Teacher retention is one of the biggest challenges facing the improvement of STEM education. Across all grade levels and disciplines, studies show that almost 50% of new teachers leave the profession in the first five years and secondary STEM teachers are not an exception. The Phase II Noyce Scholarship Monitoring and Evaluation project at Saint Joseph's University (SJU) will explore the factors that influence secondary STEM teacher retention. High teacher turnover is a fact in many high-need schools and understanding how teachers make the decision to stay or leave may help develop solutions to this problem. This research will provide a better understanding of the process of identity development and its relationship to the decision to stay or leave a high-need STEM classroom. This in turn can be used to inform undergraduate teacher preparation programs and companion efforts to support teachers in their early years of teaching, thus ultimately having a positive impact on teacher retention.
Research suggests that a strong identity as a STEM teacher in a high-need school will be correlated with a decision to continue and this grant would support a rigorous investigation of the process by which the Noyce Scholars construct, or fail to construct, these identities. This project will begin with eight SJU Noyce Scholars already employed in public, charter and private schools in the city of Philadelphia. More scholars will start teaching at the beginning of this project and several more are still in their pre-service (undergraduate) program. The teaching commitments mandated by their Noyce Scholarships will begin to be satisfied during the next three years and SJU seeks a better understanding of the motivation of why they choose to continue or not to continue in their positions beyond this commitment. Research activities will include regular classroom visits and extensive one-on-one interviews with the SJU Noyce Scholars. The Noyce Scholars will also keep journals, and common themes will be identified that are associated with whether teachers remain or leave. These findings will in turn inform SJU teacher preparation programs and early career professional support efforts.
