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Abstract BackgroundTeacher turnover is a dire and chronic problem for many education systems across the globe. According to UNESCO, 70% of teachers will be replaced by 2030. This study investigates the relationship between the retention of science and mathematics teachers and factors related to human, social, structural, and positive psychological capital—a four-capital teacher retention model. More specifically, this study explores how teaching self-efficacy, leadership engagement, teacher-school fit, diversity beliefs, community connections, and professional social network characteristics (e.g., size, bridging, proximity, reach) relate to teacher retention. Additionally, potential differences in retention and the aforementioned factors related to the four-capital model between Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs) and their peers (non-MTFs) with similar human capital (demographics and experience) are explored in this study. Participants were K-12 science and mathematics teachers (85 MTFs and 82 non-MTFs) from six different regions across the U.S. MTFs participated in one of seven long-term (5–6 years) Robert Noyce Master Teaching Fellowship Programs funded by the National Science Foundation. ResultsLeadership engagement was positively associated with shifting (from teaching to a formal leadership position). Teacher-school fit was negatively associated with leaving. For secondary teachers, teaching self-efficacy was positively associated with shifting to a leadership position. Leadership network size, bridging, and geographic proximity variables were positively related to shifting when compared to staying as classroom teachers. Teaching network bridging and leadership network bridging were positively related to leavers when compared to stayers. MTF shifters were likely to shift earlier in their careers than non-MTFs. Lastly, MTFs had higher self-efficacy, geographically larger teaching networks and leadership networks, and more contacts and bridging roles in their leadership networks than non-MTFs. ConclusionFindings provide support for teacher leadership programs in promoting leadership roles and responsibilities for STEM teachers and retaining teachers in STEM education either in the classroom or in administrative roles. These findings suggest that school administrators may also play a key role in encouraging teachers to engage in leadership activities and have a broader impact on public education by, for example, adopting a hybrid model of leadership roles that involves classroom teaching. 

We investigate the beliefs that influence middle and high school algebra teachers’ appraisals of contextual problems having diverse mathematical and pedagogical features. We asked six teachers to analyze six contextual algebra tasks and indicate how they would apportion instructional time among the six tasks based on their structure, pedagogical features, and connections to the real world. We recorded small-group discussions in which teachers shared their responses to this activity, and qualitatively analyzed their discussions for evidence of beliefs that influenced their appraisals of the tasks. The teachers’ beliefs about contextual problems attended to task authenticity, opportunities for mathematical activity, obligations of tasks, and pedagogy and access. Our preliminary findings can inform future efforts to equip teachers with contextual tasks that develop students’ algebraic reasoning and problem solving. 

This report is part of a larger, longitudinal study focusing on the development of equity-related knowledge, beliefs, and practice across 68 individuals and five teacher preparation programs. In this brief report, we seek to unpack the ways five preservice and beginning mathematics teachers think about equity, especially as it relates to their current and future teacher practice. Analysis of interview data from these participants suggest as many as twelve different aspects of equity reflected in their thinking, as well as multiple actions teachers could take to promote equity including raising expectations, rejecting deficit views, and using complex instruction. 

We investigate the algebraic discourse of secondary mathematics teachers with respect to the topic of equation solving by analyzing five teachers’ responses to open-ended items on a questionnaire that asks respondents to analyze hypothetical student work related to equation solving and explain related concepts. We use tools from commognitive analysis to describe features of teachers’ explanations, and we use these survey responses as examples to illustrate a distinction in discourses about equation solving that has implications for students’ learning of common procedures for finding solution sets of equations and systems.