New Report/Data From ACT: Interest in Becoming a Teacher Continues to Decline Among U.S. High School Graduates

From ACT:

Interest in education careers continues to decline at an alarming rate among US high school graduates, according to a new report from ACT.
The Condition of Future Educators 2015 reveals that only 4% of the more than 1.9 million 2015 ACT®-tested US high school graduates said they intended to pursue a career in education—as either a teacher, counselor, or administrator. This is down from 5% in 2014 and down from 7% in 2010.
Interest in education careers continues to decline at an alarming rate among US high school graduates, according to a new report from ACT.
The Condition of Future Educators 2015 reveals that only 4% of the more than 1.9 million 2015 ACT-tested US high school graduates said they intended to pursue a career in education—as either a teacher, counselor, or administrator.
This is down from 5% in 2014 and down from 7% in 2010.
Among the findings:

• Lack of Diversity: Findings point to a lack of diversity among students interested in education. Just 23% of aspiring educators are African American or Hispanic, while students in those two groups comprise 31% of all ACT-tested graduates

• Males Show Less Interest: The report suggests males are much less likely than females to be interested in becoming teachers. Less than one-fourth of graduates who aspire to a career in education are male. In addition, fewer than 10% of male aspiring educators are interested in early childhood and elementary education.

• STEM Interest: Not only are fewer students interested in becoming educators, but those who are interested have lower-than-average achievement levels, particularly in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) areas. The percentages of aspiring educators who meet the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks are lower than the national average in math, science, and reading.

Direct to Full Text Report (16 pages; PDF)
Another Recently Released Report from ACT:
The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2015: Hispanic Students

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