education systems, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (Commission) and West Virginia Council for Community and Technical…

Engineering and teaching are among the most lopsided disciplines in academe's gender split. In 2010, women received 80 percent of the undergraduate degrees awarded in education, the U.S. Education Department reports. And they earned 77 percent of the master's and 67 percent of the doctoral degrees in that field. In engineering, by contrast, women…

This report presents the characteristics and initial outcomes of exiting master's degree recipients in physics and astronomy. The report covers the degree classes of 2006, 2007 and 2008. The status of exiting physics master's varied greatly by the citizenship of the degree recipient. The majority of US citizens entered or remained in the workforce…

President Obama's Educate to Innovate initiative has provided billions in additional federal funding for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs across the country. The Administration's recognition of the importance of STEM education-- for global competitiveness as well as for national security--is good and…

STEM--science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--is critical to and supportive of many education reforms being undertaken today, from adoption of common internationally benchmarked standards to better teacher preparation to enhanced coordination across the entire K-20 education system. In fact, STEM is not a separate reform movement at…

A STEM teacher is one who teaches in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In K-12 schooling, most STEM teachers instruct mathematics and science classes, which continue to be critical shortage areas. As part of a comprehensive human capital strategy, designing recruitment initiatives to attract qualified STEM teachers…

In July 2005, 15 of America's most prominent business organizations joined together to express their deep concern about the ability of the United States to sustain its scientific and technological leadership in a world where newly energized foreign competitors are investing in the capacity for innovation--the key driver of productivity and…

In July 2005, Business Roundtable and fifteen of America's most prominent business organizations--Tapping America's Potential, the TAP coalition--issued a report stating that "one of the pillars of American economic prosperity--U.S. scientific and technological superiority--is beginning to atrophy even as other nations are developing their own…