My name is Bruce Davidson and I am currently a Science Specialist in Newport News Public Schools. I currently work with mentoring new science teachers, science curriculum, professional development, and support for physics teachers. I have over 40 years of experience with K -12 education and taught physics at Warwick High School, Newport News, VA. I have past experience with CTE teaching in Newport News, STEM programs, and I have mentored math teachers as well as science teachers.

I strongly support 8VAC20-23-330 and believe that these changes are needed if we are serious about an education curriculum in high school, with high standards, to prepare our students for university level engineering schools.

As a physics teacher, I strived to give my students exposure to the field of Engineering and took numerous college trips to Engineering programs at Old Dominion, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. I had a large number of students go into engineering as a career. I also saw former students struggle on the university level because their preparation in high school did not meet the needs of university engineering course work.

I believe that a “highly qualified” teacher for a true engineer course should have an instructor with an engineering background with at least 12 hours in engineering courses from an accredited college or university.  This is currently the case with physics and chemistry.

I have worked with career switchers programs and have witnessed the expertise that former scientist have brought into the high school classroom. Why is this same process not available for Engineers? I have worked with former engineers that wished to teach engineering in high school, but were not willing to go the CTE route with its technology education endorsement

This engineering endorsement is necessary to support an engineering curriculum in the K-12 curriculum. It also provides a teaching resource, currently unavailable, for engineers who wish to switch careers.