Hi Bob,
I have just read your blog regarding a deficiency of quality STEM Teachers and I must say that it mirrors what is happening in Australia. Here there is a mining boom and people can walk into careers in mining with on site training and get paid 2 to 3 times as much as a Teacher. It makes teaching a less attractive career option, causing quality teachers to leave the profession. Unfortunatley pay over-powers passion (most of the time).
I am just about to purchase Reading a-z site licences for our school and look forward to using this great resource! I know our Teachers here are very motivated about it.

I have the feeling that it is very difficult to compare the United States to the countries you have mentioned. This involves the fact that all of these countries are small and, generally, homogeneous societies. They also have very strong central government influence on the country's education. This I can definitely state as a fact for Japan. I liveded in Japan for more than 25 years and my daughter went through the education system. I don't think that teachers make that much money in Japan, rather, I believe that they used to have a very high level of respect from the general public. This is no longer true and the number of people wanting to become teahcers has greatly declined within the past five years. I would like to find out about these other countries. As far as the U.S. is concerned, until the public recognizes the great importance of the role of teachers to our future, there will probably be little change in the situation. However, there are areas of the country that pay teachers a very competitive salary and the quality is general good because there are many well qualified potential teachers.

Although teachers will kick and scream, the answer to this mess is: secondary math, science, and technology teachers should be paid MORE than other teachers. Their level of expertise is clearly more demanding intellectually, the courses they had to pass to achieve this level within their field were much more rigorous! I'm a teacher! We have a plethora of elementary school teachers, but the profession experiences attenuation at the secondary specialized fields for a reason! You have to be more intellectual and grunt through more challenging coursework to get there! Thus, more pay is equivalent to the path those educators walked to get there!

This is a serious problem that we are faced with every school term. It is not only in United States of America but right here in Jamaica and by extension the Caribbean. Teachers of STEM should receive a favourable salary at the end of each month and any other incentives that will encourage them to stay in the education system.

I think it's time to call on retired engineers and scientists to fill in the gap. An invitation for retired folks to make additional income while contributing to their community is an incentive. At the same time, the district should have in place guidelines, staff development and other supports for the professional.