PhysTEC: Building a Solution to the National Physics Teacher Shortage

教育和激励未来技术劳动力所必需的合格STEM教师严重短缺，损害了我们国家的经济竞争力和科学技术领导地位。物理学的情况尤其令人担忧：只有不到一半的高中物理教室是由拥有物理学学位的教师领导的，而物理学是K-12新教师的头号短缺领域。物理教师教育联盟（PhysTEC）的项目愿景是，每个学生都有机会从高素质的教师那里学习物理，从而使美国能够满足对STEM专业人员的高需求。自2001年以来，在美国物理学会（APS）和美国物理教师协会（AAPT）的领导下，physstec一直致力于让物理系参与建立必要的教育基础设施，以解决全国物理教师短缺的问题。该项目制定了40多个教师培训示范项目，使高素质物理教师的培养增加了一倍以上，这些新教师的保留率很高。这些物理技术研究中心在资助期后继续开展项目方面也取得了相当大的成功。为了传播有效的做法和知识，该项目建立了一个由300多个成员机构组成的全国联盟；这些机构总共培养了全国一半以上的高素质物理教师。基于物理界的广泛参与，以及从许多成功项目中获得的知识和经验，physstec将追求三个相互关联的目标，以解决全国物理教师短缺的问题。该项目将：(1)直接与数十个机构合作，培养更多的高素质物理教师；(2)测试吸引物理系参与的“杠杆”的有效性，以实现可扩展变革倡议的发展；(3)验证一个蓬勃发展的项目模式，培养大量高素质物理教师。physstec将开发“下一代physstec网站，为物理教师的培养提供改进的模式，包括建立蓬勃发展的项目，每年培养5名或更多物理教师的综合网站，以及为小型机构开发适当规模模型的招聘网站。”该项目还将探索以更低成本直接吸引更多机构的创新模式，并提供易于扩展的解决方案。改善国家基础设施，培养更多的高素质物理教师，将有助于确保每年全国成千上万的K-12学生获得卓越的物理教育，成千上万的大学生，包括未来的教师，将从物理中心网站的转变课程中受益。此外，PhysTEC还将通过会议、研讨会、出版物、在线交流和网站，向全国广大受众，包括美国教师协会和美国教师协会的6万名会员，传播有关教师培训的知识。此外，该项目将与学科专业协会和其他组织合作，提供物理技术中心作为解决其他STEM领域教师短缺问题的范例。该项目将从以前的努力中获得的知识与制度变革理论相结合，为变革计划提供复杂的系统方法。一项全面的评估计划将调查物理计划在吸引物理系、发展变革能力和改进物理教师准备方面的有效性；形成性评价将指导对物理技术计划的改进。参与机构将采用以研究为基础的实践，包括教学实践，以提高学生的学习和发展物理教学的知识和技能。同行评议的出版物将增加STEM教师准备的知识库。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会数学和物理科学理事会物理部和美国国家科学基金会罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金项目资助。

A severe shortage of qualified STEM teachers, necessary to educate and inspire the future technical workforce, undermines our nation's economic competitiveness and its scientific and technological leadership. The situation in physics is particularly alarming: fewer than half of all high school physics classrooms are led by a teacher with a degree in physics, and physics is the number one shortage area for new K-12 teachers. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) project vision is that every student will have the opportunity to learn physics from a highly qualified teacher, thus enabling the U.S. to meet the high demand for STEM professionals. Since 2001, PhysTEC, led by the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), has been working to engage physics departments in establishing the educational infrastructure needed to address the national physics teacher shortage. The project developed over 40 model teacher preparation programs that more than doubled their production of highly qualified physics teachers, and these new teachers have high retention rates. These PhysTEC Sites also demonstrated considerable success in sustaining their programs beyond their funded period. To disseminate effective practices and knowledge, the project established a national coalition of more than 300 Member Institutions; these institutions collectively prepare over half of the nation's highly qualified physics teachers. Building on this widespread engagement of the physics community and project knowledge and experience from many successful programs, PhysTEC will pursue three interrelated goals toward building a solution to the national physics teacher shortage. The project will: (1) directly engage dozens of institutions to prepare greater numbers of highly qualified physics teachers, (2) test the effectiveness of "levers" for engaging physics departments to enable the development of scalable change initiatives, and (3) validate a model for thriving programs that prepare large numbers of highly qualified physics teachers. PhysTEC will develop "next generation PhysTEC Sites that offer improved models for physics teacher preparation, including Comprehensive Sites that establish thriving programs to prepare 5 or more physics teachers per year, and Recruiting Sites to develop an appropriately scaled model for smaller institutions. The project will also explore innovative modalities for directly engaging larger numbers of institutions at lower cost and offer readily scalable solutions. Improving the national infrastructure for preparing greater numbers of highly qualified physics teachers will help ensure excellence in physics education for tens of thousands of K-12 students across the nation each year, and thousands of college students including future teachers will benefit from transformed courses at PhysTEC Sites. In addition, PhysTEC will disseminate knowledge on teacher preparation to a broad national audience, including the 60,000 combined members of APS and AAPT, through conferences, workshops, publications, online communications, and a website. Further, the project will engage with disciplinary professional societies and other organizations to offer PhysTEC as a paradigm to address teacher shortages in other STEM fields.This project integrates knowledge gained from previous efforts with theories of institutional change to inform a complex, systems approach to change initiatives. A comprehensive evaluation plan will investigate the effectiveness of PhysTEC initiatives to engage physics departments, develop capacity for change, and improve physics teacher preparation; formative evaluation will guide improvements to PhysTEC initiatives. Participating institutions will adopt research-based practices, including instructional practices shown to increase student learning and develop knowledge and skills for teaching physics. Peer-reviewed publications will add to the knowledge base for STEM teacher preparation. This award is funded by the Division of Physics within the NSF Mathematics and Physical Sciences Directorate and by NSF's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program.