Building Capacity, Generating Knowledge, and Fostering Community to Define and Disseminate What Works in STEM Teacher Preparation for High-Need School Districts

American Association For The Advancement Of Science, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The project aims to serve the national need of advancing research about and use of evidence-based practices in STEM teacher preparation programs, particularly to prepare teachers who can support student success in high-need school districts. This project will build on and extend the efforts of the Advancing Research & Innovation in the STEM Education of Preservice Teachers in High-Need School Districts (ARISE) network. This network connects Noyce Principal Investigators, and the teachers they prepare, and stakeholders outside the Noyce community who are engaged in advancing and using teacher preparation research. The project will use a three-pronged strategy: building capacity, generating/curating knowledge, and fostering community. Building capacity activities will focus on research and evaluation, and will include proposal preparation webinars and workshops, evaluator and faculty capacity-building workshops for better research/evaluation data, cultivation of next generation researchers, and a feasibility study regarding a shared database across Noyce projects. Generating/curating knowledge activities will identify in gaps in research literature and practice, and produce publications and related user-friendly research agenda. In addition, blogging about implications of recent research, commissioned papers on critical topics, and a STEM teacher recruitment working meeting will further research generation. Project activities for fostering community towards a culture of evidence will include enhancement of aaas-arise.org and maintenance of nsfnoyce.org; ARISE Community Content Webinar Series featuring multiple expert perspectives; and 2021, 2022, and 2023 Noyce Summits for up to 650 attendees each. This project at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) responds to the pressing need to engage in collective work to transform teacher preparation into a more evidence-based profession. Thus, the proposed activities are designed to build on research and dissemination efforts to intentionally build capacity, generate knowledge, and foster community towards what works in STEM teacher preparation for high-need school districts. This project will connect the Noyce Principal Investigators to, and build a wider research community in support of, teacher educators, practitioners, and education researchers. Building on the work of the NRC committees, NASEM Teacher Workforce panel, NSF Principal Investigators, AAAS ARISE Initiatives, and related efforts, this project seeks to provide resources, tools, and community for current and prospective researchers who seek to expand the research base on STEM teacher education programs and professional development. Teacher education programs that are currently pursuing or may be inspired to pursue evidence-based changes in STEM teacher education and leadership development programs will benefit from these resources, tools, and community. This 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 STEM teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness 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.