- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 1339939
- First Name Paul
- Last Name Heideman
- Discipline All
- Co-PI(s)
Meredith Kier, College of William and Mary, mwkier@wm.edu; Marguerite Mason, College of William and Mary, mmmaso@wm.edu; Heather MacDonald, College of William and Mary, rhmacd@wm.edu; Jason Chen, College of William and Mary, jachen@wm.edu
- Presenters
Meredith Kier, College of William and Mary, mwkier@wm.edu
Need
The need for highly educated and better prepared teachers has never been greater, especially in the STEM areas (2010, 2010). Both the American public and governing bodies at all levels recognize the critical need to improve the preparation of teachers (2011). However, many talented mathematics and science students lose or never develop an early passion for STEM teaching; they fail to understand the varied rewards, paths, and opportunities to create meaningful change through careers in teaching (Maier and Youngs 2009, 2010). This project discusses how W&M’s recruitment, preparation, and induction model will be refined and expanded while producing 27 new teachers licensed in STEM disciplines and directed toward a career in teaching in high-need schools. Noyce II enhancements include additional strategies for recruiting and mentoring students who otherwise would be lost from secondary STEM teaching, more opportunities for experiences in high-need settings, and stipends for Noyce Scholars in their first years of teaching.
Goals
The project will strengthen W&M STEM teacher preparation by: (a) expanding collaborative engagement among STEM departments, the School of Education, and our new partner, the W&M Office of Community Engagement; (b) developing a new early recruiting and mentoring program to attract strong and diverse students for a teaching career in high-need schools (Maier and Youngs 2009); (c) enhancing the teacher education program with special course offerings in STEM education and in science; (d) expanding experiences for W&M students in high-need schools and settings (Diffily and Perkins 2002, McKinney et al. 2007, Liou and Lawrenz 2010); (e) offering summer internship opportunities for STEM-related professional development in teaching or in research; (f) providing student stipends to cover tuition and fees (Liou and Lawrenz 2010); (g) continuing follow-up mentoring and support for graduates; (h) adding salary support ($3000/year) during the first two years of teaching in a high-need school (Lawrenz et al. 2008), and (i) implementing a comprehensive longitudinal evaluation to provide a rigorous evidence base for the program.
Approach
Our Phase I Noyce project developed a truly sweeping, partnership-oriented approach that has dramatically changed STEM education at W&M over the past five years. This approach has included changing the institutional culture of STEM major advising to place a higher value on teaching careers, developing an effective mechanism to steer students interested in teaching to Noyce Steering Committee members who coordinate advising with the NMT, and meetings of Noyce NMT members with STEM departments. The Steering Committee connects local K-12 systems, including those with high-need schools, with STEM faculty at W&M. As a synergistic activity related to our Noyce grant, Co-PIs Matkins and Mason led a grant-funded effort in the School of Education to make diversity a central concern in the licensure process, including many workshops, revisions to procedures, and changes in the curriculum. The Noyce Management Team involved the Office of Community Engagement and the Career Center, both of which have hosted courses and/or multiple workshops for students related to careers in STEM teaching. The Noyce Phase I project has been a framework to change the culture of STEM teaching recruitment, mentoring, and preparation at W&M.
The Noyce Scholars Phase II project includes the following enhancements to the teacher education program at W&M. These program enhancements are intended to increase the numbers and the success of students who go into STEM teaching in high-need schools. Each enhancement is described in more detail in the following sections.
Successful Noyce I enhancements that will be continued:
(1) Two one-credit courses that supplement the teacher education curriculum
(2) Summer research and teaching internships for Noyce Scholars
(3) Follow-up mentoring after graduation
New Noyce II enhancements:
(4) Early experiences in teaching and courses for undergraduates offered in collaboration with W&M?s Office of Community Engagement
(5) Immersive student teaching experiences in high-need schools
(6) Salary supplements in first two years teaching in high-need schools
(7) Longitudinal Study of Phase I Scholars
Outcomes
A mixed methods evaluation design will be used to assess program processes and outcomes. Evaluation strategies will focus on collection of data designed to address five key evaluation questions that are presented below.
