Gaining Retention and Effectiveness though Advancing Teacher-Centered STEM Professional Learning for STEM Elementary Teachers in Rural Communities

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The Gaining Retention and Effectiveness though Advancing Teacher-Centered STEM Professional Learning for STEM Elementary Teachers in Rural Communities project aims to serve the national need of improving retention and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts by providing teachers with a professional learning (PL) program that includes four main components: (a) teacher-identified PL needs and goals, (b) competency-based, online micro-credentials, (c) micro-credential coaching support, and (d) teacher compensation and recognition for their achievements. There is a need to provide K-12 STEM teachers with PL that can improve instruction and retain them in classrooms. This project addresses this need by providing STEM teachers the autonomy to decide which pedagogical skills to focus and the flexibility to determine when and where to complete the PL. The personalization in PL, coupled with coaching support, recognizes teachers as professionals, capable of directing their professional growth. The autonomy, flexibility, and recognition afforded by this intervention aims to support teachers in a way that could have positive outcomes for teachers and the students that they serve. This Noyce Track 4 project at Appalachian State University (Appalachian) in partnership with North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Ashe County Schools in North Carolina is positioned to research and test a new model to promote the retention and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts by providing teachers a professional PL program. The four main components of this PL include: (a) teacher-identified needs assessments and learning contracts, (b) competency-based, online micro-credentials, (c) micro-credential coaching support for teachers, and (d) teacher compensation and recognition for their achievements. Key to this professional learning initiative is the autonomy for teachers to personalize professional learning coupled with coaching support and other diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Phase I focuses on the selection of STEM-focused micro-credentials to create a repository of professional learning experiences. Phase II tests the impacts of a professional learning model that uses STEM micro-credentials on teacher retention and effectiveness. This unique model of professional learning shifts the currency by which teachers maintain their teaching license credentials from a time-based to a competency-based model. This project has the potential to support teachers’ priorities, goals, and interests in STEM and enhance teachers’ competencies through professional growth. 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 effectiveness and retention 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.