Teaching Research Spotlight

Out-of-Field Teaching

NEA Teacher Quality and Research Departments are providing this online venue highlighting professional research on best practices in educational issues.

As Richard Ingersoll (2003) says, "few would require cardiologists to deliver babies, real estate lawyers to defend criminal cases... or sociology professors to teach English." This phenomenon of out-of-field teaching – teachers teaching subjects for which they have little education or training – has long been and continues to be an important issue in our public schools.

Much of the problem in out-of-field teaching can be attributed to selective shortages of teachers, as well as misplacement of teachers. The data show (Ingersoll, 2003) that each year some out-of-field teaching takes place in more than half of all U.S. secondary schools, and each year over one fifth of the public 7th-12th grade teaching force engages in this practice. And, in schools whose students come from low-income households, the percentage of teachers teaching out of their field is much higher.

With rapid growth in student enrollment and a high teacher attrition rate, school systems now realize they need to take some prescriptive measures to address this issue. Here are some recommendations from Glori Chaika (2000) to insure the finding and keeping of those teachers certified to teach subjects for which they have been educated and trained:

• Providing financial incentives to colleges to steer potential teachers specifically toward shortage areas
  
  
• Offering hiring bonuses to attract – and annual stipends to retain - teachers who have certification in shortage areas
  
  
• Offering stipends for mentor teachers to assist those new to the field – perhaps targeting teachers in special needs areas especially during the critical first or second year of teaching

At a time when research demonstrates that teacher quality is the factor that matters most for student learning, we must find a way to address this critical issue of teachers teaching out of their respective fields. Here are some research and related articles on the topic:

»  Out-of-Field Teaching and the Limits of Teacher Policy (, 32pp) (CPRE, 2003) - Richard Ingersoll research paper referenced above.

» Out-of-Field Teaching: How Qualified Is Your Child's Teacher? (, 6pp) (Education World, 2000) - Glori Chaika research paper referenced above.

» The Problem of Out-of-Field Teaching (, 4pp) ( Phi Delta Kappan, June 1998) - A summary of the problem of out-of-field teaching and the myths surrounding it.

» All Talk, No Action: Putting an End to Out-of-Field Teaching ( , 14pp) (Education Trust, August 2002) – This report has a state-by-state analysis of the 1999-2002 Schools and Staffing Survey data on the percentage of core academic secondary school classes taught by a teacher without a major or minor in the subject.

» Why Some Schools Have More Underqualified Teachers Than Others (, 30pp) (Brookings Papers on Education Policy 2004) - This research paper uses advanced statistical analysis to examine which characteristics of school districts and schools are related to the degree of out-of-field teaching in schools.

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