Figure 1-9a, Full Size Supporting Data

Figure 1-9b, Full Size Supporting Data

As Figure I-9b reveals, the most striking gains between 1988 and 2004 in exposure of high school students to degreed teachers have been achieved in history. Having remained in the 40—50% range for over a decade, the percentage of students taught history by someone with a degree in the subject jumped more than 20 percentage points between 2000 and 2004. A similarly sharp rise occurred in the level of student exposure to degreed instructors in the modern languages (other than English), although changes in the way NCES reports the qualifications of teachers of foreign languages makes gauging the precise magnitude of the increase difficult. The percentage of high schoolers learning English language and literature from an individual with a postsecondary degree in the subject increased steadily, if more incrementally, rising from 70% in 1988 to 83% in 2004, a trend similar to that observed in the natural sciences.

The most recent middle school data available from NCES, those for the 1999–2000 school year, reveal that in every subject besides arts and music the percentage of middle school students taught by degreed teachers was substantially smaller than the percentage of high schoolers taught by such teachers (Figure I-9c). This disparity has existed since data on teacher qualifications were first collected as part of the SASS in 1988. Despite this persistent gap, notably different trends were observed among middle school humanities subjects. The proportion of middle school students taught English by a degreed teacher rose modestly over the last decade of the 20th century, from 41% to 46%, a net increase that mirrored, as at the high school level, developments in the natural sciences. In contrast, the percentage of middle schoolers taught history by a degreed teacher declined by roughly the same increment, so that by 1999–2000, 31% of middle schoolers were learning history from a teacher with an academic background in the subject, a percentage similar to that for mathematics. In the most striking development at the middle school level during this time period, the percentage of students exposed to degreed foreign language teachers jumped 17 percentage points between 1991 and 1994, only to fall by a nearly identical amount over the next six years.

Indicator I-10	Demographic Characteristics
Print I-10

The SASS provides a demographic snapshot of the nation's primary- and secondary-school teachers. These data reveal some continuites but also some striking discontinuities between the humanities and other subject areas with respect to the age, gender, and ethnic composition of primary- and secondary-school faculties.

In the 1999–2000 school year, the primary and secondary humanities faculty included a greater proportion of the oldest teachers than the faculty of any other subject (34% were aged 50 or older; Figure I-10a). Like teachers in the arts, math, and science, the majority of humanities teachers in 1999–2000 were female (Figure-I-10b). However, the disparity between the numbers of female and male teachers was more pronounced in the humanities than in math or science, the latter having been the most gender balanced of the primary and secondary faculties. With a teaching force that was 70% female, the gender distribution of humanities teachers was similar to that of arts teachers (these include teachers of studio art, dance, drama, and music). The particularly large percentage of the “all subjects” category who were women stems from the inclusion in the survey of preschool, kindergarten, and general education elementary teachers, who were overwhelmingly female.

Figure 1-10a, Full Size Supporting Data

Figure 1-10b, Full Size Supporting Data

Due, in large measure, to the greater representation of Hispanics among primary- and secondary-school humanities teachers, the proportion of humanities posts held by members of ethnic minorities was greater than that of other disciplines (Figure I-10c). At the same time, though, the humanities faculty was much less ethnically diverse than the student population. Students were more than twice as likely as their teachers to be African American and over three times more likely to be Asian. Although, as mentioned above, humanities teachers were considerably more likely to be Hispanic than their counterparts in the arts, math, or science, the proportion of Hispanic humanities teachers (7.2%) was small relative to the percentage of American school children of Hispanic descent (13.4%).

Figure 1-11a, Full Size Supporting Data

Although U.S. teaching salaries are not overly generous, more than 40% of teachers of English/language arts, social studies (mostly history), and foreign languages indicated that if they “could go back to [their] college days and start over again,” they would certainly become teachers (Figure I-11b). This level of satisfaction was somewhat higher than that expressed by math and science teachers, 35% of whom indicated the same kind of enthusiasm for their teaching careers.