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

“通过推进以教师为中心的STEM专业学习，提高农村社区STEM小学教师的留任率和有效性”项目旨在通过为教师提供包括四个主要组成部分的专业学习（PL）计划，满足国家对提高高需求学区K-12 STEM教师留任率和有效性的需求：(a)教师确定的PL需求和目标，(b)基于能力的在线微证书，(c)微证书指导支持，以及(d)教师的成就补偿和认可。有必要为K-12 STEM教师提供PL，以改善教学并使他们留在课堂上。该项目通过为STEM教师提供决定专注于哪些教学技能的自主权，以及确定何时何地完成PL的灵活性来满足这一需求。PL的个性化加上教练支持，将教师视为专业人士，能够指导他们的专业成长。这种干预所提供的自主性、灵活性和认可度旨在以一种能够为教师和他们所服务的学生带来积极成果的方式支持教师。阿巴拉契亚州立大学（Appalachian State University）与北卡罗来纳州立大学（NCSU）和北卡罗来纳州阿什县学校（Ashe County Schools）合作开展的Noyce Track 4项目旨在研究和测试一种新模式，通过为教师提供专业的PL课程，促进高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的保留和效率。该PL的四个主要组成部分包括：(a)教师确定的需求评估和学习合同，(b)基于能力的在线微证书，(c)对教师的微证书指导支持，以及(d)对教师成就的补偿和认可。这种专业学习主动性的关键是教师个性化专业学习的自主权，再加上辅导支持和其他多样性、公平性和包容性实践。第一阶段侧重于选择以stem为重点的微证书，以创建专业学习经验库。第二阶段测试使用STEM微证书的专业学习模式对教师留任和有效性的影响。这种独特的专业学习模式将教师维持其教学执照证书的货币从基于时间的模式转变为基于能力的模式。该项目有可能支持教师在STEM领域的优先事项、目标和兴趣，并通过专业成长提高教师的能力。本Track 4: Noyce研究项目由Robert Noyce教师奖学金计划（Noyce）支持。Noyce计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人士成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富的模范K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM大师教师。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的有效性和留任率的研究。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。

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.