Several recent frameworks and standards development groups, including the National Research Council and the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, have called for a change in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher education and professional development, as well as for changes in teacher certification. As the community seeks to change STEM teacher preparation, it will need to build the research base.
The 2010 NRC report Preparing Teachers: Building Evidence for Sound Policy indicates that there is a consensus on the knowledge and skills that STEM teachers need, but more research is needed to reach a general agreement on what constitutes effective STEM teacher preparation, particularly as related to preparing STEM teachers who are effective in high-need schools.
In response, Advancing Research & Innovation in the STEM Education of Preservice Teachers in High-Need School Districts (ARISE) will foster:
ARISE will provide resources, tools, and a community for:
- Current and prospective researchers who seek to expand the research base on STEM teacher preparation, especially as related to high-need schools
- Teacher education programs that are pursuing evidence-based changes in STEM preservice teacher education, as related to high-need schools.
AAAS will work with our community, which includes grantees of the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and other STEM preservice education research grantees funded by NSF and the U.S. Department of Education, to:
- assemble and convene a cross-disciplinary working group of preservice educators, education researchers, staff from key education and professional societies, and others (completed – learn more);
- co-host regional meetings to get input from college and university STEM faculty and students, local and state education agencies, and others (completed – learn more);
- produce a series of commissioned papers (in progress – learn more);
- conduct a literature search and create an annotated online bibliography and other web-related tools (completed – browse resource);
- survey teacher preservice programs, resulting in a report (in progress – read baseline report);
- host a summit(s) with the ARISE working group, teacher education program leaders, and others (ongoing – learn more); and
- write a final report (in progress – stay tuned)!
