Getting from Here to There：The Roles of Policy Makers and Principals in Increasing Science Teacher Quality.Image.Marked.pdf

J Sci Teacher Educ (2010) 21:283–307 DOI 10.1007/s10972-009-9180-5 Getting from Here to There: The Roles of Policy Makers and Principals in Increasing Science Teacher Quality Ji Shen • Libby Gerard • Jane Bowyer Published online: 27 December 2009 The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at S Abstract In this study we investigate how federal and state policy makers, and school principals are working to improve science teacher quality. Interviews, focused discussions, and policy documents serve as the primary data source. Findings suggest that both policy makers and principals prioritize increasing incentives for teachers entering the science teaching profession, providing profes- sional development for new teachers, and using students’ data to evaluate and improve instruction. Differences between the two leadership groups emerged in terms of the grain size and practicality of their concerns. Our findings indicate that the complexity of educational challenges to improve science teacher quality call for the co-construction of policy by multiple constituent groups including school principals, federal and state policy makers, and science education researchers. Keywords Science education Science teacher quality Policy Principal community J. Shen L. Gerard The Center of Technology Enhanced Learning in Science, University of California, 4407 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA L. Gerard J. Bowyer Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613, USA Present Address: J. Shen () Mathematics and Science Education, University of Georgia, 212 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30605, USA e-mail: jishen@ 123 284 J. Shen et al.