PURPOSE
The long term goal of Project ATOMS is to more deeply understand the connections between teacher preparation experiences and pre-service teachers’ development into effective teachers as measured by teachers’ beliefs, knowledge, instructional practices, and their future students’ learning gains. Through the utilization of advanced quantitative and qualitative research techniques, the ATOMS research project hopes to be able to make causal inferences to explain how and why elementary teachers develop as they do. Ultimately, the project aims to produce clear evidence linking features of the ATOMS teacher preparation model to teacher knowledge and development, instructional practices, and student achievement.
METHODS
To achieve these ends, the ATOMS research project utilizes test instruments, interviews, observations, and teacher logs. Project ATOMS incorporates a mixed methods approach, including a large-scale, longitudinal design, rigorous case studies, and advanced statistical techniques including HLM and propensity score matching.
ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES
There are several critically important outcomes anticipated from the ATOMS Research Project. First, the creation of a comprehensive longitudinal database tracking teacher candidates from pre-service through their first two years of teaching which includes rich measures of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, self-efficacy, and teaching practices, all of which will all be linked to their students’ achievement data. The findings from this study will provide accurate guidance for Deans of Colleges and Schools of Education and other policymakers on the impact of particular aspects of elementary teacher preparation programs that affect teachers’ practices as well as elementary student achievement in science and mathematics. Furthermore, the project provides a clear example of the use of causal evidence in teacher preparation program evaluation. Lastly, the dissemination of research findings through publicly available reports and conference presentations will add to the knowledge surrounding teacher education.
GUIDING RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- How do teacher preparation activities in a STEM-focused program influence the development of pre-service teachers’ deep conceptual knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, self-efficacy beliefs, and instructional practices?
- How do teachers trained in a STEM-focused teacher preparation program view their preparation experiences and how do they perceive the program to have impacted their teaching practices and ability to deal with the challenges routinely experienced by new teachers?
- How do pre-service measures of knowledge, beliefs and practices of teachers trained in a STEM-focused teacher preparation program relate to their measurable classroom practice in their first two years of teaching?
- After controlling for student and school-level characteristics, how do student achievement gains in classrooms served by beginning teachers trained in a STEM-focused teacher preparation program compare to student achievement gains in classrooms served by a matched sample of other beginning teachers in the state?