Clemson University Middle Grades Noyce Phase II Proposal

已经确定需要高素质的K-12科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教师，特别是在高需求的学校。招聘在特定STEM学科方面有很强内容背景的中级STEM教师可能特别具有挑战性。在国家科学基金会罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划的资助下，在南卡罗来纳州高需求学区教学的准备和指导中学STEM教育者项目正在从STEM领域招聘职业改革者，并为他们成为中等STEM教师做准备。该项目将在4年内资助40个奖学金名额。在这个项目中，克莱姆森大学与格林维尔县公立学校合作。获奖者将参加一个教学艺术硕士(MAT)计划，其中包括中学教育的初步教师认证。诺伊斯奖学金将扩大STEM转行者完成MAT计划的机会，从而增加该州中等STEM教师的数量。该项目将通过分析克莱姆森中学MAT计划16年来的数据来调查诺伊斯计划的影响，该计划已招收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)教师效能感和其他个人特征是如何影响STEM教师的教师保持和成功的？(2)STEM转业者与直接从本科毕业的STEM专业的学生是否具有不同的特征？(3)Noyce学者和非Noyce学者的学生的表现如何比较？(4)STEM专业的学生和非STEM专业的学生的表现如何比较？目标是确定成功的STEM教师的特点，并确定STEM背景在多大程度上加强了中等年级教师的影响。

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.