UK is stepping up to a national challenge to multiply the number of math and science teachers.

Earlier this month, UK President Lee Todd traveled to Washington D.C. to deliver a letter to President Barack Obama addressing the shortage of secondary education math and science teachers. Todd pledged for Kentucky to be a role model for the rest of the nation to further the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Coalition.

Secondary mathematics education chairwoman Margaret Schroeder said UK is taking the initiative to increase funding for education programs. She hopes this pledge will improve the quality and quantity of math and science teachers.

“This year, we had an increase of 10 percent enrollment in mathematics and 400 percent enrollment in science,” Schroeder said. “The numbers for next year look even more promising, with possible increases in mathematics of 60 percent or more and science improving by as much as 50 percent.”

Schroeder isn’t the only one who has high hopes for change in UK’s program. Education major David Little said he believed UK’s education program is in need of change.

“What has always been the case is that education changes every year because the needs and strengths of our youth change every year,” Little said. “This state of change in the real-world arena of teaching will undoubtedly always be reflected in the modification of current educational theory.”

However, curriculum changes and increased funding won’t solve this issue if the number of students wanting to teach math and science is scarce, Little said. Economically, teaching isn’t the most appealing future for most college students.

“The best and the brightest individuals from STEM fields tend to look for employment outside of education for economic reasons, as well as fewer demands and responsibilities tied to other jobs,” Little said. “While it is nationally recognized that teaching and education are extremely important in this country … very little is being done to entice highly qualified individuals into the field.”

Kentucky’s plan of action began with an undergraduate program that was recently introduced to allow students to get their teaching certificate in one year. This would increase the number of students going straight into teaching and also allow those who can’t afford further schooling to become qualified teachers, Schroeder said.

“It is an excellent program, particularly for career changers and those graduating with non-education content BA’s, because the program is designed to take only one calendar year,” Schroeder said. “For the past five years, we have had 99.9 percent job placement rate in the Master’s programs for our graduates and that’s a testament to our quality all by itself.”

Little said the goal of the pledge is easy to recognize, but not so easy to attain.

“The solution to this is simple in theory but hard in practice; we must work towards making education as attractive an employment option as everything else that’s within the reach of STEM majors,” Little said.