Understanding Teacher Effectiveness and Retention Among Single Subject Math Program Completers in the First Five Years of Teaching

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This project aims to serve the national need of determining factors that influence effectiveness and retention for secondary mathematics teachers in high-need school districts. The project aims to identify and describe the role of individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy factors in early-career secondary mathematics teachers’ enactment of effective mathematics teaching practices and decisions to either stay, move, or leave the profession. Data will be collected from single subject credential program (SSCP) mathematics completers in their first five years of teaching in both high-need and non-high-need school districts in California. The results of the study will be used to generate recommendations for improving and strengthening the connections between credential and induction programs and initiatives to support long-term retention and effective, inclusive, and equitable mathematics teaching practices. This three-year project at San Jose State University includes partnerships with the following seven California State University (CSU) campuses: Cal Poly Pomona; CSU East Bay; CSU Long Beach; CSU Monterey Bay; CSU Sacramento; CSU San Marcos; and Fresno State University. A central focus of the project is to uncover successful pathways that enable teacher candidates and interns to move from universities into middle and high schools and to be retained as highly effective mathematics teachers. The conceptual framework includes the complex nature of teachers' enacted practices, collective self-study of teaching practice, and a social ecological model of factors that contribute to teacher retention. Four research questions will be addressed using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. First, what is the nature and quality of SSCP math completers' professional experiences in their classrooms and work environments in the first three years of teaching, and the various supports they receive to become effective, highly qualified mathematics teachers? Second, what factors motivate those in their fourth and fifth year of teaching to persist? Third, what factors shape the decisions of those who move to a different school or leave the teaching profession within the first five years? Fourth, to what extent are teacher characteristics, school demographics, and working conditions associated with teaching effectiveness and decision to stay, move, or leave? At least 500 SSCP mathematics completers will be recruited to complete a survey with the possibility of a follow-up individual interview. 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.