The Advanced Placement® (AP®) Program offers high school students the opportunity to take rigorous coursework in high school and receive college credit for AP Exam scores that meet or exceed the requirements of their attending institution. Students receiving AP credit are typically exempted from an introductory level course or series of courses…

Men significantly outnumber women in physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS) majors, with a recent male-to-female ratio of approximately 4:1, a stark contrast to the near parity in other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (1). This gender disparity in PECS carries wide-reaching implications for equity,…

After receiving their degrees, exiting master's degree holders have a variety of employment and education options available to them. Many students enter or remain in the workforce, whereas others continue their graduate education in physics or other subjects. Some new exiting masters, mostly non-US citizens, leave the US after receiving their…

"U.S. Performance on the 2015 TIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Assessments: A Closer Look" expands upon the results described in NCES' [National Center for Education Statistics'] initial "Highlights" report on TIMSS Advanced. This new report provides in-depth analyses that (1) examine the demographics, school…

The 2015-16 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a survey of all public schools and school districts in the United States. The CRDC measures student access to courses, programs, staff, and resources that impact education equity and opportunity for students. The CRDC has long provided critical information used by the Department of Education's…

New physics bachelors entering the workforce receive some of the highest starting salaries of any undergraduate majors. Bachelors accepting STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) positions in the private sector had a median starting salary of $55,000. Physics bachelors from 2013 and 2014 were contacted in the winter following the…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 is the sixth administration of this international comparative study since 1995 when first administered. TIMSS is used to compare over time the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. TIMSS is designed to align broadly with mathematics and…

What textbooks are physics teachers using? How highly do they rate those textbooks? What other types of materials do teachers use? The textbooks and other resources used by high school physics teachers in the US have evolved along with the changing demands of physics classes and the evolving set of options available to teachers. In this report,…

New physics bachelor's entering the workforce receive some of the highest starting salaries of any undergraduate majors. Each fall, the Statistical Research Center conducts its "Survey of Enrollments and Degrees," which asks physics and astronomy departments to provide information concerning the numbers of students they have enrolled and…

During the 2012-13 academic year, the Statistic Research Center (SRC) collected data from a representative national sample of over 3,500 public and private high schools across the U.S. to inquire about physics availabilities and offerings. This report describes their findings. SRC takes two different approaches to describe the characteristics of…

This report examines enrollments in high school physics during the 2012-13 school year. Based on data from the most recent survey (which includes both public and private high schools in the U.S.), it is estimated that 39% of the class of 2013 took high school physics before graduating. During the 2012-13 school year, 1.38 million students were…

This report examines teachers' self-assessed preparedness to teach physics, their membership in professional organizations, and where they turn for help when they have questions. Almost every teacher reports feeling at least adequately prepared to teach basic physics knowledge and the application of physics to everyday experience. The smallest…

The purpose of this study was to determine teachers' reasons for choosing the profession of teaching and their level of job satisfaction and to investigate the effects of certain variables on their job satisfaction. The research data were collected via a questionnaire form to determine the demographic backgrounds of the participants and a Job…

In this report, the authors share their analysis of the data from over 3,500 high schools in the U.S. beginning with an examination of the availability of physics in U.S. high schools. The schools in their sample are a nationally-representative random sample of the almost 25,000 high schools in forty-nine of the fifty states. Table 1 shows the…

In the fall of 2008, the authors contacted a representative sample of over 3,600 high schools in the U.S., both public and private, to determine whether or not physics was taught there. The authors received responses from over 99% of the schools. For the schools which indicated they were offering physics, they obtained contact information for the…