Understanding the Career Trajectories, Effectiveness, and Retention of Noyce Scholars in High-Need Schools in Oregon

Pacific University, Forest Grove OR

Investigators

Abstract

The project aims to serve the national need to provide every child with high-quality STEM teachers. To meet this need, schools must retain effective STEM teachers for long-term service. This project will conduct surveys and interviews with STEM teachers who participated in Noyce programs in Oregon. These research activities will produce evidence and insights about STEM teacher experiences that support effectiveness and persistence in high-need schools. The project will also engage a subset of effective, persistent STEM teachers to write about their teaching careers. The project will disseminate the key experiences of effective STEM teachers who have demonstrated effectiveness and persisted in high-need schools. These findings could provide insights to guide teacher education programs broadly. This project at Pacific University includes partnerships with the University of Oregon, the University of Portland, and the regional nonprofit research organization Education Northwest. The goal of the research is to understand the reasons behind the observed retention and cultural effectiveness of Noyce-prepared STEM teachers in high-need schools in Oregon. The project will first engage 100 STEM teachers in a 30-minute Career Overview Survey. The project will then engage 40 selected STEM teachers in a 90-minute Career Trajectory Interview. Data collection methods will include measures of cultural effectiveness coupled with in-depth teacher interviews to identify teachers who both demonstrate cultural effectiveness and have been retained in high-need schools. Finally, the project will engage 18 selected STEM teachers in a year-long Narrative Inquiry professional development program, in which each will create their own STEM Teacher Autoethnography, reflecting in depth on their career trajectory as an effective STEM teacher in high-need schools. Project activities will be evaluated by an advisory board of external stakeholders, including both Oregon Noyce program stakeholders and teacher education experts from out of the state. Project findings will be disseminated through conference presentations and academic publications, as well as through publication of a collection of STEM teacher narratives. Further, project findings may inform STEM teacher preparation programs nationally in efforts to recruit, prepare, and support teacher candidates likely to succeed and persist in high-need schools. This Track 4: Noyce Research 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 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the 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.