- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 1660681
- First Name Peter
- Last Name Garik
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline Physics, STEM Education (general)
- Role Principal Investigator (PI)
- Presenters
Peter Garik, Boston University
Need
It is important for our Noyce Program, and Noyce Programs generally, to understand which culturally competent practices (CCP) Noyce Scholar alums practice and which they find most effective. For the purposes of better understanding Noyce Scholars generally and their retention in teaching in high-need districts, it is also of interest to know if there is a correlation between their personal history and how they view CCP.
Research Questions
We are concerned that our Noyce Scholars are prepared to be culturally competent teachers. For this purpose, our Master of Arts in Teaching Program emphasizes the importance of treating each student as an individual, but also as someone who comes from a community and a background culture. The questions we formatively address as our MAT program evolves are: What are the best methods to prepare students to be culturally competent? and, do our Scholars feel prepared for a teaching career in high-need districts?
Approach
Through a longitudinal survey we addressed our Noyce alums self-efficacy for practicing culturally competent methods and the outcomes that they perceived. The survey was a convenience sampling with 42 of our 53 Noyce alums responding. Questions on the survey were derived from prior published research on Noyce alums (Whitfield et al 2021) and on self-efficacy for culturally competent teaching (Siwatu 2007). For questions of cultural competent teaching, we have looked for correlations in practices our alums find effective with what they say they are practicing. We have also looked for correlations with retention and with Scholars’ personal histories.
Outcomes
We have prepared 53 Noyce Scholars with Noyce awards that began in 2013. Based on our survey, as of the end of the 2022 school year, of the 34 respondents who are past their two-year commitment, 30 continue to teach, and 24 teach in a high-need district. Many of those who continue to teach in a high-need district report that social justice and empathy for their students are important motivations. With respect to their cultural teaching practices, they are practicing culturally responsive/relevant methods as described in the literature, and there is a correlation between their practices and their belief in their effectiveness. There are few surprises in our survey results but confirmatory reports are useful.
Broader Impacts
The outcomes of our survey are important for the Noyce community to understand which culturally competent practices Scholars find most effective when they are teaching. For the question of who should receive Noyce Scholarship or Stipend funding, screening for a commitment to social justice is important.
