Collaborative Research: Examining the Role of Compensation and Other Factors for Retention of Teachers in High-need Schools

合作研究：考察补偿和其他因素对高需求学校教师保留的作用

• 批准号: 2050559
• 负责人: Douglas Cost
• 金额: $ 10.99万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050559&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Examining; Role; Compensation

This project aims to serve the national need of retaining effective STEM teachers in high-need schools. The research team seeks to understand what induces STEM teachers to continue to serve in high-need schools, particularly how compensation affects their decision to stay. School districts often use compensation packages (including salary and benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, and leave days) to attract teachers into different jobs. However, when teachers make decisions about whether to stay in a job, they take other considerations into account, including working conditions. Using statewide Alaska employment information, this project will mathematically determine what compensation measures, working conditions, and other factors most strongly influence teacher decisions to stay or go. The project will then do case studies to highlight examples of high-need schools that have improved compensation and working conditions to retain STEM teachers longer than predicted. This information may help to inform policy at the state and school district levels by helping school leaders and lawmakers design compensation systems that are more effective in promoting teacher retention.This project at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska Fairbanks applies Bandura’s theory of reciprocal determinism to a mixed-methods research design exploring two overarching research questions: (1) How does compensation encourage STEM teachers to stay in high-need schools, and (2) What other factors influence STEM teacher retention? The project will use statistical models of teacher job changes to describe the extent to which measurable characteristics of teachers, school assignments, students, districts, and communities affect retention, and how trade-offs between salary and working conditions influence teacher choices. Individual and comparative qualitative case studies of high-need schools with better-than-predicted STEM teacher retention will identify key determinants of teacher decisions to stay in high-retention schools. The research directly addresses known gaps in the literature around (1) the relative contribution of working conditions and compensation as factors in STEM teacher retention, (2) the degree to which options for STEM educators to move between classroom teaching and non-teaching jobs, including in the private sector, affect retention, and (3) how high-need schools that retain STEM educators are able to do so. The wide variation in Alaska’s compensation systems and community characteristics will facilitate broadly generalizable analyses, which will have potential to provide practical recommendations to schools and districts, as well as to influence policy in structuring teacher compensation. This Track 4: Noyce Research project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school 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.

该项目旨在满足国家需要，在高需求学校留住有效的STEM教师。研究小组试图了解是什么促使STEM教师继续在高需求学校服务，特别是薪酬如何影响他们留下来的决定。学区经常使用薪酬方案(包括工资和福利，如医疗保险、退休计划和休假天数)来吸引教师从事不同的工作。然而，当教师决定是否留在一份工作时，他们会考虑其他因素，包括工作条件。利用阿拉斯加全州的就业信息，该项目将从数学上确定哪些薪酬措施、工作条件和其他因素对教师的去留决定影响最大。然后，该项目将进行案例研究，突出高需求学校的例子，这些学校改善了薪酬和工作条件，以留住STEM教师的时间比预期的要长。通过帮助学校领导和立法者设计更有效地促进教师留任的薪酬制度，这些信息可能有助于为州和学区层面的政策提供信息。阿拉斯加大学安克雷奇大学和阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯大学的这一项目将班杜拉的互惠决定论应用到混合方法研究设计中，探索两个最主要的研究问题：(1)薪酬如何鼓励STEM教师留在高需求学校，以及(2)其他哪些因素影响STEM教师留任？该项目将使用教师工作变化的统计模型来描述教师、学校作业、学生、学区和社区的可测量特征对留任的影响程度，以及工资和工作条件之间的权衡如何影响教师的选择。对STEM教师保留率好于预期的高需求学校进行个别和比较定性的案例研究，将确定教师决定留在高保留率学校的关键决定因素。这项研究直接解决了以下方面的文献中的已知空白：(1)工作条件和薪酬作为STEM教师留住因素的相对贡献，(2)STEM教育工作者在课堂教学和非教学工作之间的选择对留住STEM教师的影响程度，以及(3)留住STEM教师的高需求学校如何能够做到这一点。阿拉斯加薪酬制度和社区特征的巨大差异将有助于进行概括性的分析，这将有可能向学校和地区提供切实可行的建议，并影响教师薪酬结构的政策。这个Track 4：Noyce研究项目是由Robert Noyce教师奖学金计划(Noyce)支持的。Noyce计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人员成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富、模范的K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM硕士教师。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的持久性、保留率和有效性的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。