COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Teacher Network Retention in Noyce Communities of Practice

COLLABORATIVE: Teacher Network Retention in Noyce Communities of Practice Overview : The demand for a qualified, competent, and stable K12 science teaching workforce is being emphasized now more strongly than ever. Given the historic difficulty of steering talented science degree holders into K12 teaching careers and the propensity of the education system to resist change, our retention efforts should be focused on developing support mechanisms for new teachers that can operate within the existing system. The proposed work seeks to answer fundamental questions regarding our nation’s ability to successfully prepare and retain highly qualified secondary STEM teachers for positions in public schools, informed by the 2010 National Research Council (NRC) report on teacher preparation and retention. Using social network theory and SNA techniques as experimental methods, we seek to answer critical questions about Noyce teacher programs and the links between communities of practice (CoP) and teacher retention. Specifically, we seek to determine (i) how different Noyce program types and support features have influenced the development of teacher communities of practice, (ii) the extent to which Noyce programs and teacher communities of practice impact teacher disposition toward remaining in the profession, and (iii) the effect of different Noyce programs and teacher communities of practice have on teacher identity. Intellectual Merit : To answer these questions, our research design includes three main data collection stages; (I) surveying successful Noyce projects from across the US with high rates of retaining teachers in the teaching profession (within and outside the Noyce Project), (II) characterizing Noyce teachers and CoP demographics, and (III) investigating aspects of teacher identity (e.g., beliefs, selfefficacy) related to retention. Broader Impacts : By studying several geographically disparate Noyce institutions, the results of this project are expected to directly influence current and future Noyce Teacher Scholarship programs nationwide in designing/revising teacher preparation programs. By identifying a set of best practices for training scholars, our findings may directly impact X teachers and Y students each year. These results can be more broadly disseminated to other, nonNoyce teacher induction programs, which may widen the pool of impacted teachers and students