The Noyce Teacher Scholarship Phase II project at University of California-Santa Cruz is researching math and science teacher retention and attrition in high needs schools so as to better inform strategies to improve the supply and quality of STEM teachers in public schools. Results from the Phase I project demonstrated the insufficiency of academic and pedagogical training alone to ensure teacher retention in underserved schools. Specifically, the initial data suggested that working conditions, and especially hiring and class assignment practices, might be driving Noyce Scholar Teachers out of their schools and even the profession. This project is specifying the enacted policies and practices in the schools and of the teachers that result in the retention of highly qualified teachers in high-needs schools.
The research project is using a nested case design to follow the thirty-two Noyce Scholar Teachers working in three unique districts, from the Phase I project, through the next three years of their teaching. Teachers' career decisions and trajectories are being tracked and examined within the context of their sites of employment. Insight is being obtained on the organizational contexts that attract high-qualified teachers and the strategies and practices that lead to retention beyond the first few years of teaching. The interplay between individual teacher commitment, career trajectory and decision making, with school and district human resource policy and practices, and with school-level working conditions, is being characterized.
This research is informing the local and national Noyce Scholar community about ensuring a stable teacher workforce. The results are being shared with teacher education students to better guide their job search and opportunity selection process. The case study findings are being summarized in a professional handbook for teachers and human resource personnel on strategies that lead to successful navigation of teacher employment selection, placement, and working conditions that ensures teacher retention.
