Investigating the Impact of a District-Wide Implementation of Science Curricula on Science Teachers Effectiveness and Retention

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The project aims to serve the national need of science teacher effectiveness and retention. For over a decade, educational reform documents have highlighted important and innovative features to be incorporated into science teaching (e.g., three-dimensional science learning, prioritizing science phenomena, having cohesive science narratives, incorporating engineering). However, given the complex educational landscape, science teachers are still grappling to understand and implement these concepts into their classrooms. Additionally, administrators also struggle to assess how teachers engage and create opportunities for students in line with these features. These challenges can lead to lowered effectiveness and teacher attrition in science. This project seeks to investigate how middle grade science teachers and administrators support the uptake of an open-source curriculum and how those actions could be related to science teacher effectiveness and retention. Investigation of how a large high-needs school district and multiple levels of its administration seek to support science and STEM teachers to grow and persist using an open- access science curriculum (i.e., OpenSciEd) will occur. Researchers will work to link these ideas to teachers’ retention and movability rates within the district. These outcomes will inform research and practice on retaining highly effective science teachers within a high-needs district. Given the increased need for a science-literate society, ensuring the retention of effective science teachers benefits everyone.This project at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, includes a partnership with Clark County School District. Project goals include (a) exploring and understanding how a large high-needs district engages with and potentially shifts teachers’ practice and vision of science instruction for students through an open-access science curriculum, (b) investigating the role that administrators play when supporting teachers’ shifting science praxis, and (c) conducting research on the influence of district-wide curricular implementation on science teacher retention and effectiveness. Along with these goals, researchers will conduct a multi-phase parallel-converged mixed-methods study. This work includes three sets of research questions investigating how (1) the school district and administration support teachers to integrate their current curriculum with the open-access materials, (2) teachers engage with the materials, and (3) these factors impact teacher retention and attrition. This project will contribute to the larger academic conversation of how to provide extensive support to science teachers to encourage effectiveness and retention. Additionally, materials will be developed to help administrators assess effective science teaching. This work will be evaluated by an expert advisory board whose skill set speaks to the larger needs within STEM education (e.g., science teacher leadership and professional development, equity in science education, high-quality open-access science materials). Research derived from this work will be disseminated across academic and practitioner audiences. 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.