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Teachers are more likely to rely on self-created and non-curriculum materials in science than in math or ELA

• Sixty percent of teachers classified a non-curriculum material as a main material in science, compared with 50 percent of teachers for math and 52 percent of teachers for ELA.
• Thirty percent of science teachers indicated that self-created curriculum materials were among their main materials — the same percentage as ELA teachers but a significantly higher percentage than math teachers (16 percent).

Teachers are less likely to report that principals provide feedback on science curricula and know which science curricula are standards-aligned

• Although 74 percent and 70 percent of teachers agreed that their principal provided feedback on how well they use their math and ELA curricula, respectively, only 58 percent of teachers indicated the same with regard to science curricula.
• The percentage of teachers agreeing that their principal understood which science curricula were aligned with state standards was at least 15 percentage points lower than the percentages of teachers agreeing that their principals understood their math or ELA curricula.

Teachers engage in science-specific professional development significantly less than ELA- and math-specific professional development

• Only 41 percent of teachers reported spending at least one day (eight hours) on science-specific professional development since the last academic year, compared with 73 percent and 66 percent of teachers for ELA- and math-specific professional development, respectively.
• Similarly, significantly more teachers reported receiving no subject-specific professional development in science (17 percent) than in ELA (4 percent) or math (6 percent).

Ambitious federal goals for preparing students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields require coordinated efforts and supports for the country's science instructors. Increased attention to the needs of science instructors and the provision of supports to address those needs are particularly important in light of documented shortages of STEM kindergarten through 12th grade (K–12) teachers across several states.

In this Data Note, researchers use nationally representative survey data of K–12 teachers from the 2020 American Instructional Resources Survey to examine how teachers' science instruction is supported and whether these supports differ from those that teachers report for English language arts (ELA) and math instruction.

Researchers found marked differences in teachers' reports of instructional supports as they relate to the science instructional environment relative to teachers' reports on instructional environments in ELA and math. These differences suggest that access to formal materials, feedback, and support is lacking for science instruction relative to instruction in ELA and math.

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