1. What was done with whom, to whom? The evaluation will describe in measurable language what specific activities were carried out in the W&M Noyce Scholars Program. This measure of effort is the basis for assessing implementation fidelity- that is, the extent to which the program was delivered to target candidates as designed. Key sources of information will be:
** implementation log maintained by the PI and co-PI
** interviews with interview project staff and faculty
** project artifacts, including recruitment materials, course curricula and materials
** demographic (including representation of those populations traditionally under-represented in STEM education), admission, enrollment, and graduation data of applicants and funded scholar
2. How well was the program delivered? This measure of quality will demonstrate the extent to which research-based practices were used in the design and delivery of the W&M Noyce Scholars Program. Key sources of information include:
** interviews with interview project staff and faculty and focus group discussion with the current Noyce Scholars cohort
** project artifacts, including recruitment materials, course curricula, and course materials;
** data from course evaluations
3. To what extent did the program achieve its intended short-term outcomes? This measure of effect will assess the degree to which short-term outcomes are attained. The evaluation will assess at appropriate intervals candidate acquisition of essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Key sources of information include:
** candidate GPA data in STEM discipline majors, teacher education coursework, and overall
** assessment by program faculty of student E-portfolios documenting their competency development and ratings of practicum and student teaching performance by candidates, clinical faculty and university supervisors
** scores and pass-rates on the state-mandated Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment, and scores and pass-rates on appropriate PRAXIS II science and/or mathematics tests and licensure and employment data as candidates complete the program
** follow-up survey of graduates in the first year of teaching evaluating effectiveness of preparation
4. To what extent did the program achieve its intermediate and long-term outcomes? Follow-up studies of graduates will include evidence of their accomplishment of intermediate- and long-term outcomes: their continued employment in licensure areas, especially in high-need schools and development as leaders. The retention study will be conducted using a quasi-experimental design of a matched comparison group. Key information sources for this analysis include:
** teacher retention data on the Noyce Scholars and their matched peers collected at the first, third, and fifth year of teaching across cohorts within the scope of this grant;
** follow-up surveys of graduates in the first, third, and fifth years of teaching evaluating professional accomplishments, effectiveness of preparation, and continuation plans.
5. What is the relationship between program innovations and outcomes? This aspect of the evaluation will examine the relationship between program innovations introduced late in the Phase I grant or early in Phase II (e.g., a salary supplement program for new teachers who serve in high-need schools) and the outcomes of continued employment in licensure areas and in high-need schools, perceived effectiveness as teachers, and impact on student achievement. This aspect of the evaluation will utilize a non-equivalent group design with earlier Noyce Scholar cohorts who did not have the benefit of the specific innovation acting as the comparison group. Key information sources include:
** implementation log maintained by the PI and co-PI
** interviews with interview project staff and faculty
** project artifacts, including recruitment materials and course curricula materials
** follow-up surveys of graduates in the first, third, and fifth years of teaching that evaluate professional accomplishments, effectiveness of preparation, and continuation plans
** teacher retention data on the Noyce Scholars and their matched peers collected at the first, third, and fifth year of teaching across cohorts within the scope of this grant
Broader Impacts
This program is projected to produce 43 new STEM teachers at its completion in May 2014, above the project target of 39. The Noyce Scholars include students from mathematics, biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics (Table 1). The first three years of the Noyce Scholars program produced 23 new teachers, with 21 currently teaching and 19 in high-need school districts (Table 1). The Noyce Scholars program also increased the proportion of W&M STEM teachers choosing to teach in high-need schools from less than 10% to approximately 35% (Table 1). Dissemination at national conferences in (a) STEM education and (b) STEM disciplines produced collaborations with another institution for data collection, as well as mentoring of other institutions developing Noyce Phase I grant proposals. Presentations include (Heideman et al. 2010, Matkins and T. 2010, Matkins et al. 2011b, a, Macdonald et al. 2012, Goff et al. 2013).
