I am Steven   and I am currently an Engineering teacher in a suburb of RIchmond. I had worked for AT&T, Lucent and other manufacturing companies over my 17 yr. career after earning an Engineering Degree from VT.  I switched careers about 13 years ago.  I have been amazed at the lack of understanding that the public high school administration actually have concerning the engineering profession.  

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.  Engineering at the University level is rigorrous and competitive.

I am very lucky as the 2 schools where I have taught were Engineering Specialty Centers - and we had multiple engineers on staff.   It is possible to attract Engineering graduates that enjoy teaching.  Virginia Tech has implemented degreed program for teaching for Engineers.  Check out Engineering Education at VT.

For example, we expect that Science, Math and Spanish teachers (to name a few) all have degrees in their respective specialties – should we expect the same from Engineering?  Many of our leaders have stated that there is a critical need for engineers and that engineer are needed for a successful economic future.   

I believe that a “highly qualified” teacher for a true engineering course should be an instructor with an engineering degree or a STEM degree with at least 12 hours in engineering courses from an accredited college or university.  This is currently the case with math, physics and chemistry – other STEM curriculum.  Engineering should be no different and with better educated instructors - better education for the students will result.