THE STATE OF AZ PHYSICS A PRESENTATION FOR THE AZ-AAPT in September 2016 by Michael Vargas, Pinnacle High School, Phoenix http://education.azgovernor.gov/edu/blog/2016/09/why-arent-your-kids-taking-physics NUMBERS...... • 6.7 million people live in Arizona, and 2/3 of them live in Greater Phoenix. • How many of these people are high school kids? * How many of these kids take high school physics? THE NUMBERS CURRENT 2015 ARIZONA DATA -- numbers of Arizona high school students, teachers, and high schools 200 district high schools serve about (including charters) 85% of Arizona's high school kids. WE ARE AT HALF THE NATIONAL AVERAGE Only 20% of high school kids in Greater Phoenix take physics. (Nationwide, 40% do.) CURRENT STATE OF AZ PHYSICS TEACHERS •  400 people in Arizona have a Physics certificate, according to the Arizona Department of Education, as of July 2015. •  Only 159 of them taught physics for a school district in AZ in 2015-2016. •  Fewer than 30% of them teach full loads daily of "physics only" classes. •  As a physics teacher in AZ, you are quite literally 1 in 100 for teachers and 1 for every 2000 high school kids. WHO CARES ABOUT PHYSICS ANYWAY? Physics Makes You Universities Want Kids Physics is a 4th Math Smarter Who Took HS Physics RT-2-302-02 State Regulation Kids who take physics Kids who take physics in HS look generally do better on good for college admissions. states clearly that physics in tests and can think Hence demand is growing.. HS can be used as a 4th year critically – more so than math class for graduation Most STEM degrees want you to kids who don’t. take at least one physics class. requirements. Who cares? Position statement: National Alliance of Black School Educators •  Physics is a gateway course for post-secondary study in science, medicine, and engineering, as well as an essential component in the formation of students’ scientific literacy. Physics classes hone thinking skills. An understanding of physics leads to a better understanding of other science disciplines. Physics classes help polish the skills needed to score well on the SAT and ACT. …. •  Nationwide, only 25% of Black and Hispanic high school students take any course in physics. Thus many do not even get to the gateway. ... IT GETS WORSE: •  American colleges and universities produce only .5 ( that’s right, only a half) qualified physics teacher a year. •  Arizona’s 3 universities produce a total of about 6 physics teachers yearly. •  25 open positions for physics teachers in Greater Phoenix were advertised in spring 2016. •  Do the math; we are not replacing teachers fast enough, therefore many schools are dropping physics altogether and replacing it with people and programs that are less rigorous, like environmental science and forensics. Administrators can fudge certifications for these disciplines to fill classrooms with teachers. In physics you cannot. The consequences: •  Only 10% of Hispanics and Blacks in Greater Phoenix take physics. The rest never get to the gateway, so they are locked out of college STEM majors and STEM careers.