Teachers of Mathematics and Science

Teacher quality is one of the most important factors influencing student learning. Students' achievement in mathematics and science depends in part on their access to high-quality instruction in those subjects. Many factors affect teacher quality, including qualifications, ongoing professional development, attrition, and working conditions. The 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education (NSSME), the fifth in a series of surveys of mathematics and science teachers first administered in 1977, provides a comprehensive review of these topics (Banilower et al. 2013). The 2012 NSSME is a nationally representative survey based on a sample of 7,752 mathematics and science teachers in elementary and secondary schools across the United States. This section highlights the major findings of the NSSME and supplements those findings with national data on teacher attrition from the U.S. Department of Education's Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (BTLS).