PhysTEC: Community Models that Transform Physics Teacher Education

The severe shortage of high school physics teachers in the US stifles workforce and economic development. Each year, less than 25% of the need for new physics teachers can be met by teacher preparation programs. For more than 20 years, the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC), a collaboration of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), has worked to address this shortage by supporting undergraduate physics teacher education (PTE) programs whose graduates have both strong content knowledge and pedagogical training. In this award, PhysTEC will scale up and build the capacity of the community of physics departments and teacher education programs. They will transform the coalition to bring more ownership and agency to community members. Research and evaluation will help the PIs to understand what works and they will disseminate findings broadly in the community and beyond. Previously funded sites’ ongoing efforts will be supported through capacity building grants, convening the community through conferences, recognizing excellent physics teachers, and celebrating teacher education programs and networks that prepare many highly qualified physics teachers. This project features many research- and evidence-based strategies that have been developed through prior PhysTEC iterations. Processes and intervention will be redesigned to be more responsive to the varied contexts in which PTE programs exist. Five key approaches will be used: (1) extending the PhysTEC model to support diverse kinds of institutions and networks of institutions; (2) building capacity for a broader range of funding and support options for PTE programs; (3) sharing a deeper understanding of the needs, stories, and people within the PhysTEC community; (4) promoting community agency and leadership; and (5) supporting teacher graduates of PhysTEC programs. The PIs will conduct research into how faculty develop identities related to PTE, including how the new Network Cohort model influences these identities. All the activities will be evaluated regularly, with an emphasis on building evaluative capacity among the sites and networks to sustain their efforts. Given PhysTEC’s mission to ensure all students could learn physics from a highly qualified teacher, activities are designed to address the acute physics teacher shortage. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.