Investigating the Relationship between Social Interaction, Teacher Identity, and Commitment to Teaching in High-Need Urban Schools

留住教师是改善STEM教育面临的最大挑战之一。研究表明，在所有年级和学科中，近50%的新教师在前五年内离开了这个职业，中学STEM教师也不例外。圣约瑟夫大学（SJU）的第二阶段Noyce奖学金监测和评估项目将探讨影响中学STEM教师留任的因素。在许多高需求的学校里，教师的高流动率是一个事实，了解教师是如何做出留下或离开的决定可能有助于找到解决这个问题的办法。这项研究将更好地理解认同发展的过程及其与留在或离开高需求STEM课堂的决定的关系。这反过来又可以用来为本科教师准备计划和支持教师早期教学的配套工作提供信息，从而最终对教师留任产生积极影响。研究表明，作为高需求学校的STEM教师，强烈的身份认同将与继续的决定相关，这笔拨款将支持对诺伊斯学者构建或未能构建这些身份的过程进行严格的调查。该项目将从已经在费城公立、特许和私立学校工作的8名SJU Noyce学者开始。更多的学者将在项目开始时开始教学，还有一些学者仍在他们的职前（本科）项目中。诺伊斯奖学金规定的教学承诺将在未来三年内开始得到满足，SJU希望更好地了解他们选择继续或不继续担任该职位的动机。研究活动将包括定期的课堂访问和与SJU Noyce学者进行广泛的一对一访谈。诺伊斯学者也将保留期刊，并确定与教师留下或离开有关的共同主题。这些发现将反过来为SJU教师准备计划和早期职业专业支持工作提供信息。

Teacher retention is one of the biggest challenges facing the improvement of STEM education. Across all grade levels and disciplines, studies show that almost 50% of new teachers leave the profession in the first five years and secondary STEM teachers are not an exception. The Phase II Noyce Scholarship Monitoring and Evaluation project at Saint Joseph's University (SJU) will explore the factors that influence secondary STEM teacher retention. High teacher turnover is a fact in many high-need schools and understanding how teachers make the decision to stay or leave may help develop solutions to this problem. This research will provide a better understanding of the process of identity development and its relationship to the decision to stay or leave a high-need STEM classroom. This in turn can be used to inform undergraduate teacher preparation programs and companion efforts to support teachers in their early years of teaching, thus ultimately having a positive impact on teacher retention.Research suggests that a strong identity as a STEM teacher in a high-need school will be correlated with a decision to continue and this grant would support a rigorous investigation of the process by which the Noyce Scholars construct, or fail to construct, these identities. This project will begin with eight SJU Noyce Scholars already employed in public, charter and private schools in the city of Philadelphia. More scholars will start teaching at the beginning of this project and several more are still in their pre-service (undergraduate) program. The teaching commitments mandated by their Noyce Scholarships will begin to be satisfied during the next three years and SJU seeks a better understanding of the motivation of why they choose to continue or not to continue in their positions beyond this commitment. Research activities will include regular classroom visits and extensive one-on-one interviews with the SJU Noyce Scholars. The Noyce Scholars will also keep journals, and common themes will be identified that are associated with whether teachers remain or leave. These findings will in turn inform SJU teacher preparation programs and early career professional support efforts.