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The current national priority for systemic approaches to the reform of science and mathematics education has led to unprecedented interest in research on the efficacy of science and mathematics teacher preparation programs. In response to this priority, a focus on collaborative approaches to educational reform and to research on educational reform resulted in a national collaborative research consortium of insitutions of higher education. The consortium was formed to investigate the following question about secondary science teacher education: What are the perceptions, beliefs, and classroom performances of beginning secondary teachers as related to their philosophies of teaching and their content pedagogical skills? The research design and instrumentation yielded detailed descriptions that elicited knowledge and beliefs held by beginning teachers about science, the nature of teaching and learning, and their philosophy of teaching. An analysis of video portfolios of beginning teachers provided classroom-based evidence of their performance in both subject matter and pedagogical dimensions of teaching. Among the findings from this 3-year exploratory study were that teachers graduated from their teacher preparation programs with a range of knowledge and beliefs about: how teachers should interact with subject content and processes, what teachers should be doing in the classroom, what students should be doing in the classroom, philosophies of teaching, and how they perceived themselves as classroom teachers. Beginning teachers described their practices as very student-centered. Observations of these teaching practices contrasted starkly with teacher beliefs: While teachers professed student-centered beliefs, they behaved in teacher-centered ways. Undertaking intensive, collaborative studies such as the one described in this article, is the beginning of efforts through which the science and mathematics education communities can strive to address the needs of students, teachers, teacher educators, and other stakeholders working to establish a common vision for excellent instruction and systemic, long-lasting reform. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 930 -954, 1999 Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), testified ". . . In an enterprise such as education . . . research is the best hope we have of distinguishing between fads and facts, prejudices and informed judgment, habits and insights. Without systematic inquiry, development, and testing, we will continue to have the same babble of arguments and practices concerning what works or ought to work. Without good research, we will continue on an endless cycle of mistakes . . . an endless reinvention of mousetraps, the same rehashing of controversies, and in the end, the same faltering school system" (AFT conference, 1993). The current national priority for systemic approaches to the reform of science and mathematics education has led to unprecedented interest in research on the efficacy of science and m...

Universities working in collaboration with school districts have created programs that benefit both, as well as supporting novice teachers.

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Educational opportunity gaps experienced by students of color living in poverty, with accompanying lower levels of mathematics achievement, remain a roadblock to their access to college-level training in STEM fields. To address this problem, secondary teachers must be confident in their ability to share mathematics content effectively with students from cultures different than their own. Bridging the opportunity gap is more likely with two elements in place: intellectually stimulating pre-college experiences and community partnerships that establish connections between underserved neighborhoods and resource-filled environments such as university campuses. This study explored the effects of teaching in a four-week STEM summer camp for ethnically diverse, high-needs middle school girls on the teaching self-efficacy of highly-qualified preservice secondary mathematics teachers, a group that has been less studied than preservice elementary teachers. Participants were scholarship students in a federally-funded teacher preparation scholarship program at an urban, metropolitan university. Teaching self-efficacy was measured by the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) and by follow-up qualitative analysis of questionnaire responses and focus groups. Participants’ gains on the MTEBI were significant for Personal Mathematics Teaching Efficacy, but not for Mathematics Teaching Outcome Expectancy. Qualitative analyses suggested that both instructional coaching and everyday interactions in a summer camp setting contributed strongly to the preservice teachers’ increased confidence about teaching mathematics to culturally diverse, high-needs learners.