Clemson University Middle Grades Noyce Phase II Proposal

对高素质 K-12 科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 教师的需求已经确定，尤其是在高需求学校。招募在特定 STEM 学科方面拥有丰富内容背景的中年级 STEM 教师尤其具有挑战性。在美国国家科学基金会罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划的资助下，“准备和指导中年级 STEM 教育工作者在南卡罗来纳州高需求学区任教”项目正在招募 STEM 领域的职业转变者，并帮助他们做好成为中年级 STEM 教师的准备。该项目将在 4 年内资助 40 项奖学金。在这个项目中，克莱姆森大学与格林维尔县公立学校合作。获奖者将参加教学文学硕士 (MAT) 课程，其中包括初中初中教育教师认证。诺伊斯奖学金将为 STEM 职业转换者提供完成 MAT 项目的机会，从而扩大该州中年级 STEM 教师的数量。该项目将通过分析克莱姆森中学 MAT 项目 16 年的数据来调查诺伊斯项目的影响，该项目已招收 250 多人，其中 86 人已经或将成为诺伊斯学者。研究问题包括：（1）教师效能和其他个人特征如何影响 STEM 教师的保留率和成功？ （2）STEM转行者与直接从本科专业毕业的STEM专业人士是否具有不同的特征？ （3）诺伊斯学者学生和非诺伊斯学者学生的表现如何比较？ （4）STEM专业和非STEM专业学生的表现如何比较？目标是确定成功的 STEM 教师的特征，并确定 STEM 背景在多大程度上增强了中年级教师的影响力。

There is an established need for highly qualified K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers, especially in high-need schools. It can be particularly challenging to recruit middle grades STEM teachers who have a strong content background in a specific STEM discipline. With funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, the Preparing and Mentoring Middle Grades STEM Educators to Teach in High-Need South Carolina School Districts project is recruiting career changers from STEM fields and preparing them to become middle grades STEM teachers. The project is funding 40 scholarships over 4 years. In this project, Clemson University is collaborating with Greenville County Public Schools. Recipients will be enrolled in a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program that includes initial teacher certification for Middle Grades Education. The Noyce Scholarships will expand opportunities for STEM career changers to complete the MAT program and hence also expand the number of middle grades STEM teachers in the state.The project will investigate the impact of the Noyce Program by analyzing 16 years of data from the Clemson MAT in middle grades program, which has enrolled more than 250 individuals, 86 of whom have been or will be Noyce Scholars. Research questions include: (1) How do teacher efficacy and other personal characteristic affect teacher retention and success among STEM instructors? (2) Do STEM career changers possess different characteristics than STEM majors who come directly out of undergraduate majors? (3) How does the performance of the students of Noyce Scholars and non-Noyce-Scholars compare? (4) How does the performance of the students of STEM majors and non-STEM majors compare? The goal is to identify characteristics of successful STEM teachers and to determine the extent to which a STEM background strengthens the impact of a middle grades teacher.