Physics, as a foundational science, has particular importance in predicting the postsecondary success of students who major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This quasiexperimental, observational study examined teacher-level and school-level predictors of student performance in physics, with a focus on isolated teachers. A New York State case study is useful since the teacher certification policy is largely determined at the state level in the U.S. The overall sample included New York State public schools that offered physics (N ¼ 960), physics teachers (N ¼ 1584), and student physics test takers (N ¼ 47 734) in the academic year 2016-2017. Teacher-level variables included the content preparation and certification of physics teachers, physics course load, professional age (years of experience), whether the teacher was isolated, whether the teacher taught mathematics, and whether the teacher taught Advanced Placement Physics; and school-level variables including physics standardized test passing rates, school size, socioeconomic status, locale, and physics course taking ratio. Data were collected from a variety of publicly available sources that were verified by state education agencies. Results indicated a significant proportion (40%) of physics teachers were isolated, and their students tended to have weaker physics performance scores than students of nonisolated teachers. Compared to the nonisolated teachers, a larger percentage of isolated physics teachers were uncertified in physics and taught in urban and rural schools. There was no significant difference in professional age between isolated and nonisolated teachers, but urban teachers had less teaching experience than suburban and rural physics teachers. When analyzing the subset of isolated teachers (n ¼ 449), a multiple linear regression model indicated urban locale and schoollevel socioeconomic status were the main negative predictors of student physics performance, while rural physics locale and professional age were positive predictors of physics performance; the model explained 38% of the variance, a large effect. Teaching experience acted as a mediator of poverty and urban locale in predicting student physics performance with a small effect size. Implications related to equity considerations and physics education policy are discussed.
The chemistry teacher pipeline has experienced considerable loss of teachers due to turnover. High turnover rates create localized staffing problems and a revolving door of novice teachers, particularly in the sciences and in urban and rural locales, which impacts student learning and achievement. This nonexperimental longitudinal study examined patterns in teacher turnover (retention, attrition, and migration) of one cohort of chemistry teachers (n = 2410) over a five-year period between 2012 and 2017. The theoretical framework for the study incorporated teacher and school-level characteristics in predicting teacher career satisfaction and behaviors. Of the 2410 teachers, 196 retired from teaching during the five-year period. Descriptive statistics were generated for the remaining 2214 chemistry teachers, and data revealed that 79.4% of the chemistry teachers (n = 1757) stayed in their school districts, 11.6% (n = 256) left public school teaching (preretirement), and 9.1% (n = 201) moved to other school districts. Of the teachers who migrated to different locales, 61% moved from urban or rural schools to suburban schools. A multinomial logistic regression model revealed that professional age (years since certification), urban and rural locale, course load taught in chemistry, certification in chemistry, and teaching in isolation were all predictors of chemistry teacher attrition. The model also indicated that chemistry teacher migration was predicted by professional age, student chemistry performance, and teaching in isolation. The overall model had a large effect size. These findings have implications for the preparation and support of chemistry teachers, particularly novice teachers in urban and rural locales and those teaching in isolation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.