- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2151088
- First Name Jennifer
- Last Name Albert
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline Mathematics
- Role Principal Investigator (PI)
- Presenters
Jennifer Albert and Melanie Blanton, The Citadel; Crystal Miller, Long Middle School; Sumesh Nair, Calhoun County High School
Need
There is a desperate need for quality mathematics teachers in rural schools. Even when teachers can be found, they are often professionally isolated and lack access to the same level of professional development as their colleagues in other subject areas or non-rural districts. This Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Track 3 Master Teacher Fellows (MTF) project aims to broaden participation by connecting rural teachers to professional development and one another.
Research Questions
RQ1. Which evidence-based strategies (e.g., teacher professional development, teacher collaborative time, co-design of lessons, community of practice) are most effective in the creation of highly-effective teacher leaders in rural districts? RQ2. How does participation in the project impact teacher self-efficacy and identity as a teacher leader?
Approach
Research on rural teacher professional development by Glover and colleagues found that rural teachers favored PD experiences such as workshops that were accompanied by coaching and ongoing collaboration with colleagues (Glover, et. al, 2016). Additionally, rural teachers often teach multiple content areas and/or grade levels which limits access and opportunities for collaborative planning (Goodpaster et. al., 2012). The L2L project addresses both of these findings and encourages and affords participation from rural math teachers through online modalities. This includes all coursework and professional development activities.
Outcomes
The initial phase of the L2L project has worked towards stimulating sustainable improvements in the quality of mathematics teaching and learning in rural high-needs schools through a focus on two of our four goals: (1) building MTFs’ pedagogical content knowledge and skills and (2) building MTFs’ teacher leadership knowledge and skills. We have achieved this through graduate coursework and professional development.
Broader Impacts
We are using information from our needs analysis and practitioner partner model, as well as MTFs from other districts, to design content for PD so that all project materials will be equitable and highly responsive to the needs of teachers and students in a high-needs district. We hypothesize, based on prior work, that positive change with the authentic teaching of critical thinking skills will result in increased student problem solving and motivation of students, and is ultimately anchored to the teacher’s intended learning goals in math by supporting targeted standards and objectives.
