- Year 2019
- NSF Noyce Award # 1540802
- First Name Regina
- Last Name Toolin
- Discipline Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Geosciences, Math, Physics
- Co-PI(s)
Rory Waterman, Carmen Petrick-Smith, Ting Tang, University of Vermont
- Presenters
Regina Toolin, University of Vermont, Rtoolin@uvm.edu
Need
The University of Vermont’s Robert Noyce Scholarship Program functions to address the shortage of qualified math and science teachers in high need schools by supporting scholarship and mentorship directed at the recruitment, retention, and education of preservice teachers enrolled in the MAT in Secondary Education Program. The focus of this study is to report on Noyce scholar use of student performance data to inform instruction.
Goals
This study highlights the experiences of Noyce scholars enrolled in the MAT Program with a focus on the question: How effective are Noyce scholars in utilizing student performance data to adapt and modify instruction?
Approach
We utilized interpretivist case study methodology (Stake, 2006) that functions to seek meaning and understanding of experiences in context by utilizing multiple sources of data such as interviews, observations, and artifacts in the construction of vignettes that illustrate facets of the case and represent new findings and understandings for each of the subjects.
Outcomes
We developed several vignetters for analysis that are representative of the Noyce scholar assessment practices. We provide evidence from an analysis of learning project that illustrates that students taught by Noyce scholars during their student teaching internship learned science and math content and practices in significant ways.
Broader Impacts
The case study vignettes illustrate some understanding of the scholars’ teaching and assessment practices as well as student learning outcomes. One limitation of this study is that the assessment procedures are not standardized in such a way as to provide a common process for assessment that might be described across the group of scholars. In reviewing the analysis of learning project for each scholar, we were able to discern the commonality and variation among scholars which reflected differences in the internship venues that they operated within. We were also able to discern that scholars have demonstrated the ability to use their own assessment results to obtain important student gains in skill and knowledge.
