Assessment Practices of STEM Teachers

在美国国家科学基金会Noyce项目研究轨道4的资助下，马萨诸塞大学波士顿分校和波士顿公立学校之间的合作伙伴关系将在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教师的评估实践中发挥重要作用。目标是了解评估实践如何推动教师的效率。这项研究将包括58名小学、初中和高中STEM教师的参与，他们曾参加过noyce资助的项目，并一直在波士顿或附近其他高需求地区任教。该项目将比较这些noyce项目教师与来自同一地区的其他29名K-12 STEM教师在评估实践中的差异，这些教师参加了不同的培训项目。该项目旨在通过教师有效性如何与教师衡量学生的理解相关来增加对STEM教师有效性的认识。随着教师在课堂上获得更多经验，该项目将研究STEM教师在几年内衡量学生学习情况的变化。这项研究的结果将帮助我们了解STEM教师如何衡量学生的学习情况，并利用这些信息来改进教学和评分。该研究的目标是：(a)与坚持在高需求学区教学的其他STEM教师相比，增加对教师评估实践的理解，特别是对Noyce学者的理解；(b)衡量Noyce学者的评估实践与其他STEM教师相比的增长情况；(c)更好地了解教师在其评价做法改变时所面临的概念、教学、文化和政治挑战的作用。本研究采用定性与定量相结合的方法，在互动分析框架下，研究了在高需求地区坚持教学的K-12 STEM教师的四个研究问题：(1)教师目前的评估实践是什么？(2)当他们开始在高需求地区教学时，他们的评估方法有什么变化？(3)教师所面临的突出的回顾性概念、教学、文化和政治挑战如何解释他们目前的课堂形成性评估实践以及随着时间的推移在评估实践中的变化？(4)对于一直在波士顿公立学校任教的教师，评估实践如何与学生在课堂评估和地区和州标准化数学和科学考试中的表现结果相关联？通过这些问题，研究小组将检查波士顿和其他地区之间的差异，以及其他因素的影响，包括Noyce与非Noyce准备的教师，高需求地区的教学时间长度，以及学校层面的影响，如学校文化，责任评级，领导稳定性和专业发展机会。该项目将为教师评估实践和互动分析在研究这些实践中有用程度的理论做出贡献。该项目还将对教育政策产生影响，支持教师在高需求地区从事STEM教学职业时，应对教学观点、课程期望、行政政策和程序以及外部压力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Noyce Program, Research Track 4, this partnership between the University of Massachusetts Boston and Boston Public Schools will characterize growth in the assessment practices of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers. The goal is to understand how assessment practices may drive teacher effectiveness. This research study will include participation of 58 elementary, middle, and high school STEM teachers who previously participated in a Noyce-funded project and who have persisted in teaching in Boston or other nearby high-need districts. The project will compare differences in the assessment practices of these Noyce-program teachers to 29 other K-12 STEM teachers from the same area, but who participated in different training programs. The project aims to increase knowledge about STEM teacher effectiveness by how teacher effectiveness may relate to teachers measure their students' understanding. The project will examine changes in how STEM teachers measure student learning over several years, as the teachers gain more experience in the classroom. Outcomes from the research will help us understand how STEM teachers measure student learning and use that information to improve their teaching and to assign grades. The goals of the research study are to: (a) Increase understanding of teachers' assessment practices, particularly for Noyce Scholars in comparison to other STEM teachers who also persist in teaching in high-need school districts; (b) Measure growth in the assessment practices of Noyce Scholars in comparison to other STEM teachers over time; and (c) Better understand the role of the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural and political challenges teachers face as their assessment practices change. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, in an interaction analysis framework, to study four research questions about K-12 STEM teachers who have persisted in teaching in high-need districts: (1) What are the teachers' current assessment practices? (2) How have their assessment practices changed from when they began teaching in a high-need district? (3) How do salient retrospective conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political challenges negotiated by the teachers explain their current classroom formative assessment practices and changes over time in their assessment practices? and (4) For teachers who have persisted teaching in Boston Public Schools, how do assessment practices relate to student performance outcomes on classroom assessments and to district and State standardized mathematics and science exams? Across these questions, the research team will examine differences between Boston and other districts, as well as effects of other factors, including Noyce- vs. non-Noyce- prepared teachers, length of time teaching in high-need districts, and school-level influences such as school culture, accountability rating, stability of leadership, and professional development opportunities. The project will contribute to theory about teacher assessment practices and the degree to which interaction analysis is useful in studying these practices. The project will also contribute to educational policy implications for supporting teachers to navigate pedagogical perspectives, curricular expectations, administrative policies and procedures, and external pressures as they persist in STEM teaching careers in high-need districts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.