New Science Teachers' Support Network 
- ASTE Conference 2010
- Supporting New Science Teachers: What School Leaders Can Do
- Recommendations for School Leaders
- Link to Application Information (No longer accepting applications)
- Award Winning Program
Overview
The New Science Teachers' Support Network (NSTSN) is an award winning program that is a partnership designed to create support for provisionally licensed middle school and high school science teachers and to perform research on the effect of various support factors on the success and retention of these teachers. Partners in the project are Prince William County Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, and George Mason University. Funding for the New Science Teachers' Support Network (2003-2007) is provided by the National Science Foundation.
Goals and Objectives
The project is designed to:
- Help beginning science teachers succeed at teaching and remain in the profession
- Perform research on the factors that contribute to teacher success and retention
Program
Ninety provisionally licensed teachers will be randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. Each teacher will participate for two consecutive years. For teachers in the treatment group, the New Science Teachers' Support Network is designed to provide teachers the support they need to be successful and stay in the profession. There are six forms of support:
- In-classroom Coach (retired master science teacher)
- Teaching Mentor (practicing science teacher)
- Academic Mentor (university faculty - biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science)
- Basic Science Methods Course (EDCI 573)
- Advanced Science Methods Course (EDCI 673)
- Website with Teaching Resources
In August just before the first year of teaching, the participating teachers begin the first science methods course, where they learn about standards and classroom management, and plan for teaching. They complete the course in the fall semester, meeting every other week, where they analyze student work for evidence of understanding. During the first year of participation, the in-classroom coaches spend the equivalent of 12 days in the classroom of each participating teacher. Coaches provide assistance with planning, lab preparation, teaching, classroom management, and a myriad of other tasks. Mentors are assigned at the school level and provide services in keeping with the practice of the school system. The academic mentors present two New Frontiers seminars for the participants, focusing on new developments in their respective science fields. The university science faculty are also available for consultation throughout the year.
In the second year coaches visit each participating teacher three more times, once at the beginning of the year, once near the middle, and once at the end of the year. In the spring of the second year, the participants take the advanced science methods course, where they learn about meeting the special needs of students and to use technology such as probe ware for teaching science. The NSTSN Web resources are introduced in the advanced methods course, and teachers have access to those Web resources thereafter. The academic mentors present two New Frontiers seminars for participants, and are again available for consultation.
Teachers
All teachers in the NSTSN program are provisionally licensed science teachers in the first three years of teaching. Application information is available online and teachers should apply to the program as early as possible in their teaching career.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0302050. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).