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March 2010: Sheila Tobias has just co-authored a new book, Science Teaching as a Profession: Why It Isn't. How It Could Be, with veteran science teacher Anne Baffert. Based upon their communications with nearly 500 science teachers across the United States, Tobias and Baffert explore what is needed to reduce attrition by high school science teachers at a time when the U.S. is facing increasing competition.

The United States is facing two major science education gaps: a shortage of science teachers and a gap in student performance in science compared with competitor nations. The U.S. government is seeking to address these gaps in large part by producing more science teachers. Science Teaching as a Profession looks at the other side of the equation: what can be done about attrition among science teachers.

Published by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Science Teaching as a Profession can be purchased through the NSTA website.

Media Coverage

  1. In an op-ed that has been accepted for publication in the Spring 2010 Association of Science Teacher Educators (ASTE) Newsletter, Sheila questions whether teacher preparation is broken, as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asserts.
  2. During a September 3, 2009 radio interview on Earth and Sky, Sheila Tobias said, "We are interested in the preparation of teachers, but not quite the way the federal government is doing it. They're focusing on their science and math training, very important, on attracting them to teach with loan forgiveness and scholarships, very important, but we believe they should also be training teachers to cope with the real world, life situations they get into when they enter the schools. They're not really apprised of how schools function. They're not told where the decision-making takes place. They're not encouraged to think of themselves as professionals."
  3. In a June 20, 2009, Science News story, Sheila Tobias describes the history of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and compares it to the newer Professional Science Master's (PSM) degree, which she helped create.
  4. In a June 9, 2009 Huffington Post story, Research Corporation for Science Advancement President James Gentile said, "In a fascinating new book by noted education writer Sheila Tobias and veteran science teacher Anne Baffert, entitled Science Teaching as a Profession: Why It Isn't, How It Could Be, the authors make a startling discovery. Based on their communications with nearly 500 science teachers across the United States over the past two years, they found that attrition by U.S. high-school science teachers is not primarily a function of money. More pressing are concerns about loss of autonomy, control, and stature."