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

该项目旨在满足国家在农村高需求学校保留高质量科学和数学教师的需求。由于对教学作为职业的兴趣有限以及COVID-19的持续影响，SMT短缺在可预见的未来可能仍将是一个问题。全国五分之一的学生在农村学校上学;因此，解决农村教师短缺问题对于为这些学生提供教育机会至关重要。虽然高质量的科学和数学教学对学生学习的影响有据可查，留住高质量的教师对提高学生成绩至关重要，但对如何支持农村学校有效留住教师知之甚少。教师工作条件的改善，包括强有力和支持性的学校领导、协作的同事、积极的学校文化、家长和社区联系以及雄心勃勃的教学，可以对教学效率、学生学习和教师留任产生巨大的积极影响。鉴于缺乏关于农村教师留用的大规模研究，本项目力求了解农村地区和学校领导人如何能够创造积极的工作条件并与社区建立联系，从而更多地留用有效的SMTs。芝加哥大学国家意见研究中心（NORC）的这个项目包括与伊利诺伊州劳动力和教育研究协作组织以及伊利诺伊州地区学校校长协会的合作伙伴关系。项目目标包括确定与农村学校中的高级管理人员保留率有关的因素，重点是农村地区的工作条件，这些条件导致有效的高级管理人员保留率较高。该项目利用生态系统理论和地方意识教育框架，将考虑影响教师工作条件的学校和社区因素，从而影响伊利诺伊州农村学校的招聘和保留趋势。本混合方法研究将解决以下研究问题：（1）与农村SMT保留和有效性相关的组织和社区特征是什么？(2)什么样的学校和学区政策、战略和实践有助于农村SMT的保留和有效性？该项目小组将从以下几个来源收集和分析数据：教师保留率和空缺率;学校气氛和教师调查;与学校和地区领导、科学和数学教师以及社区成员的访谈;以及对五个“亮点”农村地区科学和数学教学的观察。研究结果将产生深入了解的作用，学校，地区和社区层面的因素在有效的农村教师保留。该项目还将寻求深入了解农村地区投资如何培养有效和忠诚的农村教师，以帮助支持农村学生追求STEM和STEM教育事业的兴趣。这个轨道4：诺伊斯研究项目是通过罗伯特诺伊斯教师奖学金计划（诺伊斯）的支持。诺伊斯计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人士成为有效的K-12 STEM教师和经验丰富的模范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的K-12 STEM教师的有效性和保留的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且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 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.