This is a proposal to test whether mentoring middle school science and math teachers by University Ph.D. STEM faculty has a positive effect on the teachers' understanding of science, their teaching ability and the learning outcomes of their students. This proposal will investigate the impact of content mentoring by University professionals on middle school science and mathematics teachers' knowledge, skills, dispositions and overall ability to effectively facilitate student learning and achievement. The goal of this research study is to strengthen the theoretical underpinning of best practices in middle grades math and science teaching and to enhance the knowledge base for teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and retention
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of University STEM faculty mentoring on middle grade mathematics and science teacher understanding of content. University faculty mentors focused upon helping teachers expand their understanding of course content, and this was accomplished through the mentoring process. The project was funded in 2006-2007, and continued through 2011-2012. North Carolina A&T State University formed partnerships with Alamance-Burlington, Guilford County, Lexington City, Thomasville City, Winston-Salem Forsyth, Randolph County, and Rockingham County school districts to conduct this experiment. This was an experimental research project designed to determine if mentoring by a professors with extensive knowledge in science and mathematics would directly and positively influence middle grade teachers’ content knowledge, and indirectly, students’ content knowledge in mathematics and science. The experiment was measured across two quantitative domains, including Praxis II scores, student achievement test scores. Other qualitative data were collected to discern principal’s evaluation of teachers, as well as teacher and university faculty impressions and perceptions of the mentoring process. Each academic year, middle grade teachers were selected from a pool of teacher volunteers. Teachers were then randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. Each cohort ranged from 30-60 middle grade teachers. As stated, the Praxis II for mathematics and science knowledge, and administered by the Educational Testing Service, was used to collect data from experimental and control group participants. The State of North Carolina uses an achievement test known as the North Carolina End-of Grade (NCEoG) test for certain middle grade content areas to determine annual academic growth. NCEoG test scores were an indirect measure in teacher content knowledge to view the differences between experimental and control groups. University STEM faculty (mentors) and middle grade mathematics and science teachers (mentee/ protégés) underwent mentor training together. This training exposed university faculty to middle grade math and science curricular, mentoring dynamics, and both mentors and mentees in expectations related to their participation in the study. Based on a matching inventory, faculty and teachers were matched for the year long experience. Because of the mentoring experience, teachers were able to have a wide range of academic experiences. Faculty visited teachers’ classrooms, taught lessons, performed demonstrations, and invited teachers and students to the university campus where students engaged in academic activities. Science laboratories were visited ranging from agriculture and engineering to science areas such as biology, chemistry, physics, and technology. Business faculty with strong backgrounds in mathematics became mathematics teacher mentors. North Carolina A&T State University has a New York Stock Exchange Trading Room Lab which allowed university faculty to develop mathematics activities for middle grade students while the students visited the campus for a day-long experience in understanding the stock market and to do other mathematics activities. Mentors and mentees attended a fall and spring Saturday Drive-In Mathematics and Science Conference. Presentations were made by faculty and middle grade teachers. Feedback from each of the conferences was consistently positive, including comments such as, "This is the way math and science should be for staff development"; and, "Why don’t you come to our district and conduct staff development?" Some of the quantitative data findings proved inconclusive in determining whether content mentoring and mentor/mentee relationship increased content knowledge of either teachers or students. Data were collected per each cohort. By contrast, the qualitative data indicated that university mentors relationships were extremely important to teachers. Teachers were delighted to know that they could count on someone daily or weekly to address issues in content knowledge and understanding concepts and principles that the teachers did not know. Access to a variety of science and mathematics experiences were highlighted by many of the teachers. Over 90 university faculty participated in the content mentoring project. Six school districts participated in the study which impacted over 200 teachers and some 20,000 students.
