Beginning Mathematics and Science Teachers: A New Study of Their Subject-Specific Needs and Induction
Research of the 1980s and 1990s related to beginning STEM teachers focused on understanding their early teaching experiences and particular needs. Studies more often sought to understand effects of and implications for teacher preparation than to examine teacher induction and mentoring (Davis, Petish & Smithey, 2006). Induction programs at large mostly are 'one size fits all', i.e., they serve beginning teachers of all grades and subjects in similar ways. Over the last decade, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded the development of a dozen or so induction and mentoring programs that serve only mathematics and/or science teachers, including some work being carried out by MSP projects. Research on such subject-specific induction approaches is at an early stage. The research conducted by the MSP-RETA study of STEM teacher induction is a rare study in several ways: conducted by researchers external to the mentoring and induction projects; focused on beginning teachers in five different induction programs across seven states and 20 school districts having very different contexts.
