University of Michigan and UC Irvine Join in NSF-funded Grant
AnneMarie Conley will serve as Co-PI on a NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership Motivation Assessment Program (MSP-MAP II) grant to study teacher motivation in professional development. Research will be conducted by the University of Michigan in partnership with UC Irvine.
Recognition of the importance of teacher motivation in the professional development (PD) process is arising at a time of renewed focus on teacher motivation. While motivational concerns are often alluded to (e.g., participation incentives or teacher confidence), the motivational processes in teacher PD remains an understudied component of teacher PD interventions in general, and in math and science partnerships (MSP) in particular.
The MSP-MAP II Grant will apply current work on teacher motivation to the domain of teacher PD with the following goals:
- Develop a knowledge base of motivation theory, research, and assessment that is relevant for the PD process
- Develop and make available a suite of motivation-related reliable and valid assessment tools for Math and Science Partners (MSPs) to use for formative and summative evaluation
- Collaborate with MSPs to test and refine the proposed model of motivation in teacher development
- Facilitate the incorporation of the model and motivation-related PD assessment tools into existing and future MSP logic models and evaluations designs
- Disseminate the PD model and assessment tools to the broader teaching and research community
More than 2,000 teachers will be surveyed at various stages of PD.
Through its systematic study of teacher motivation in PD, MSP-MAP II is expected to contribute significantly to the growing theoretical and empirical literature on teacher motivation, particularly in regard to expectancy-value, achievement goals, and interest theories.
