ABSTRACT SMITH, KATHLEEN NICOLE. Career Narratives Of
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ABSTRACT SMITH, KATHLEEN NICOLE. Career Narratives of Future K-12 STEM Teachers in the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Loan Forgiveness Program. (Under the direction of Dr. Joy Gaston Gayles and Dr. Paul Umbach). This narrative case study features an in-depth exploration of the career experiences and decisions of 10 participants in the recently reinstated North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program (NCTFP). The NCTFP incentivizes talented postsecondary students’ entry and retention into teaching careers in STEM and special education by providing selected students with up to $8,250 per year in forgivable loan funding. Forgivable loans must be paid back after graduation, either through qualifying teacher service in North Carolina public schools or in cash with interest within 10 years of degree completion. Program participants must attend one of five partner campuses and complete enrichment activities in preparation for teaching careers. The present study employs social cognitive career theory and concepts drawn from behavioral economics to understand the development of participants’ career interests over their life course and students’ decisions to participate in the NCTFP. Findings suggest that for most participants, interests in teaching careers began very early in life, long preceding the introduction of the NCTFP. Overall, the NCTFP was most appealing to students whose existing career goals already fit program requirements, as these participants saw minimal costs and maximal benefits to participating in the program. Students who changed their career plans to participate in the program incurred larger proximal costs and may demonstrate lower commitment to these career goals. Findings demonstrate that the upfront forgivable loan money granted by the NCTFP was the most compelling aspect to participants’ decisions to participate in the program. This funding motivated several participants to alter their college and career plans to participate, enabling some students to access and justify preferred college choices. The NCTFP further recruited two participants who hadn’t originally planned to enter teaching into the career, although the contexts of these respective decisions were complex and not initially driven by students’ intrinsic interests to teach. The two participants who are planning to teach as a result of the NCTFP are also the least committed to staying in the profession long-term among study participants. Although the NCTFP offers reduced loan forgiveness service terms for participants who enter teaching positions in low-performing schools, this component of the policy was only a compelling motivator among participants most eager to finish their teaching service quickly, a dynamic that could be problematic for promoting teacher retention within low-performing schools. Participants’ ideas about the type of school where they will pursue employment were typically the least developed part of their future goals; participants frequently expressed uncertainty about what teaching at a low-performing school might entail. While participants universally expressed a high degree of confidence that they would fully meet NCTFP post-graduate service requirements, participants also demonstrated a limited understanding of all policy components, both at the time of their commitment to the program and at the time of this research. Although NCTFP assumes stable career interests and goals over time, time-inconsistent preferences points to the difficulty of predicting the preferences of one’s future self, especially for students making complex decisions based on limited professional and career experience. Thus, while NCTFP participants reap proximal program benefits that allow them to meet college-going goals and reduce college expenses, the costs of the program remain distal and could have significant financial ramifications for participants if program terms are unfulfilled. This paper concludes with implications and recommendations for the NCTFP and similar forgivable loan policies designed to promote teacher recruitment in shortage areas. © Copyright 2019 by Kathleen Nicole Smith All Rights Reserved Career Narratives of Future K-12 STEM Teachers in the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Loan Forgiveness Program by Kathleen Nicole Smith A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Educational Research and Policy Analysis Raleigh, North Carolina 2019 APPROVED BY: _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Joy Gaston Gayles Dr. Paul D. Umbach Committee Co-Chair Committee Co-Chair _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Anna Egalite Dr. Margaret Blanchard ii BIOGRAPHY Originally from upstate New York, Kathleen (Katie) Smith completed a bachelor’s degree at SUNY Geneseo in psychology and Spanish and a master’s degree in higher education administration at the University of Rochester. After her master’s degree, Katie worked as a career advising fellow at Elon University and as an assistant director at the Duke University Career Center, specializing in advising undergraduate students in STEM fields. As a Ph.D. student, Katie completed a graduate assistantship in the Office of Institutional Research and Planning at NC State University, interned at RTI International, and served as an evaluator for student success initiatives at UNC School of the Arts. Beginning in Fall 2019, Katie will serve as an assistant professor in the Department of Education Leadership, Management and Policy at Seton Hall University. Katie’s research interests are largely inspired by her professional work experience in career services and center on the environmental, social, and financial influences on college student career development and decision making. To date, Katie’s research has been published in academic journals including the Journal of College Student Development, Social Sciences, and the Journal of Community College Research & Practice. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people assisted with this work and I am grateful for each one. I would particularly like to acknowledge the student participants for openly and generously sharing their stories, the various stakeholders of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program, especially the program leaders on each of the partner campuses who made this research possible, my dissertation co- chairs and committee members, and many supportive friends and family members who provided continual guidance and encouragement through this journey. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 STEM teacher demand ...................................................................................................... 1 North Carolina STEM teacher demand ................................................................. 3 North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program ....................................................................... 4 Implementation of the NCTFP .............................................................................. 5 Research problem: Loan forgiveness requirements ........................................................... 9 Loan forgiveness through teaching ........................................................................ 9 Teacher demand ................................................................................................... 12 Purpose of study .............................................................................................................. 14 Research questions .......................................................................................................... 15 Overview of theoretical frameworks ............................................................................... 16 Social cognitive career theory ............................................................................. 17 Behavioral economics .......................................................................................... 17 Overview of methodology ............................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 20 Teacher shortages ............................................................................................................ 22 STEM teacher preparation and workforce ....................................................................... 26 Academic achievement ........................................................................................ 29 Gender and race ................................................................................................... 30 Teacher compensation ..................................................................................................... 31 Teacher compensation in North Carolina ............................................................ 35 Economic incentives to recruit teachers .......................................................................... 36 Loan forgiveness programs ................................................................................