- Year 2023
- NSF Noyce Award # 2050397
- First Name Keith
- Last Name Hubbard
- Discipline Chemistry, Life Sciences, Mathematics
- Co-PI(s)
Amber Wagnon, Chrissy Cross, Dennis Gravatt
- Presenters
Keith Hubbard, Amber Wagnon, Chrissy Cross, Dennis Gravatt, Maximilian Gerhold, Ray Darville
Need
A huge investment is made into training STEM teachers. We need to understand which candidates are most likely to persist in the field and whether there are commonly used metrics for selection that have no connection to actual persistence in the teaching field. Longitudinal studies the span both STEM educator preparation program and teaching in the field are rare.
Goals
How do the characteristics of STEM teacher candidates associate with persistence in the teaching profession over time?
Approach
We examined the initial characteristics of each Noyce teacher candidate – from GPA and time-to-graduation to qualitative features such as teachability and resilience. We also gathered data on how long teachers had actually taught and whether they had completed their Noyce teaching commitment. We categories the teachers by their teaching outcomes then looked for differences between groups.
Outcomes
The key outcomes of the T4X Project are (a) continuing to support our 36 Noyce teachers in the field, (b) mentoring and preparing the 19 Noyce Scholars we have recruited, (c) raising awareness and interest in STEM teaching, particularly through teacher preview events, (d) recruiting the best possible additional Noyce Scholars, and (e) studying each part of this pipeline to improve our teacher recruiting, training, and support, then share those insights with others.
Broader Impacts
Over the course of their careers, our Noyce Scholars will directly teach tens of thousands of students, collaborate with hundreds (if not thousands) of other STEM teachers, and positively impact our nation’s schools in myriad ways. Our research group has also produced over a dozen research articles and presented findings over 50 times, working to contribute to the STEM community’s collective effort of better understanding and implementing the very best practices in STEM teacher recruiting, training, and support.
