This week I have continued to think about my own research interests and am appreciative of the comments given by Dr. McCoy and Dr. Friedman. Unfortunately, I am still feeling slightly confused as to my research path. I do feel confident in my exploration of first/second year teaching experiences within social studies. I know this is very general but I feel it is a foundation from which I could build. I am still intrigued by the idea of teacher attrition and am searching for how to combine my interests.
One idea has come to mind that I would like to run by everyone. In my experience, I have been fortunate to teach the exact same curriculum (U.S. History) in both North Carolina and Virginia. This was interesting because the Virginia curriculum has an end of grade test and North Carolina does not. I think a comparative study between social studies classrooms (one with an end of grade test and one without) could benefit from research. Some possible research questions for consideration are:
1. Do end of grade test scores impact a teacher’s decision to stay or go?
2. One of the main philosophies behind teaching social studies has been the idea of citizenship. Does a teacher’s citizenship definition change based off of whether he/she has an end of grade test?
3. How do teachers define or measure their effectiveness in a classroom with a standardized test vs. those who do not have one?
If one of these topics were to be used then I would use qualitative research methods to collect data. I could prepare questionnaires and conduct semi-structured interviews to be used in both states. My concern would be to find schools that are comparable in both size and student statistics.
The question I have for my professors and classmates is my interest in a comparative study between two states. Is this too large of a project to undertake?
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2 comments:
Hi, Katie. I have bad news....North Carolina now has an End-of-
Course test for U.S. History. It is begin phased in, and was given to some students this year. And, yes, comparing data from VA and NC is probably larger than you could do in our limited time.
If you really are interested in the attrition question, you could interview some young teachers and ask them what are their thoughts both positive and negative. That is very open-ended, but it would be a good interview study, or if you could define some issues, it could be a survey study.
If you are interested in the testing question, you might interview some history teachers and ask them how the EOC impacts their teaching. You could ask experienced teachers how it changed their teaching. The EOC is new in US History and Civics this year in North Carolina.
Katie,
I really like the idea of interviewing first-year teachers. I have always heard that the first year or two are the toughest to get through. It would be interesting to hear the reasons they have for sticking with it, especially in different schools in Forsyth County. Are the attitudes of first-year teachers at one school different from those at another because of the school environment? I don't know if that is at all where you would want to go, but I would be interested in your findings!
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