School characteristics
Over half (58 percent) of respondents reported teaching in suburban areas while nearly equal percentages of respondents reported teaching in rural (20 percent) and urban (22 percent) areas. Nearly 85 percent taught at public schools and nine percent taught at private schools.
The average school size of those respondents who taught at public schools was 1,524 students (SD=829), and the average school size of those respondents who taught at private schools was 609 students (SD=477). There was a large variance in student population in both public and private schools, which had median populations of 1,450 and 500 students respectively. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the average student enrollment size of regular public secondary schools in the 2009-2010 academic year was 854 students (NCES, 2012), so it appears that larger public high schools may offer psychology courses more often than do smaller schools.
Years teaching
The average number of years respondents had been teaching any subject or grade level was 16.8 years (SD=9.58), and the average number of years the respondents had been teaching psychology was 10.5 years (SD=7.92). Nearly 80 percent of respondents had taught psychology for 15 years or less.
Teachers' educational background
A majority (69 percent) of respondents held a master's degree (e.g., MA, MS, MEd) as their highest level of education. Of these degrees, 42 percent were in education and 18 percent were in psychology. We found that four percent of respondents held a doctoral degree (i.e., PhD, EdD, PsyD), and that 53 percent of these respondents held a doctoral degree in psychology.
Certification
When asked about their certification credentials, 57 percent of respondents reported they were certified to teach psychology under a social studies certification, and 28 percent reported that they had a separate psychology certification. These numbers are consistent with Weaver's (2005) findings that psychology teachers typically possess certification under the broader category of social studies or social science, and that one-quarter of high school psychology teachers are certified in psychology1.
Consistent with these findings, most (65 percent) respondents said a teacher certified in social studies/social sciences was most likely to teach psychology at their high schools, while 28 percent said a teacher certified in psychology was most likely to teach psychology. Only one percent said a teacher certified in science was most likely to teach psychology.
1 APA advocates the development of a teaching credential endorsement for psychology in all states (see APA, 2012).
Courses taught
When Ragland (1992) conducted a survey two decades ago of high school psychology teachers, she found that just 11.6 percent of her respondents taught psychology exclusively; however, we found that 26 percent of our respondents said they only taught psychology in the 2011-2012 academic year. Other subjects taught by psychology teachers included U.S. history (taught by 24 percent of respondents), world history (21 percent), sociology (13 percent) and government (10 percent). These subjects are generally considered social studies courses. Just over two percent of respondents taught chemistry, biology and/or physics in addition to psychology.
Over one-third (38 percent) of respondents taught one or two sections of psychology during the current academic year, while 45 percent taught between three to five sections. On average, respondents taught 107 students per year in their psychology course(s) (Median=100; SD= 75.82). Just over half (53 percent) of respondents taught a single type of psychology course. We found that 57 percent taught Advanced Placement (AP) psychology courses and that 20 percent taught only AP psychology. Just four percent of respondents taught International Baccalaureate (IB) psychology courses, while seven percent taught dual enrollment courses with a local or community college. Interestingly, at a time when AP and IB examination numbers are increasing, 75 percent of the respondents indicated that they taught the general or introductory (non-AP or -IB) psychology course. Furthermore, over one-third (34 percent) reported that they only taught the general or introductory course. Teachers who only teach general or introductory psychology do not have access to the resources from the College Board or International Baccalaureate Organization, and are a key audience APA can serve. The general or introductory psychology course(s) were more often offered as one semester courses, while AP psychology and IB psychology course(s) were more often one year courses.
Psychology course(s) in the school setting
When asked how many sections of psychology were taught at the teacher's entire school in a typical academic year, 55 percent responded 5 sections or less, while 17 percent responded that there are ten or more sections of psychology taught at their schools. The number of sections of psychology taught at a school was positively correlated to the student population of the school.
Just over half (53 percent) of respondents said they were the only psychology teacher at their school, compared with the 79.8 percent Ragland (1992) found who were the only psychology teacher at their school two decades ago. While this percentage has decreased over the last two decades, our finding indicates that more than half of our respondents are without psychology colleagues at their schools.
Most (88 percent) of the respondents identified the social studies/social sciences department as their primary assigned department. Close to three percent taught in the natural science department. This may have been influenced by the outreach efforts we used to announce the survey, which included sending emails to social studies department chairs but not science department chairs. Our choice of outreach was based on previous studies (e.g., Ragland, 1992, Ware & Johns, 1990) that found high school psychology courses to often be housed within social studies departments.
Becoming a psychology teacher
When asked how they became a psychology teacher, 50 percent of respondents said they were teaching another social studies course(s) and were assigned to teach psychology by their administration, while 19 percent said they were specifically looking for a job teaching high school psychology. Nearly half (46 percent) of respondents said they felt moderately or very prepared to teach psychology when they first taught the course, and 27 percent felt moderately or very unprepared. Those who were moderately or very prepared to teach the subject were more likely to hold a certification in psychology, and were more likely to hold a degree in psychology. See APA (2012) for recommendations regarding teacher preparation.
National board certification
Pursuing national board certification for psychology teachers has been a priority of the APA Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) for over a decade. To date, such a certification in psychology does not exist. We found that 8 percent of respondents were national board certified teachers, and that the majority of these teachers (83 percent) were certified in Social Studies — History: Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Most (78 percent) respondents said they would probably or definitely support the development of a national board certification in psychology, and of these respondents, 70 percent said they would probably or definitely be interested in pursuing a national board certification in psychology if one were available.
