It looks like California might be struggling to find educators in those to teach math and science, even as the emphasis on STEM increases throughout the country. According to a recent report, science and math teacher numbers are beginning to slip in the state.

“Posing an ongoing challenge for California educators trying to tackle a critical teacher shortage area, the number of credentials issued to new math and science teachers in California continues to decline, according to new figures released Monday by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing,” according to EdSource.

“In the 2014-15 school year, a total of 1,119 math credentials were issued, down 8.4 percent from the 1,221 in the previous school year. For that same year, there were 1,347 science credentials issued, down 6 percent from the 1,434 issued the year before.

While California is seeing a substantial decline, experts are saying that other states have the same issues. There is no telling what exactly create the decrease of educators in these concentrations; however, it does have a direct effect on students and more importantly their future.

“The decline in STEM teaching jobs also affected students who would have considered teaching but saw their teachers getting laid off, or getting legal notices that they were going to be laid off, according to Joshua Speaks, legislative representative with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

“They stopped seeing teaching as a stable field. It lost some of its appeal,” he said, according to the report.

There is a clear domino effect going on when it comes to these teaching jobs but it appears that some progress could be seen.

“The state has begun to see some signs of a turnaround in total teaching credentials issued, which had fallen 26 percent from 20,032 issued in the 2009-10 school year to 14,810 in 2013-14,” according to the report.

“However the number rose nearly 3 percent last year, to 15,214.”

Some point fingers to the fact that wages in the actual STEM field are much more attractive than teaching students about STEM.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor