Investigating the Relationship between Social Interaction, Teacher Identity, and Commitment to Teaching in High-Need Urban Schools

留住教师是改善STEM教育面临的最大挑战之一。在所有年级和学科中，研究表明，近50%的新教师在前五年离开教师行业，中学STEM教师也不例外。 圣约瑟夫大学（SJU）第二阶段诺伊斯奖学金监测和评估项目将探讨影响中学STEM教师保留的因素。教师流动率高是许多高需求学校的一个事实，了解教师如何决定去留可能有助于制定解决这个问题的办法。这项研究将更好地了解身份发展的过程及其与决定留下或离开高需求STEM教室的关系。这反过来又可以用于通知本科教师准备计划和同伴努力，以支持教师在他们的早期教学，从而最终对教师保留产生积极的影响。研究表明，在高需求学校作为STEM教师的强烈身份将与继续的决定相关，这笔赠款将支持对诺伊斯学者构建过程的严格调查，或者无法构建这些身份 该项目将开始与八个SJU诺伊斯学者已经在费城市的公立，特许和私立学校就业。更多的学者将在这个项目开始时开始教学，还有几个人仍在他们的职前（本科）计划。他们的诺伊斯奖学金授权的教学承诺将开始在未来三年内得到满足，SJU寻求更好地了解他们为什么选择继续或不继续在他们的立场超越这一承诺的动机。研究活动将包括定期的课堂访问和广泛的一对一的采访与SJU诺伊斯学者。 诺伊斯学者还将保持期刊，并将确定与教师是否留下或离开相关的共同主题。这些调查结果将反过来通知SJU教师准备计划和早期职业生涯的专业支持工作。

Teacher retention is one of the biggest challenges facing the improvement of STEM education. Across all grade levels and disciplines, studies show that almost 50% of new teachers leave the profession in the first five years and secondary STEM teachers are not an exception. The Phase II Noyce Scholarship Monitoring and Evaluation project at Saint Joseph's University (SJU) will explore the factors that influence secondary STEM teacher retention. High teacher turnover is a fact in many high-need schools and understanding how teachers make the decision to stay or leave may help develop solutions to this problem. This research will provide a better understanding of the process of identity development and its relationship to the decision to stay or leave a high-need STEM classroom. This in turn can be used to inform undergraduate teacher preparation programs and companion efforts to support teachers in their early years of teaching, thus ultimately having a positive impact on teacher retention.Research suggests that a strong identity as a STEM teacher in a high-need school will be correlated with a decision to continue and this grant would support a rigorous investigation of the process by which the Noyce Scholars construct, or fail to construct, these identities. This project will begin with eight SJU Noyce Scholars already employed in public, charter and private schools in the city of Philadelphia. More scholars will start teaching at the beginning of this project and several more are still in their pre-service (undergraduate) program. The teaching commitments mandated by their Noyce Scholarships will begin to be satisfied during the next three years and SJU seeks a better understanding of the motivation of why they choose to continue or not to continue in their positions beyond this commitment. Research activities will include regular classroom visits and extensive one-on-one interviews with the SJU Noyce Scholars. The Noyce Scholars will also keep journals, and common themes will be identified that are associated with whether teachers remain or leave. These findings will in turn inform SJU teacher preparation programs and early career professional support efforts.