STEM Teacher Effectiveness and Retention in High-Need Schools: Combining Equity & Ecological Frameworks

该项目旨在满足国家在高需求学区提高STEM教师留存率的需求。教师的高流动率导致教育成果下降，特别是对高需求学校而言。提高STEM教师的留任率，为科学和数学教师发展专业知识创造了条件，并促进了加强学校项目的关系。该项目还试图通过确定条件允许有色人种STEM教师留在课堂的案例，了解如何增加种族多样化STEM教师的存在。项目团队将检查大量定量数据集，以跟踪康涅狄格州STEM教师的流动和教学效果。统计分析将通过对STEM教师的访谈来补充。本研究有可能提高对STEM教师保留模式以及教师流动与教学有效性之间关系的理解。本研究的结果有可能为学区决策和州官方政策制定提供信息，推动以数据为导向的干预措施的发展，重点关注STEM教师的保留，以服务于有效性和公平性。康涅狄格大学的这个项目有三个目标。首先是发现学校因素与教师留任率和随后的教学效果密切相关。项目团队将通过对康涅狄格州收集的数据进行定量分析来实现这一目标，这是日常实践的一部分。第二个是检查教师身份（种族和性别）的交叉点，这些交叉点有助于STEM教师的保留和有效性，通过康涅狄格州每年收集的数据来衡量，以监测高质量的教学、教育者认证和学校人员配备。第三个是对不同人口统计（即白人，黑人，拉丁裔和亚洲人）的STEM教师进行迭代访谈，以寻求他们对影响STEM教师保留，学校之间流动和有效性的力量的看法。采用参与式设计研究方法，项目小组还将定期向这些教师提供研究统计结果的更新，以征求他们的解释和建议。通过这种方式，整个项目的对话循环将有助于改进定量分析。整体调查将从三个理论框架：资源保护，目标一致性和社会政治意识。多层次分析将确定与留住有效的STEM教师相关的因素。图论技术将评估运动，包括匹配对的社会网络分析，以评估相关因素的影响。该研究项目有可能提供建议，以提高STEM教师的保留率，并在高需求学区推进高质量的STEM教学。本Track 4: Noyce研究项目由Robert Noyce教师奖学金计划（Noyce）支持。Noyce计划支持STEM本科专业和专业人士成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富的K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM领导者。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的有效性和留任率的研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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。

This project aims to serve the national need to improve the retention of effective STEM teachers in high need school districts. Elevated rates of turnover of teachers contribute to lowered educational outcomes, particularly for high-need schools. Improving STEM teacher retention creates conditions for science and mathematics teachers to develop their expertise and foster relationships that will strengthen school programs. The project also seeks to understand how to increase the presence of racially diverse STEM teachers by identifying cases where conditions allow STEM teachers of color to remain in the classroom. The project team will examine large quantitative data sets to track STEM teacher movement and instructional effectiveness in the state of Connecticut. Statistical analyses will be complemented by interviews with practicing STEM teachers. This research has the potential to improve understanding of STEM teacher retention patterns and the relationships between teacher movement and instructional effectiveness. The results of this study have the potential to inform school district decision-making and state official policy-shaping, driving the development of data-driven interventions focused on STEM teacher retention in the service of effectiveness and equity. This project at the University of Connecticut has three goals. The first is to uncover school factors strongly associated with greater teacher retention and subsequent teaching effectiveness. The project team will achieve this goal via quantitative analyses of data collected by the state of Connecticut as part of routine practices. The second is to examine intersections of teacher identity (race and gender) contributing to STEM teacher retention and effectiveness as measured by data collected annually by the state of Connecticut to monitor highly qualified teaching, educator certification, and school staffing. The third is to conduct iterative interviews with practicing STEM teachers of various demographics (i.e., White, Black, Latinx, and Asian) to seek their perspectives about forces influencing STEM teacher retention, movement between schools, and effectiveness. Using a participatory design research approach, the project team will also provide periodic updates of the study’s statistical outputs to these teachers to solicit their interpretations and recommendations. In this way conversational cycles throughout the project will help to refine the quantitative analyses. The overall investigation will draw from three theoretical frames: conservation of resources, goal congruity, and sociopolitical consciousness. Multilevel analyses will identify factors associated with the retention of effective STEM teachers. Graph theory techniques will assess movement, including a social network analysis of matched pairs to assess impact of relevant factors. This research project has the potential to provide recommendations to improve STEM teacher retention and advance high-quality STEM instruction in high need school districts. This Track 4: Noyce Research project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced K-12 teachers to become STEM leaders 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.