Teacher Recruitment & Retention

Guilford County Schools Mission Possible Evaluation

The purpose of this 5-year evaluation was to determine the extent to which: (1) the most highly qualified teachers and administrators are being recruited and retained; (2) the Mission Possible training and incentives impact teacher and student outcomes at Guilford County’s Mission Possible Schools; (3) the Mission Possible teachers and administrators are trained as proposed. Propensity score matching will be used to identify comparison schools within North Carolina. Other data collected by SERVE included a climate survey and publicly available state data.

Client: Guilford County Schools, NC
Funding: Guilford County Schools Teaching Incentive Grant
Topics: teacher incentive pay, teacher recruitment and
retention, math, English

New Schools Project—Redesign 2.0 Initiative

The Redesign 2.0 Initiative was a collaborative partnership among SAS, the North Carolina New Schools Project (NCNSP), the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, and school districts to create highly effective schools that demonstrate effective teaching practices through the use of technology. The intent of these schools, with the active support of their districts, was to demonstrate effective instruction and student support with the overarching goal of graduating 100% of students prepared for work and for the option of college.

Client: SAS, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
Funding: The North Carolina New Schools Project, SAS, Inc., the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
Topics: effective teaching practices through the use of technology

Scale-Up: Scaling up STEM Learning with the VCL

This Scale Up project uses advanced cyber infrastructure in combination with sustained, relevant professional development to support teachers’ use of advanced software tools in algebra and geometry. All of these components have been demonstrated as promising approaches to addressing STEM workforce shortfalls among under-represented populations. Together, they form a powerful strategy for effectively scaling up regionally and nationally. This project focused on a set of rural school systems in North Carolina as a test bed for conducting a rigorous evaluation of scale-up. Opportunities for students to engage in problem-solving and inquiry approaches to learning mathematics in technology-rich environments to address knowledge, skills, and dispositions are crucial for STEM workforce readiness.

Client: NSCU, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
Funding: National Science Foundation
Topics: teacher professional development, STEM learning

TechMath: Real World Math, Technology and Business Connections

TechMath was a three-year program linking businesses, teachers, students, and higher education to enhance rural, underserved student career potential in northeastern North Carolina. TechMath addressed the current educational gap between real-world business and education by arranging partnerships between local businesses and mathematics and science teachers. The tangible products of these partnerships were instructional modules incorporating local, real-world business problems into mathematics instruction. The local partnerships and the resulting instruction was expected to empower the high percentage of underserved, underrepresented students of rural North Carolina to pursue a wider range of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career options.

Client: East Carolina University Funding
Agency: National Science Foundation
Topics: STEM learning, student engagement
Contact: Kathleen Mooney