According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2014), the overall percentage of male teachers dropped from 29.5 percent during the 1987-1988 school year to a low of 23.7 percent during the 2011-2012 school year. While the overall number of teachers increased from 2.3 million in 1987 to 3.4 million in 2011, the number of male teachers slightly increased from 685,000 to 802,000. Interestingly, the percentage of science teachers increased from the low 4.9 percent of the teachers in 1987 to the 6.2 percent in 2011-2012 school year. In real numbers, the number of science teachers increased from 115, 000 in 1987 to 209,000 in 2011.
References
2014, Digest of Education Statistics 2013, Table 209.10. Number and percentage distribution of teachers in public and private elementary and secondary schools, by selected teacher characteristics: Selected years, 1987-88 through 2011-12
National Center for Education Statistics. (2014). Fast facts, teacher trends. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2013). Digest of Education Statistics, 2012 (NCES 2014-015), Introduction and Chapter 2 .