Track 4 funding is requested for an emerging national STEM preparation community of practice (CoP), including HBCU Alabama A&M University, regional comprehensives Central Washington, Middle TN State, University of Nevada-Reno and University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, urban-centric University of Houston, Hispanic Serving Institution UT Rio Grande Valley, and state flagships North Dakota State University and the University of Texas at Austin working together to study teacher persistence and effectiveness along with supporting partners (Tripod and UTeach Institute). The CoP provides sufficient enrollment and variation in teacher and preservice experiences to provide statistical power for quantitative analyses of initial placement and retention in high-needs school districts (HNSDs). The project measures teacher effectiveness with the nationally normed Tripod student survey. These analyses are enhanced through qualitative interviews of teachers in HNSDs providing a comprehensive exploration of STEM teacher persistence and effectiveness. Finally, the CoP provides the platform for communicating and implementing strategies identified in this project back to practitioners in teacher preparation programs to build a common vision of effective STEM teacher preparation. The combination of institutions, data collected, and Tripod survey measure of efficacy aids in addressing DEI goals in STEM education, specifically differences in student engagement and distribution and retention of teachers to HNSDs. 

The CoP combines a proprietary dataset augmented with institutionally collected data and CoP identified variables of interest to assemble one of the largest STEM teacher databases to date with over 1300 initial placements and 250 Noyce scholars followed longitudinally producing one of the largest STEM teacher databases to date. The CoP leverages internal collaboration to identify programmatic features of interest for both quantitative and qualitative analysis to inform retention in HNSDs and schools. Additionally, research questions have been identified by the members of the emerging CoP for addressing the most critical and timely challenges impacting effectiveness and retention of STEM teachers in HNSDs. Both the size of the dataset and the nature of the methodology allow this project to generate knowledge connecting programmatic features of teacher preparation programs and resulting STEM teacher persistence and efficacy in HNSDs in ways that are currently not well understood and likely to be of high interest to STEM teacher educators, policy makers, HNSD partners, and the general public. 

The very nature of this project with its implementation of a STEM teacher preparation CoP, will have significant impacts on STEM education. By better understanding the programmatic features of teacher preparation programs that support persistence and effectiveness of STEM teachers in HNSDs and developing the infrastructure through which these results can be shared and implemented, STEM teacher education can be improved through the better preparation of K12 STEM teachers. By focusing on STEM education in HNSDs, populations of students that have historically been underserved in STEM courses will have more equitable access to quality STEM teachers. Therefore, a wider variety of students will be more likely to consider STEM focused careers thereby increasing the inclusion of all students in STEM and potentially diversifying the STEM workforce. Finally, large collaborations of teacher preparation programs are a unique occurrence. By studying the functionality and outcomes of this CoP a potential mechanism for improving equitable access to high quality STEM education will be developed.