The project aims to serve the national need of supporting and retaining science teachers by exploring how the professional learning (PL) of District Science Coordinators (DSCs) impacts, if at all, the effectiveness and retention of new science teachers in high-need schools. There are a variety of factors influencing why new teachers stay or leave teaching; one factor not investigated is the role of DSCs in supporting teachers. With well-prepared DSCs, new science teachers could be better supported to teach and stay in high-need settings with students who often do not have positive or rigorous experiences in science. Thus, in time, this project could contribute to improved success of students in science which could translate into an increase in the STEM talent pool. This study is designed to generate new knowledge about how DSCs provide support for and aid in the effectiveness and retention of new teachers in high-need schools. This project at Clemson University and the University of Georgia partners with the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA) and districts across the nation. The project’s goal is to determine how different levels of PL among DSCs impacts new teachers in their first five years of teaching. The study aims to examine the PL of DSCs in terms of both required professional development and free-choice learning. The latter refers to PL that is chosen by DSCs, such as reading journal articles, watching educational videos, visiting museums and parks, and attending professional conferences. The project intends to gather and analyze qualitative and quantitative data to understand how the PL of a DSC contributes to the effectiveness and retention of new science teachers. Among the analytic approaches to be used are a two-cycle coding process to examine the impact of PL on DSCs and the subsequent impact on teachers, with the first cycle using holistic coding and the second using organization or hierarchical outlining. Another analyti