Navigating the Path to STEM Teaching: An Exploratory Case Study of Teacher Candidates in Texas through the Alternative Certification Program

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Research on Teacher and School Leader Preparation: Alternative Certification, Intercultural Competencies, Retention, and Emergency Management (Table 13)

Abstract

This study utilizes interview data from teacher candidates who have previously earned a STEM degree and are enrolled in an alternative certification program to better understand why teachers enter the profession and why they leave it. Our research questions are: 1) Why do alternatively certified teacher candidates with STEM degrees choose to pursue a career in the teaching profession? 2) What are alternatively certified teacher candidates' views about the increasing current teacher turnover rates? 3) What are alternatively certified teacher candidates' views about the potential influences of their own future teacher turnover?

Author

• Sonnur Ozturk Ebadollahi Noudeh, University of Texas at Austin