Clemson University Middle Grades Noyce Phase II Proposal

对高素质的K-12科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教师的需求是既定的，尤其是在高需求的学校。招募在特定STEM学科中具有强大内容背景的中级STEM教师尤其具有挑战性。在美国国家科学基金会罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金项目的资助下，“准备和指导中年级STEM教育工作者在南卡罗来纳州高需求学区任教”项目正在从STEM领域招募职业转换者，并为他们成为中年级STEM教师做准备。该项目将在4年内提供40个奖学金。在这个项目中，克莱姆森大学与格林维尔县公立学校合作。受助人将参加教学硕士（MAT）课程，包括初中生教育教师证书。Noyce奖学金将扩大STEM职业转行者完成MAT项目的机会，从而扩大该州中年级STEM教师的数量。该项目将通过分析克莱姆森MAT中学项目16年来的数据来调查诺伊斯项目的影响，该项目已经招收了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如何影响STEM教师的留任和成功？(2) STEM转行者与直接从本科专业毕业的STEM专业学生相比，是否具有不同的特征？(3)诺伊斯奖学金学生和非诺伊斯奖学金学生的表现如何比较？(4) STEM专业学生与非STEM专业学生的成绩比较如何？目标是确定成功的STEM教师的特征，并确定STEM背景在多大程度上增强了中年级教师的影响力。

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.