- Year 2019
- NSF Noyce Award # 1745263
- First Name Larry
- Last Name Horvath
- Discipline Other: Science Education
- Co-PI(s)
Chance Hoellwarth, Cal Poly SLO, Choellwa@calpoly.edu; Kim Seashore, San Francisco State University, kimseash@sfsu.edu; Eric Hsu, San Francisco State University, erichsu@sfsu.edu; Donna Ross, San Diego State University, dlross@sdsu.edu
- Presenters
Larry Horvath,San Francisco State University, lhorvath@sfsu.edu
Need
The Western Region Noyce (WRN) community currently consists of Noyce scholars, Noyce teachers, Noyce master teacher fellows, and Noyce leadership in 14 western states with active Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program grants. The Western Regional Noyce Alliance (WRNA) is a three-year project hosting three annual conferences, six math and science summer institutes, and 18 regional networking sessions. The WRNA also supports Noyce scholar participation in immersive summer research experiences. The professional development opportunities afforded through the WRNA are open to all members of the WRN communityThe WRNA will greatly increase opportunities for professional networking, leadership development, and improved practice within the WRN community. By adding varying dosages of professional development opportunities – attending a two-day full Noyce Conference, participating in a two-week STEM summer institute, experiencing a nine week immersive summer research experience, and/or attending.
Goals
Western Regional Noyce Alliance (WRNA) provides Noyce participants with the opportunity to participate in various combinations and dosages of professional development (PD) aimed at impacting four key outcomes of interest: 1. STEM teacher identity; 2. Propensity towards leadership 3. Networking ; 4. Pedagogical content knowledge
Approach
The American Institutes for Research (AIR) working closely with project leadership will conduct 20 observations of 10 unique teachers, sampled from in-service Noyce teachers who participated in one of the five possible PD events and combinations thereof (i.e., two teachers per possible PD combination): 1. Conference; 2. Summer Institute; 3. STAR; 4. Conference + Summer Institute; 5. Conference + STAR. In addition, AIR working with project leadership will analyze participants networking choices to further assess how Noyce leadership can support the development and maintenance of Noyce focused communities of practice.
Outcomes
Survey data has been collected to assess the effectiveness of the initial Noyce conference held February 14-17 in Tucson AZ.; two science institutes held at Cal Poly SLO summer 2018; one math institute held at Northern Arizona University summer 2018; and three regional networking gatherings held in CA and TX fall 2018. The initial Wyoming/Northern Colorado regional networking gathering was just held in May 2019. Data analysis is ongoing, and a complete summary will be presented at the summit poster session in July.
Broader Impacts
The WRNA includes annual conferences, summer institutes, regional networking sessions, and summer research internships that will impact thousands of STEM educators currently in the pre-service or early career stages of their profession. Over the three-year project, WRN conferences will directly impact close to 950 Noyce participants, summer institutes will influence close to 150 participants, regional networking sessions will touch approximately 1,200 participants, and summer research will engage several dozen Noyce participants. WRNA will help to increase the number of future STEM leaders in our region’s schools who will be prepared to effectively implement the Next Generation Science Standards and/or the Common Core State Standards in high needs schools as more Western Region states fully adopt or include similar standards in their STEM curricula. For Noyce leaders, there will be opportunities for a better understanding of Noyce evaluation and research efforts both nationally and locally.
