Broadening Participation Research: Applying Innovative Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for African American Middle School Teachers and Students to Broaden the STEM Pipeline

Prairie View A&Amm大学和Alief独立学区正在研究如何招聘和留住未被充分代表的少数民族STEM教师。调查人员将把实践共同体(COP)和文化响应性(CR)理论结合到一个框架中，以调查创新的有效性，以更好地为寻求STEM教师职业生涯的学生做好准备。他们将使用混合研究设计回答五个研究问题：a)将COP/CR培训与教师效能联系起来；b)将教师能力与他们对德克萨斯学院和职业准备标准的掌握联系起来；c)跟踪教师对德克萨斯学院和职业准备标准的掌握程度如何影响参与者教授的学生的表现；d)统计选择STEM背书的过渡到高中的学生人数；以及e)评估干预措施的有效性。调查人员将通过建立的自我报告量表来捕捉教育工作者有效教学和与中学互动的信心和能力。因此，这项研究将阐明这些教育工作者如何影响学生的表现和他们在该州标准化考试中的成绩。基本的假设是，接受COP/CR培训的教师将积极影响学生从事STEM教师的职业生涯并继续从事这些职业。实践社区和文化响应实践遵循21世纪学习伙伴关系倡导的21世纪学习框架。在项目期结束时，将招聘和培训大约10名教师，并在Alief ISD中学安置5名七年级科学教师和5名八年级数学教师。为了达到这一结果，本研究将解决五个研究问题：(1)COP/CR实践的灌输和培训如何影响教少数民族学生的STEM教师的效率？本研究采用前测和后测设计，比较教师效能感三个分量表的得分。(2)接受COP/CR培训的教师在多大程度上提高了对得克萨斯州教育局学院和职业准备标准所确定的适当STEM实践的了解？教师自我报告和教案中的描述性措施将提供激励未来教师所需技能的指标。(3)由COP/CR培训教师教授的学生的数学和科学表现如何？一种因果比较设计，将配备COP/CP教师的教室与未接受COP/CR培训的教室进行比较。调查人员还将使用t检验来检验SAAR数学和科学成绩的差异。(4)接受COP/CR培训的教师的学生在多大程度上遵循STEM认可途径进入STEM学位课程？调查人员将运用皮尔逊的卡方独立性检验来分析数据。(5)该倡议如何推进德克萨斯州STEM招聘和留住合格STEM教师以及STEM相关学科学术成就的最低基准？来自学校管理人员的访谈数据将被收集和分析。该项目预计将提供证据，证明有效的干预措施，以增加合格的代表不足的STEM教师的数量，可以在其他环境中复制。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Prairie View A&M University and the Alief Independent School District are examining ways to recruit and retain underrepresented minority STEM teachers. Investigators will combine Community of Practice (COP) and Cultural Responsiveness (CR) theory into a framework to investigate the effectiveness of an innovation to better prepare students seeking to pursue careers as STEM teachers. They will use a mixed-methods research design to answer five research questions that a) bridge the COP/CR training with teacher efficacy, b) connect teacher competency with their mastery of the Texas College and Career Readiness standards, c) track how teachers' mastery of the Texas College and Career Readiness standards impact the performance of the students taught by the participants, d) capture the number of students transitioning to high school who select the STEM endorsement tract, and e) assess the effectiveness of the intervention. The investigators will capture educators' confidence and ability to effectively teach and interact with middle schools via established self-report scales. Thus, the research will illuminate how these educators can affect student performance and their scores on the state's standardized tests. The underlying assumption is that teachers who undergo COP/CR training will positively influence students to pursue careers as STEM teachers and to remain in those careers.The Community of Practice and Cultural Responsiveness practices adhere to the Framework for 21st Century Learning advocated by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. Approximately ten teachers will be recruited and trained, and five seventh grade science and five eighth math teachers will be placed in Alief ISD middle schools at the end of the project period. The study will address five research questions to achieve this outcome: (1) How does the infusion and training of COP/CR practices impact the efficacy of STEM teachers who teach minority students? A pre- and post-test design will be used to compare scores from the three subscales of the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale. (2) To what degree do teachers who receive COP/CR training report enhanced knowledge of appropriate STEM practices as determined by the Texas Education Agency's College and Career Readiness standards? Descriptive measures from teachers' self-report and lesson plans will provide indicators of the skills needed to motivate future teachers. (3) What are the math and science performances of students who are taught by the COP/CR training teachers? A causal-comparative design where classrooms with COP/CP teachers will be compared to classrooms taught by non-COP/CR trained teachers. Investigators also will use t-tests to test the difference in SAAR mathematics and science scores. (4) To what degree are students of the COP/CR trained teachers following a STEM endorsement path to enrolling in a STEM degree program? Investigators will apply a Pearson's Chi-square test of independence to analyze the data. (5) How has the initiative advanced the minimum Texas STEM benchmarks for recruitment and retention of qualified STEM teachers and academic success in STEM-related subjects? Interview data from school administrators will be collected and analyzed. The project is expected to produce evidence about an effective intervention to increase the number of qualified underrepresented STEM teachers that could be replicated in other settings.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.