Effect of Project Lead the Way Participation on Retention in Engineering Degree Programs

A key goal of pre-college engineering programs is to increase the number and retention of students pursuing engineering degrees. The researchers conducted a transcript analysis in order to compare the retention of entering engineering majors at a university based on whether or not they participated in Project Lead the Way (PLTW) in high school. PLTW Engineering is a high school pre-engineering curriculum that offers a series of courses to increase student awareness and scaffold an understanding of engineering design. The findings from this study offer little support regarding the impact of students’ PLTW participation on engineering degree completion. However, findings do suggest some support for the impact of PLTW participation on retention from freshmen to sophomore year, particularly among minority freshmen

Job satisfaction and motivation to teach: predicting intrinsic and extrinsic factors towards retaining career-switchers in the teaching profession

The teaching career is undoubtedly one of the most challenging professions with regards to other related service-type occupations. Evidently, throughout the history of the teaching career, numerous cases related to mental and health problem, high dropout rate nationwide, and behavioral delinquency among teachers have been reported in this particular field. In general, career-switchers are individuals who transitioned from their previous occupation into the teaching service. Indeed, this specific group of individuals is interested into the teaching service due to the gap eventuated from the high attrition rate of teachers. Inevitably, the role of career-switchers, especially for former industrial-based practitioners, is significant in Career and Technical Education. In light of this matter, this research focused on determining teaching job satisfaction factors of career-switchers and predicting which job satisfaction factors are prominent to career-switchers’ retention plan. In this study, a descriptive and correlational analysis was utilized to ascertain the objective of the study: (a) to determine the teaching job satisfaction factors of career-switchers of career and technical education teachers and (b) to identify the job satisfaction factors that influence career-switchers’ retention plan. The sample of the study was derived from 2670 CareerTech registered teachers in the Midwestern state using purposive sampling technique. Then, the data was gathered using an online survey named Qualtrics, which filtered the number of career-switcher to 272. Additionally, a chi-square analysis was employed and the result indicated that the factors of marital status, the teaching position of career-switchers, and highest degree earned were found significance with retention plan. Also, the regression analysis revealed six job satisfaction factors which influenced career-switchers to remain in the teaching profession. Subsequently, these six factors were summarized into four major themes: salary, teaching supports, teaching preparation, and motivation. Based on the findings, it was implied that career-switchers take into consideration of both extrinsic and intrinsic variables when deciding whether to stay or leave the teaching profession. On the same note, future research related to comparative analysis of career-switchers within different demographic contexts is highly suggested

Variation in Molybdenum Content Across Broadly Distributed Populations of Arabidopsis thaliana Is Controlled by a Mitochondrial Molybdenum Transporter (MOT1)

Molybdenum (Mo) is an essential micronutrient for plants, serving as a cofactor for enzymes involved in nitrate assimilation, sulfite detoxification, abscisic acid biosynthesis, and purine degradation. Here we show that natural variation in shoot Mo content across 92 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions is controlled by variation in a mitochondrially localized transporter (Molybdenum Transporter 1 - MOT1) that belongs to the sulfate transporter superfamily. A deletion in the MOT1 promoter is strongly associated with low shoot Mo, occurring in seven of the accessions with the lowest shoot content of Mo. Consistent with the low Mo phenotype, MOT1 expression in low Mo accessions is reduced. Reciprocal grafting experiments demonstrate that the roots of Ler-0 are responsible for the low Mo accumulation in shoot, and GUS localization demonstrates that MOT1 is expressed strongly in the roots. MOT1 contains an N-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence and expression of MOT1 tagged with GFP in protoplasts and transgenic plants, establishing the mitochondrial localization of this protein. Furthermore, expression of MOT1 specifically enhances Mo accumulation in yeast by 5-fold, consistent with MOT1 functioning as a molybdate transporter. This work provides the first molecular insight into the processes that regulate Mo accumulation in plants and shows that novel loci can be detected by association mapping

Job satisfaction and retension factors: strife and survival of CTE educators

This study focused on factors that affect whether or not CTE Educators stay in the teaching profession by using an online survey application with both quantitative and qualitative questions in a single design. From a population of 2607 teachers with valid email addresses, the total number of completed surveys was 623 participants. A two-phase of multiple linear regression was done. Five factors were found to be significant with the teachers’ retention plan: salary, administrative workloads, teachers’ evaluation, and assessment, motivation, and job satisfaction. A chi-square test was also done and showed significant relationships between the teachers’ age when entering the profession and their satisfaction with teaching. The findings contribute implications for educational stakeholders

Retention and job satisfaction: a study of career and technical education teachers in Midwestern state

The progressive interests in retaining teachers has long been studied in numerous educational settings. Extensive research pointed out the essential factors towards retaining teachers and understand their job satisfaction to ensure the quality of education is served. Unfortunately, far too little attention has been paid to research pertaining Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers’ job satisfaction and retention. The role of CTE teachers in preparing skilled-and semiskilled workers for employment is significant. This study focused on factors that affect whether or not CTE teachers stay in the teaching profession by using an online survey. From a population of 2607 teachers with valid email addresses, the total number of completed surveys was 581 participants. A two-phase of multiple linear regression was carried out. Five factors were found to be significant with the teachers’ retention plan: salary, administrative workloads, teachers’ evaluation, and assessment, motivation, and job satisfaction. A chi-square test was employed and showed significant relationships between the teachers’ age when entering the profession and their satisfaction with teaching. The findings contribute implications for educational stakeholders in strategizing plan and action to retain CTE teachers in the CTE school system. To ensure CTE teachers, not only strive and survive in the teaching profession, understand their job satisfaction and reasons for them to remain in teaching is the essence of longevity of CTE school system in the educational paradigm

Career-switchers in career and teaching education school system: what drives them to remain in teaching?

Teacher attrition embarks seriousness in the teaching arena, whereby research reported a number of teachers leaving their profession in their early years of their profession. Often, this number does not represent CTE teachers’ scarcity in depicting teachers’ dropout. This realm contributes to a deeper understanding and reasons for us to carry out research pertaining to CTE teachers. The nature of the study was coming from a mixed-methods design, however, this article mainly presents findings from the qualitative section. Five hundred and eighty-one CTE teachers responded to the online survey and out of this number, only 272 were identified as career-switchers. Based upon constant comparative methods, there are three themes emerged from the study. The themes are passionate in making a difference of students, teaching as a compassionate job, and teaching as a chosen occupation. Implications of the results and future direction presented in this article contribute to a deeper understanding in cultivating the spirit and values behind the teaching profession among CTE teachers. Valuing the role of CTE teachers in the CTE educational system will ensure the continuity of supply of semi-skilled employee from the industry. For this reason, understanding their reasons of staying as teachers will assist them not only to survive in teaching, but also enjoying the profession altogether