Investigating the Impact of Preparation in Racial Equity and Language Equity Practices on STEM Secondary Teacher Effectiveness and Retention

Santa Clara University, Santa Clara CA

Investigators

Abstract

The project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly effective STEM teachers who can address the STEM learning needs of increasingly racially and linguistically diverse student populations. Little is known about how novice secondary STEM teachers integrate equitable teaching practices into their STEM teaching as they begin their careers. This research will investigate how continued implementation of racial equity and language equity practices in STEM teaching may influence STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need schools. The project has the potential to produce new insights that could influence secondary STEM teacher preparation programs broadly. This research effort from Santa Clara University (SCU), University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and Education Northwest – in partnership with and East Side Union High School and Salinas Union High School districts – aims to investigate conceptualization and implementation of racial equity and language equity practices among 45 secondary STEM teachers during their teacher education program through their first two years of teaching. Participating teachers will be drawn from Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce) Scholars at SCU (n=15), Noyce Scholars at UCSC (n=15), and graduates of the National Professional Development in which STEM teachers attain their bilingual authorization as part of their preparation (n=15). Over the course of this four-year study, the project aims to investigate relations between continued implementation of racial equity and language equity practices in STEM teaching and STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need schools among this participant population. Direct observations of secondary STEM teaching, as well as survey measures of teacher self-efficacy and equitable teaching practices, will be used to assess STEM teacher effectiveness. Surveys of teacher intentions to remain in the profession and the relation to teachers’ experiences with equitable teaching practices will be used to evaluate potential impacts on STEM teacher retention. Additionally, the project will conduct interviews with a purposeful, stratified sub-sample of participants (n=10) at multiple time points to probe how STEM teacher preparation activities focused on racial equity and language equity practices influence teaching and retention in the profession. External feedback to the project will be provided by an advisory board and by education researchers from Education Northwest. The project has the potential to address gaps in the literature about how secondary STEM teacher preparation focused on racial equity and language equity pedagogies influences STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need schools. This Track 4: Noyce Research 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 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.