| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 13, 2023 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 13, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 2243377 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Jennifer Ellis
jtellis@nsf.gov (703)292-2125 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2023 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $75,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $75,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2200 VINE ST # 830861 LINCOLN NE US 68503-2427 (402)472-3171 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2200 VINE ST BOX 830861 LINCOLN NE US 68503-2427 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This project aims to serve the national need to conduct research regarding STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need school districts. Funds will support the principal investigators as they seek to increase capacity to conduct a research program that focuses on examining STEM teacher leader effectiveness and the leaders? impacts on STEM teacher effectiveness and retention. Utilizing established research practice partnerships (RPPs) in three different geographic locations, Nebraska, Tennessee, and South Carolina, university researchers will collaborate with high-need urban and rural school districts to identify the metrics and data sources that best align to the local context and goals that the project will use for measuring STEM teacher effectiveness, as well as STEM teacher retention. This Capacity Building project will focus on identifying needed data, deepening partnerships, and coming to agreement as to the evidence-based strategies that will undergird a future research effort consistent with the RPP approach.
This project is led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in partnership with Middle Tennessee State University and the University of South Carolina. Researchers at these institutions will be working with schools in Hamilton County Schools (Chattanooga), Crosstown High School (Memphis), Lower Richland High School (Columbia), and four regional Educational Service Units in Nebraska. Project goals include utilizing the RPPs to identify the data sources the project will use to measure the influence of teacher leaders on STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need school districts. This will position the RPP collaborators to develop a full research design to investigate STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in complex systems of high-need urban and rural local education agencies. In addition to leveraging RPPs, the project will use two evidence-based frameworks, the communities of practice framework and improvement science framework. This Capacity Building project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Using Research Practice Partnerships to Take Preliminary Steps towards a Full-fledged Investigation of the Influence of Teacher Leaders on STEM Teacher Effectiveness and Retention (RPP-TLead), a Track 4 Capacity Building Grant through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, was a planning grant is to coordinate efforts between institutions and school partners to identify and build consensus around instruments for measuring STEM teacher effectiveness. This capacity building project focused on identifying needed data, deepening partnerships, and coming to agreement as to the evidence-based strategies consistent with the research-practice partnerships (RPP) approach. This project was led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in partnership with Middle Tennessee State University and the University of South Carolina.
RPP T-Lead focused on: (1) establishing RPPs among the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), the University of South Carolina, and 7 local education agencies; (2) determining how each local education agency measures effective STEM teaching and teacher leadership; (3) investigating other measures of STEM teaching effectiveness in relevant research literature through literature review and expert consultation; and (4) using the new understanding about measuring STEM teaching effectiveness and leadership effectiveness to substantially revise the project investigators’ (PIs) original Noyce Track 4 proposal and submit to NSF.
Researchers at these institutions worked with schools in Hamilton County Schools (Chattanooga, Tennessee), Hopkins Middle School (Hopkins, South Carolina), and four regional Educational Service Units in Nebraska. Working alongside partner districts, researchers gathered data related to the nature and structure of both STEM teacher and STEM teacher leader support and evaluation. During this capacity building project, the team designed an in-depth survey that was administered to all partners. The goal of the survey was to gather information about and examples of current partner STEM teacher leadership roles and measures of STEM teacher and teacher leader effectiveness. We requested any documents that pertained to these questions be uploaded along with responses. At least one teacher leader and one administrator from each partner site completed the survey. In addition, each partner participated in interviews throughout the year with the goal of learning more about current STEM teacher and teacher leader positions, existing measures of the effectiveness of those positions, and what goals the partner districts desired alongside the PI team to learn more about these positions and practices. The PI team collected this data centrally. The PI team also met twice monthly to share findings from these surveys and interviews in preparation for a full project proposal.
The project also mentored one MTSU doctoral student who has since graduated. The student set up multiple Zoom meetings, crafted email communications, and set up travel for us to meet in person with district personnel. She also drafted a semi-structured interview protocol about the experiences of teacher leaders in the system to identify areas of perceived strengths and where the research-practice partnership might focus efforts towards improving outcomes going forward.
Four key outcomes emerged from this project. First, each institution and partner local education agency worked to build intentional relationships focused on STEM teachers and teacher leadership. Second, the project generated a repository of current STEM teacher and teacher leader evaluation tools used by each district. Third, the project provided research experiences for a doctoral student who has since successfully graduated. Fourth, the project team submitted a Noyce Track 4 proposal to build on the RPP cultivated in this capacity building project.
Last Modified: 12/11/2024
Modified by: Wendy M Smith
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