Welcome! Thanks so much for taking the time to view the video. Our ARISE - Advancing Research & Innovation in the STEM Education of Preservice Teachers in High-Need School Districts (ARISE) - work has just emerged in the past couple years, but builds off AAAS' long history supporting NSF's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program. How can we collaborate to fill in gaps in our knowledge about how best to prepare and retain STEM teachers to work in high-need school districts? Consider adding your thoughts below and/or contacting us to share your research in a blog or other form with our ARISE network.

Superb video, very important subject and a strong narrative. Excellent.

Jennifer,

It is good to see that the building blocks in encouraging students, especially the under-represented ones to STEM starts with knowledgable teachers. I agree that providing professional development and curriculum for these teachers is of great importance. 

My questions is what have you done in terms of creating a community for these teachers to rely on when they need help and more guidance?

Great work, Jennifer. High quality video, high quality data, important message to share. Our pre- and in-service teachers definitely find support in the very ecosystems that have been created through the Noyce program, and reading timely articles in the ARISE website have been very helpful.

What have been some of the main reasons found in this work that may help us understand why teachers remain and teachers leave the profession? If teacher preparation programs are an influence on future retention what can teacher prep programs do better (that might not be in place now) to promote induction and retention? And thanks! This was/is an important project!

Thank you so much for the focus on synthesizing literature on STEM teacher preparation, practices, and attrition/retention.  I have not read your papers (yet), but I am wondering if you found any differences in trends in any of the different disciplines (Science, Math, Technology, Engineering) or levels of education (elementary, middle, high).  In particular, many traditional career and technical education teacher preparation programs have transitioned to include a broader focus on engineering education in K-12 and advanced technologies such as robotics and biotech. SO I am wondering about literature coming from these different domain on teacher prep/practices/retention, and if there are notable differences.  Are there different domains in which we need more targeted research?

Excellent overview of the book and papers, Jennifer. Looking forward to reading the new book soon. Thank you and congratulations.

Great video, and very timely important project!. I think synthesizing the STEM teacher preparation literature is very important. I am wondering if anyone also studied the impact of the partnership between teacher preparation programs and the school districts on the retention. In my experience as an evaluator on some Noyce projects, it plays a huge rolefor preparing the teachers for the classrooms when the partnership is strong, and the preparation programs have a better idea of the schools' cultures, especially in high-need schools.

Excellent video, Jennifer. I love the animations! I attended the ARISE meeting prior to last year's Noyce conference and enjoyed engaging with scholars around some of the major issues within the STEM teacher preparation literature. It's exciting to see how the project has developed and I can see this work being immensely valuable to STEM teachers and those working to support them. 

Awesome video! As someone with expertise in K-12 STEM education research and policy we know the research says effective teachers are the greatest influence on student achievement and success. The ARISE initiative examines the factors that define  "effective" STEM teachers and those that impact retention and attrition. This work is greatly needed, as it focuses on pre-service teachers in high-needs school districts which raises critical issues of equity and access that need to be addressed.

Thanks for sharing the series of papers to examine the current state of STEM teacher retention and preparation. These papers will be helpful in the work we are doing in Baltimore City Public Schools to hire and retain STEM teachers in our district. I did not have the opportunity to read your research yet but wonder if there is a difference in your findings across different STEM subjects such as math or science.  Aligning strong partnerships with higher ed and K-12 school districts to develop strong ongoing mentorships and professional learning is so important and needed.

This is a great video about much needed research! I find it so interesting that loosing good STEM teachers has a clear impact on the learning environment.

Great video production. Your focus fits alongside our NOYCE LIST project. This video does a great job of highlighting the existing problems for STEM education and describing necessary future research.

I guess there's always going to be somebody with a critical or curious word:  I experienced cognitive dissonance in your video at time point 2:38 where you have two people shaking hands.  Why are they shaking with their left hands? [dissonance:  right hands are normally normative; these days, even shaking hands is discouraged].  Additional note: with my religious female Muslim students [and now just about everybody], no hand-shaking either.  We were elbow-knocking in my lab long before COVID-19.

I think the role of teachers in developing our next generation of STEM workers in clear. What I am wondering about it the role that STEM teachers play in recruiting future STEM teachers? When I hear students ask about careers in STEM or see posters depicting STEM jobs, a career in STEM education is often overlooked or missing completely.

Interesting observation, DeeDee. I agree that STEM education is often overlooked in terms of STEM career options for young people. In fact, I tried to hint in the video at the role STEM teachers can play in inspiring their students to become STEM teachers by having one of the four of the students at the beginning grow up to be in the classroom at the end, educating his own students about STEM options. Many STEM teachers, as with other STEM professionals, often cite a STEM teacher they had as being the impetus for their career decision. More formal teacher pipeline programs for high school students , specific to STEM or more general like Educators Rising, are also interesting models. Knowing more about findings from the research question you pose would definitely be a useful part of the bigger picture on this issue from the recruitment side, though slowing the rate at which effective STEM teachers leave high-need school districts would decrease the amount of new STEM teachers needed each year.

DeeDee and Jennifer, great topic for discussion. I am also taken aback when STEM teaching is (typically) not included in the list of STEM careers students are encouraged to pursue. We all need to continue our work to change that dialogue. Also agree current STEM teachers can play an important role in inspiring and retaining the next generation of STEM teachers! 

This one really hit home for me. I followed the link referenced in your video to one of the papers. I completely identify with the statement that "a growing number of recent studies have found teacher perceptions of their working conditions are strongly associated with teachers’ decisions to leave a school" as well as the finding that "'teachers who leave high-poverty schools are not fleeing their students, but rather the poor working conditions that make it difficult for them to teach and their students to learn.' Research on the relationship between teacher working conditions and teacher attrition or turnover suggests the working condition that has the strongest relationship with teacher intentions to remain at a school is leadership behaviors." I've been teaching at the same institution of higher education for over 20 years, and the past several years have me strongly considering applying for other professor positions to get out from under the current oppressive environment. I absolutely love our students and HAD been thrilled and blessed to be at the campus, but the endurance to stick it out is waning.

I think Mark's point that highlights the finding that STEM teachers are not leaving high poverty schools becasue of the stduents is a crucial one.  This is where the message needs to get to the leadership preparation programs (for principals and instructional coaches) to focus on what it takes to lead a high poverty school with appropriate focus and support in STEM!

Thank you for sharing. Your video was eye opening.

I really enjoyed your video Jennifer and am excited to hear that so much more attention is being put in this under-served area. My University has just been awarded our second NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship funding and we are currently recruiting students majoring in STEM disciplines, while also gaining experience and training in teaching. The combined support will shape more confident educators. Training confident, inspirational STEM educators is so important, in fact my fifth-grade science teacher helped put me on my own path to academia. Perhaps the next rendition of support for recruiting and retaining excellent educators in high-poverty schools would increase availability of mechanisms for funding mentoring programs within the schools/districts and funding continued professional development; thereby supporting the growth of a community to support sustained development and support. Teachers are spread so thin and so much is asked of them, with such little pay. Casting a wider net of financially supporting these efforts would provide an excellent return on investment. Thanks for support future STEM educators.

Congrats on your second Noyce grant! I am glad you enjoyed the video and definitely agree regarding further support of mentoring. I would advocate that these initiatives should be structured in a way that allows for systematic study of what models maximize return on investment, as our authors found few existing studies focusing on what induction interventions work best for STEM teachers in high-need schools, to better inform future investments.

I am so glad I found your video. Suzanne Wilson was my favorite professor back when she was at Michigan State, and I love her writing. I have downloaded your resources and will add them to my library!