Collaborative Research: A Study of the Impact of Pre-Service Teacher Research Experience on Effectiveness, Persistence, and Retention

对于未来的K-12科学和数学教师，在他们的职前教育计划中，真正的研究机会是相对较新的STEM教育要素。这项第四轨道诺伊斯研究将调查这种方法如何影响教师的有效性、坚持性和留任力。该项目将比较一组作为教师培训一部分参与STEM研究的教师(教师-研究人员)和一组做过类似准备但研究背景有限的教师。参与这项研究的教师和研究人员中，大约有一半也是诺伊斯学者，他们致力于在高需求的环境中教学。这项研究的发现可能会通过展示研究经验对职前教师的影响来改善STEM教育和教育者的发展。研究结果还将为涉及学术界、工业界和联邦机构的研究伙伴关系提供信息。最后，任何教师研究体验的终极衡量标准是教师-研究者对学生的影响。这项研究将考察教师和研究人员在多大程度上有效地让学生参与科学、工程和数学实践，并为学生进入STEM职业生涯做好准备。这项准实验性比较研究中的治疗组将涉及303名个人(包括175名诺伊斯学者)，他们在2010-2014年间与国家研究实验室合作，参加了一项为期一至三年的职前教师-研究人员计划。这一群体将与诺伊斯学者和其他申请但没有参与研究的教师候选人进行比较。该项目还将侧重于来自四所高等教育机构的159名治疗小组参与者(包括51名诺伊斯学者)。这一小样本将与相同机构准备的其他诺伊斯学者和教师候选人进行比较，但研究经验有限。为了衡量对持久力和保持能力的影响，这项研究将调查治疗组和对照组的职业轨迹。受这项工作的启发，该项目将在四个高需求、治疗小组参与者人数较多的地方教育机构进行额外的数据收集，以确定其学校内匹配的对照教师。从这些选定的学区收集的其他数据将包括教师和校长/导师访谈，以及K-12学生调查和符合州级标准的学生成绩评估数据。通过控制学术和人口统计变量、教师准备以及当地学校和地区的特点，这项研究将揭示通过暑期研究丰富诺伊斯学者的经验如何影响教师的有效性、保留率和坚持性。这项研究具有很大的潜力，可以广泛和显著地促进与STEM教师培训相关的政策和实践，特别是在为未来的STEM教师提供STEM研究机会方面。

Authentic research opportunities for prospective K-12 science and mathematics teachers within their pre-service education program is a relatively recent STEM education element. This Track 4 Noyce Research study will investigate how this approach impacts teacher effectiveness, persistence, and retention. The project will compare a cohort of teachers who participated in STEM research as part of their teacher training (teacher-researchers) with a comparison group of teachers who have been similarly prepared but have limited research backgrounds. Approximately half of the teacher-researchers involved in this study were also Noyce Scholars, who have committed to teaching in high-need settings. The findings of this study may lead to improved STEM education and educator development by demonstrating the impacts of research experiences for pre-service teachers. Findings will also inform research partnerships involving academia, industry, and federal agencies. Finally, the ultimate measure of any teacher research experience is the impact on the students of the teacher-researcher. This study will examine the extent to which teacher-researchers effectively engage their students in science, engineering, and mathematical practices and prepare their students for STEM careers. The treatment group in this quasi-experimental, comparative study will involve 303 individuals (including 175 Noyce Scholars) who participated for one to three years in a pre-service teacher-researcher program in partnerships with national research laboratories from 2010-2014. This group will be compared with Noyce Scholars and other teacher candidates who applied to but did not participate in research. The project will also focus on a subset of 159 treatment-group participants (including 51 Noyce Scholars) from four higher education institutions. This subsample will be compared with other Noyce Scholars and teacher candidates prepared by the same institutions, but with limited research experience. To measure impacts on persistence and retention, the study will investigate career trajectories of the treatment and comparison groups. Informed by this work, the project will conduct additional data collection in four high-need local educational agencies with high numbers of treatment group participants to identify matched comparison teachers within their schools. Additional data collected from these selected districts will include teacher and principal/supervisor interviews along with K-12 student surveys and data from student achievement assessments aligned with state standards. Controlling for academic and demographic variables, teacher preparation, and local school and district characteristics, the study will inform how teacher effectiveness, retention, and persistence are impacted by enrichment of the Noyce Scholar experience through summer research. This study has strong potential to broadly and significantly contribute to both policy and practice associated with STEM teacher preparation, specifically with regards to providing STEM research opportunities for future STEM teachers.