Building Great STEM Teachers

Tory Read, Founder & PrincipalTory Read Studio

The Study

• Topic: How to produce and support great K-12 STEM teachers, so we create STEM-

literate citizens and STEM-capable workers• Data: 30 interviews - Teachers,

superintendents, faculty, deans, professional development providers, ELL experts, test

designers, policy experts, CCTC• Year: 2012

• Objective: To catalyze vision, planning and action

STEM is:

Education in math or science, using engineering design

approaches and technology tools, delivered through a combination of hands-on, student-centered,

inquiry-based projects and direct instruction.

Teacher Training Includes:

Teacher Preparation –undergraduate + 1 year

Induction – first 2 years on the jobProfessional Learning – ongoing over

course of career

STEM teaches students the skills they need in the 21st century workplace

• Use reason and inquiry to solve problems.

• Gather and analyze evidence.• Construct arguments, engage in debate and critique the reasoning

of others.• Use appropriate tools

strategically.• Collaborate and communicate.• Adhere to a rigorous set of

practices.

The Opportunity

• STEM jobs grew 3x as fast as non-STEM jobs from 2001-2011.

• STEM occupations are projected to grow 17% from 2008-2018, compared to 8% for non-STEM jobs.

• Wages in STEM fields are 27-60% higher than in non-STEM fields, depending on education level attained.

• Workers in STEM fields have significantly lower unemployment rates than workers in non-STEM fields.

The Problem – Kids aren’t learning what they need to learn in math and science

• US 15-year-olds ranked 36th in mathematics, 28th in science and 24th in reading behind other nations on the 2012 PISA.

• Only 35% of US 8th graders are proficient in mathematics and just 36% are proficient in reading, according to the 2012 NAEP.

• Math literacy at age 4 is predictive of both math and reading proficiency in third grade, but most children birth-4 are in a chaotic hodge-podge of child care and early education settings.

The Problem – Most teachers aren’t prepared to teach students

well in math and science

• We have an inadequate supply of math and science teachers across all of K-12.

• Most K-8 teachers are underprepared in math and science, and many of them fear these two subjects.

• It is difficult to attract math and science majors to teach in K-8 because they can make better money elsewhere.

• Few early childhood educators are comfortable teaching numeracy and math.

We know what good training looks like. It:

• Is coherent, progressive and follows a teacher from college through career.

• Features close, sleeves-rolled-up partnerships between districts and teacher training programs. Faculty and K-12 teachers collaborate to design the teacher training experience.

• Integrates content, pedagogy and clinical practice, so teachers learn what to teach and how to teach it by teaching real students in real classrooms.

• Features faculty that use technology fluently.• Explicitly includes STEM subjects all along the

training continuum.

We know what good clinical practice looks like. It:

• Starts early, during undergraduate coursework.• Features faculty working directly with classroom

teachers to co-design the clinical practice experience.

• Supports specially trained mentor teachers to oversee and co-teach with teachers-in-training.

• Occurs in schools where principals and host teachers explicitly agree to allow teachers-in-training to practice what they are learning in their courses.

• Includes reflective practice, in which teachers-in-training learn to use data to evaluate themselves and their peers.

• Trains and deploys teachers-in-training in cohorts to enable peer-to-peer learning and communities of practice.

Barriers to Improving Student Learning in STEM Subjects

• Teacher training experiences are typically discreet, disconnected and repetitive.

• K-8 teachers need more math and science training – more content, more practice.

• Clinical practice experiences are often too short, inadequately supervised and have little time for reflection.

• Faculty members control what they teach, so faculty who teach teachers need to drink the kool-aid and change what they teach and how they teach it.

• Many faculty members are disconnected from K-12 realities, and tenure evaluation systems privilege academic research over fieldwork, which discourages faculty from spending more time in K-12 classrooms.

To improve STEM teacher quality, we must:

• Transform a chaotic system of discreet training experiences into a coherent, aligned and logical system of continuous and progressive training.

• Increase capacity of teacher training institutions, school districts and county offices of education in math and science.

• Increase the depth of math and science courses for teachers-in-training.

• Organize teachers into professional learning teams and communities.

• Create a career ladder with associated pay increases, and build a system that awards and renews teachers credentials based on demonstrated competencies.

• Train faculty and teachers to be fluent in technology and use it seamlessly as a teaching and course management tool.

• Devote more funding to innovation and evaluation in STEM teacher training.

The Time is Right

• The CTC recently changed the structure of teacher training to allow more integration of content and pedagogy.

• The new K-12 content standards in math, ELA and science create space and demand for great STEM teachers.

• Planning and implementing the Local Control Funding Formula creates opportunities to inject STEM into district culture and practice.

• CTC is starting to revise teacher preparation and induction program standards.

RecommendationsCA Commission on Teacher Credentialing

• Revise teacher preparation and induction program standards to include strong partnerships between teacher preparation programs and districts.

• Strengthen math and science for all multi-subject credential candidates.

• Award and renew teacher credentials based on demonstrated competencies.

• Streamline the paperwork for accreditation renewal and sanction and close programs that are not doing a good job.

• Require teacher training programs to track and report on how their graduates perform in the classroom, including their impact on student learning in STEM subjects.

RecommendationsCA Legislature

• Establish a P-3 teaching credential with a strong early math component.

• Create a ladder of credentials for teachers, awarded as they reach increased competency levels over time.

• Link each step on the credential ladder to increases in compensation.

RecommendationsTeacher Preparation Programs

• Enlist interested teacher prep faculty and K-12 math and science teachers to lead the transformation.

• Reward faculty for making changes in their courses.• Encourage teacher prep faculty to spend time in K-

12 schools.• Train teacher prep faculty to fluently incorporate

technology into their teaching practice.• Expand the range of clinical practice settings to

include STEM programs in after school and informal science settings.

RecommendationsSchool Districts

• Revamp staffing structures to accommodate and compensate mentor teachers, master teachers and math and science specialists.

• Increase the amount of time for science in elementary grades.

• Allocate time for teachers to work and learn in teams.

• Allow students to use technology in the classroom.• Require that elementary school principals know

enough math and science to create a pro-STEM school culture.

RecommendationsPhilanthropy & Industry

• Pay for experts to analyze funding streams se we can re-allocate existing resources to revamped teacher training.

• Build the evidence base. Pay for evaluations and case studies, and convene workshops to gather the evidence on what works in what contexts.

• Support best-practice partnerships between teacher training programs and districts.

• Support efforts to develop systems for measuring teacher quality and tying it back to teacher training programs, so programs can engage in continuous improvement based on data.

• Provide teacher candidates in math and science with opportunities for hands-on experience in real laboratories and industry settings.

Small Group Activity

In your group, discuss the following questions.

• Which recommendations are most important?• What is your role?

• What can you do to improve teacher training?