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• Results from the most recent show that the academic credentials held by public high school educators differ widely by subject area (Indicator I-21a). In music, 87% of teachers with a principal assignment in the subject held a postsecondary degree in the subject and were certified to teach in the field. In comparison, only 26% of history teachers with a principal assignment in the subject had both credentials (). And while only 2% of music teachers lacked both certification and a degree in the field, 34% percent of history teachers lacked both credentials. The SASS data indicate that at least some history teachers without a degree in the discipline did have a degree and/or certification in social studies, general social science, or another social science discipline. (NCES, like several other data sources on which the Humanities Indicators relies, treats history as a social science discipline rather than as one within the humanities.)1
• In the languages, 73% of teachers of German had both a college major and certification in the discipline, as compared to 71% for French, 69% for English, 63% for Spanish, and 49% for Latin.
• Due to variation in class size and the fact that some high school teachers provide instruction in multiple subjects, the share of teachers with a given qualification and the share of students taught a given subject by teachers with such a qualification can differ. For instance, while 73% of teachers of German had both a certification and a major in the subject, just 66% of students taking the language were taught by someone with both qualifications (the widest reported gap among the academic subjects examined here; Indicator I-21b).
• Public high school students in music classes were the most likely to be exposed to a teacher who was both certified in and possessed a degree in the subject matter being taught, with 85% of such students having a teacher who had both qualifications.
• Aside from music, less than 73% of students in each of the other major subjects were taught by a teacher with both a college major and certification to teach the subject, ranging from 72% of students in the natural sciences down to 23% of students in history.
• Although 53% of students taking history were learning from teachers with a degree in the subject, only 23% of history students found themselves in classes led by a teacher with both a college major and certification in the subject (). However, 68% of students taking social science courses (which include history courses) had a teacher with both a major and certification in general social science (including social studies) or a constituent discipline, suggesting that some students are taught by instructors who lack history credentials but do have a background in the social sciences. (Please see the endnote for further explanation of the relationship between the “history” and “social science” categories.)
• The percentage of public high school students taught by a teacher with both certification and a degree was similar across the living languages, ranging from 67% among students in English classes to 64% for students of Spanish.
• From 2004 to 2012, every academic subject saw a declining percentage of students taught by a teacher with a postsecondary degree in that subject. The largest decline occurred in history, where the percentage fell from 66% to 54% (Indicator I-21c). While still above the levels recorded in the 1990s, the share for 2012 is the second recorded decline since the peak in 2004.
• The percentage of public high schoolers learning English language and literature from a teacher with a postsecondary degree in the subject fell from 83% in 2004 (the highest level recorded) to 79% in 2012 but remains higher than in the late 1980s, when the U.S. Department of Education began collecting these data. The downward trend for English since 2004 is similar to that observed in natural science and mathematics (in which 78% and 70%, respectively, of students in 2012 had a teacher with a postsecondary degree in the subject).

Endnotes

• 1Credentials of "Social Science" Teachers in Public High Schools As part of its analysis of the 2012 Schools and Staffing Survey data on public high school teachers’ qualifications, the National Center for Education Statistics examines the rates of teacher certification and subject degree-holding for “social science” teachers. This general category includes teachers with a primary assignment of social studies or a specific social science subfield/discipline, including history (just as the general category of “natural science,” included in the graph for Indicator I-a9, includes chemistry teachers, for example). A history teacher “is considered to hold an in-field major or certification in the broad field of social science if he or she holds a major or certification in any of the following fields: social studies (general), anthropology, area/ethnic studies, criminal justice, cultural studies, economics, geography, government/civics, history, international studies, law, Native American studies, political science, psychology, sociology, or other social sciences. However, this same teacher must hold a major or a certification in history to be counted as in-field in the specific subfield of history.” (Jason Hill and Chelsea Stearns, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Selected Subjects: Evidence from the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2015), B-19.) In 2012, 50% of social science teachers had a primary teaching assignment in history. As Indicator I-a9 shows, 68% of social science teachers had certification and a degree in general social science (or social studies) or one of its constituent disciplines. Only 6% lacked either a major or a certification in the field. As Indicator I-9a shows, more than a third (37%) of public high school students took history in 2012 with a teacher lacking both certification and a degree in the discipline, but only 6% of students taking social science classes were taught by a teacher lacking both credentials.