Cultivating a High-Quality and Committed Rural STEM Teacher Workforce in Illinois

在伊利诺伊州培养高素质、忠诚的农村 STEM 教师队伍

• 批准号: 2344942
• 负责人: Molly Gordon
• 金额: $ 99.98万
• 依托单位: National Opinion Research Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2344942&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Cultivating; Quality; Committed; Rural; STEM

The project aims to serve the national need to retain high-quality science and mathematics teachers (SMTs) in rural high-need schools. It is likely that SMT shortages will continue to be a problem in the foreseeable future due to limited interest in teaching as a career and the lingering impacts of COVID-19. One in five students across the country attends a rural school; therefore, addressing the rural teacher shortage is important to provide educational access for these students. Although the impact of high-quality science and mathematics teaching on student learning is well documented, and retaining high-quality teachers is critical for improving student outcomes, less is known about how to support effective teacher retention in rural schools. Improvements in teachers’ working conditions, including strong and supportive school leadership, collaborative colleagues, positive school cultures, parent and community connections, and ambitious instruction, can have a large positive impact on teaching effectiveness, student learning, and teacher retention. Given the dearth of research at scale on rural teacher retention, this project seeks to understand how rural district and school leaders can create positive working conditions and connections with the community, thus leading to greater retention of effective SMTs. This project at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago includes partnerships with the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative and the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools. Project goals include the identification of factors associated with SMT retention in rural schools, with a focus on working conditions in rural districts that lead to higher rates of retention of effective SMTs. Drawing on ecological systems theory and a place-conscious education framework, the project will consider both school-based and community-based factors that influence teacher working conditions and thus recruitment and retention trends in rural schools in the state of Illinois. This mixed methods study will address the following research questions: (1) What are the organizational and community characteristics that are associated with rural SMT retention and effectiveness? (2) What school and district policies, strategies, and practices contribute to rural SMT retention and effectiveness? The project team will collect and analyze data from several sources: teacher retention and vacancy rates; school climate and teacher surveys; interviews with school and district leaders, science and math teachers, and community members; and observations of science and math teaching in five “bright spot” rural districts. Findings from the study will generate insights into the role of school-, district-, and community-level factors in effective rural teacher retention. The project will also seek to contribute insights into how rural district investments toward cultivating effective and committed rural teachers may help support rural students’ interest in pursuing careers in STEM and STEM education. 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.

该项目旨在满足民族需求，以保留艰难的高等教育中的高质量科学和数学教师（SMT）。由于对教学作为职业的兴趣有限以及Covid-19的挥之不去的影响，因此SMT短缺可能会继续成为一个问题。全国五分之一的学生就读于一所乡村学校。因此，解决农村教师短缺对于为这些学生提供教育访问很重要。尽管高质量的科学和数学教学对学生学习的影响已经有充分的文献记录，而保留高质量的教师对于改善学生的成绩至关重要，但对如何支持农村学校有效保留的有效教师保留率的了解较少。教师工作条件的改善，包括强大而支持的学校领导，协作同事，积极的学校文化，父母和社区联系以及雄心勃勃的教学，可以对教学效能，学生学习和教师保留产生重大积极影响。鉴于对粗略教学保留的研究大规模研究的死亡，该项目旨在了解农村地区和学校领导人如何建立积极的工作条件和与社区的联系，从而导致更大的有效SMT保留。该项目在芝加哥大学的国家舆论研究中心（NORC）中包括与伊利诺伊州劳动力和教育研究合作伙伴和伊利诺伊州学校总监协会的合作伙伴关系。项目目标包括确定与农村学校中SMT保留率有关的因素，重点是农村地区的工作条件，从而导致有效SMT的保留率更高。该项目借鉴了生态系统理论和注重景点的教育框架，将考虑影响教师工作条件的学校和社区因素，从而在伊利诺伊州的农村学校招募和保留趋势。这项混合方法研究将解决以下研究问题：（1）与粗糙的SMT保留和有效性相关的组织和社区特征是什么？ （2）哪些学校和地区政策，策略和实践有助于粗略的SMT保留和有效性？项目团队将从多个来源收集和分析数据：教师保留和空缺率；学校气氛和老师调查；对学校和地区领袖，科学和数学教师以及社区成员的访谈；以及在五个“亮点”农村地区对科学和数学教学的观察。该研究的发现将对有效的农村教师保留中的学校，地区和社区级别的因素的作用产生见解。该项目还将寻求对农村地区投资如何培养有效和坚定的粗糙教师的洞察力，这可能有助于支持农村学生对从事STEM和STEM教育的职业的兴趣。该曲目4：Noyce研究项目得到了Robert Noyce教师奖学金计划（NOYCE）的支持。 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老师，并经验丰富的K-12老师，成为高需求学区的STEM大师教师。它还支持有关K-12 STEM教师在高需求学区的有效性和保留的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估，被认为是珍贵的支持。