Investigating Relationships between STEM Teacher Preparation, Instructional Quality, and Teacher Persistence

Noyce Track 4项目将调查STEM教师培训计划的特点如何有助于提高高需求学校初任STEM教师的教学质量和教师坚持不懈。教师在学校中的分布不均，高需求学校的教师流失率较高，学历较低的教师和经验较少的教师。由于科学和数学新标准的日益严格，以及对准备充分的STEM劳动力的需求日益增长，熟练的STEM教师比以往任何时候都更加重要。尽管教师效率随着时间的推移而提高，因为高需求学校往往拥有更多缺乏经验的教师，但当务之急是让新的STEM教师准备好提供高质量的教学，并在改进的过程中坚持在这些学校工作。这项研究的结果有可能：a)确定对培养有效、严格的STEM教师至关重要的项目特征，这些教师在高需求的环境中坚持；以及b)为学校提供具体的课程和实地经验，供它们在招聘新教师时寻找。本项目的目标是建立STEM教师培训和入职计划的特点与STEM初任教师在其教学生涯的前三年的教学质量和坚持性之间的关联。这项研究的样本包括100多名一年级教师，他们来自七个地理上分散的(加州、哥伦比亚、佛罗里达、北卡罗来纳州、新泽西州、纽约州)诺伊斯奖学金项目，他们在有高度需求的学校任教。来自科学和数学的6项任务作业和相关学生作业样本的数据将被用来评估教师的教学质量，特别是他们对学生提出的学术严谨性和明确的期望。使用线性回归和HLM，该项目将调查教师准备计划课程作业、实地经验、入职支持和教学质量之间的关系。此外，使用逻辑回归，调查人员将检查这些准备和诱导特征与教师坚持诺伊斯承诺到第三年教学的可能性之间的关系。最后，也使用逻辑回归，该项目将调查教师的教学质量是否与他们坚持诺伊斯承诺的可能性有关。关于教师准备和入职与教师教学质量之间的关系，研究文献中存在着很大的差距。这项研究旨在为这一问题贡献基于研究的知识，并就教师准备计划可以专注于计划改进努力的特定领域提供指导。该项目还将为未来的准实验研究奠定基础，该研究将重点放在准备和归纳的重要特征上。

This Noyce Track 4 project will investigate how features of STEM teacher preparation programs contribute to instructional quality and teacher persistence of beginning STEM teachers in high-need schools. Teachers are inequitably distributed across schools, where high-need schools have higher teacher turnover rates, teachers with fewer educational credentials, and teachers with less experience. Skilled STEM teachers are more important than ever because of the increased rigor of new standards in science and mathematics, and the growing need for a well-prepared STEM workforce. Although teacher effectiveness increases over time, because high-need schools tend to have more inexperienced teachers, it is imperative that new STEM teachers enter the classroom prepared to deliver quality instruction, and that they persist in those schools as they improve. Findings from this study have the potential to: a) identify program features that are essential to the production of effective, rigorous STEM teachers that persist in high-need settings; and b) provide schools with specific coursework and field experiences to look for as they hire new teachers. The goal of this project is to establish correlations between features of STEM teacher preparation and induction programs and beginning STEM teachers' instructional quality and persistence over the first three years of their teaching careers. The sample for the study consists of over 100 first year teachers prepared across seven geographically dispersed (CA, CO, FL, NC, NJ, NY) Noyce Scholarship programs who are teaching in high-need schools. Data from 6 task assignments and associated student work samples in science and mathematics will be used to assess the quality of teachers' instruction, specifically the academic rigor and clear expectations they present to their students. Using both linear regression and HLM, the project will investigate the relationships between teacher preparation program coursework, field experiences, induction supports, and quality of instruction. Additionally, using logistic regression, the investigators will examine the relationships between these features of preparation and induction and the likelihood of teachers persisting past their Noyce commitment into their third year of teaching. Finally, also using logistic regression, the project will investigate whether the quality of teachers' instruction is associated with their likelihood of persisting past their Noyce commitment. There is a substantial gap in the research literature regarding the relationships between teacher preparation and induction and the quality of teachers' instruction. This study aims to contribute research-based knowledge to this issue, as well as to provide guidance on specific areas where teacher preparation programs can focus program improvement efforts. This project will also form the foundation for future quasi-experimental research that focuses on significant features of preparation and induction.