Investigating Relationships between STEM Teacher Preparation, Instructional Quality, and Teacher Persistence

这个Noyce Track 4项目将调查STEM教师准备项目的特点如何有助于高需求学校的初级STEM教师的教学质量和教师持久性。教师在学校之间的分配不公平，高需求学校的教师流动率更高，教师的教育证书更少，教师的经验更少。由于科学和数学新标准的日益严格，以及对准备充分的STEM劳动力的需求日益增长，熟练的STEM教师比以往任何时候都更加重要。尽管教师的效率随着时间的推移而提高，因为高需求的学校往往有更多没有经验的教师，但新的STEM教师进入课堂时必须准备好提供高质量的教学，并且随着这些学校的进步，他们必须坚持下去。本研究的结果有可能：a)确定项目特征，这些特征对于培养在高需求环境中持续存在的高效、严谨的STEM教师至关重要；b)为学校在招聘新教师时提供具体的课程和实地经验。该项目的目标是建立STEM教师准备和入职计划的特征与STEM初任教师在其教学生涯的前三年的教学质量和持久性之间的相关性。该研究的样本包括100多名一年级教师，他们来自七个地理位置分散的（CA， CO， FL， NC， NJ， NY） Noyce奖学金项目，在高需求学校任教。来自科学和数学领域的6项任务和相关学生作业样本的数据将用于评估教师的教学质量，特别是他们对学生提出的学术严谨性和明确的期望。利用线性回归和高阶模型，该项目将调查教师准备计划课程作业、实地经验、入职支持和教学质量之间的关系。此外，使用逻辑回归，调查人员将检查准备和归纳的这些特征之间的关系和教师坚持超过他们的诺伊斯承诺到他们的第三年教学的可能性。最后，同样使用逻辑回归，该项目将调查教师的教学质量是否与他们坚持过去的Noyce承诺的可能性有关。关于教师准备、归纳法与教师教学质量之间的关系，研究文献存在很大的空白。本研究旨在为这一问题提供基于研究的知识，并为教师培训项目可以重点改进的具体领域提供指导。该项目也将为未来的准实验研究奠定基础，重点关注制备和诱导的重要特征。

This Noyce Track 4 project will investigate how features of STEM teacher preparation programs contribute to instructional quality and teacher persistence of beginning STEM teachers in high-need schools. Teachers are inequitably distributed across schools, where high-need schools have higher teacher turnover rates, teachers with fewer educational credentials, and teachers with less experience. Skilled STEM teachers are more important than ever because of the increased rigor of new standards in science and mathematics, and the growing need for a well-prepared STEM workforce. Although teacher effectiveness increases over time, because high-need schools tend to have more inexperienced teachers, it is imperative that new STEM teachers enter the classroom prepared to deliver quality instruction, and that they persist in those schools as they improve. Findings from this study have the potential to: a) identify program features that are essential to the production of effective, rigorous STEM teachers that persist in high-need settings; and b) provide schools with specific coursework and field experiences to look for as they hire new teachers. The goal of this project is to establish correlations between features of STEM teacher preparation and induction programs and beginning STEM teachers' instructional quality and persistence over the first three years of their teaching careers. The sample for the study consists of over 100 first year teachers prepared across seven geographically dispersed (CA, CO, FL, NC, NJ, NY) Noyce Scholarship programs who are teaching in high-need schools. Data from 6 task assignments and associated student work samples in science and mathematics will be used to assess the quality of teachers' instruction, specifically the academic rigor and clear expectations they present to their students. Using both linear regression and HLM, the project will investigate the relationships between teacher preparation program coursework, field experiences, induction supports, and quality of instruction. Additionally, using logistic regression, the investigators will examine the relationships between these features of preparation and induction and the likelihood of teachers persisting past their Noyce commitment into their third year of teaching. Finally, also using logistic regression, the project will investigate whether the quality of teachers' instruction is associated with their likelihood of persisting past their Noyce commitment. There is a substantial gap in the research literature regarding the relationships between teacher preparation and induction and the quality of teachers' instruction. This study aims to contribute research-based knowledge to this issue, as well as to provide guidance on specific areas where teacher preparation programs can focus program improvement efforts. This project will also form the foundation for future quasi-experimental research that focuses on significant features of preparation and induction.