TOMS - Teachers of Mathematics Scholarships

Adelphi University, Garden City NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Teachers of Mathematics Scholarship program (TOMS) provides academic and financial support to mathematics majors who are pursuing a secondary teaching credential through Adelphi University's Scholars Teachers Education (STEP) Program, a five-year combined BA in Mathematics and MA in Adolescent Education program. A cohort of sixteen students is being assisted in the junior, senior, and master's years of study. In addition to increasing the capacity of the STEP program to produce new mathematics teachers, The TOMS program is attracting teacher candidates who might not otherwise have attended Adelphi - most of the sixteen students have transferred to the university from community colleges in the Metro New York area through an active recruitment process that Adelphi has modeled after processes used successfully for other programs at the university. The PI and Co-PI are also committed to the recruitment of underrepresented students, especially African American and Latino students, into the TOMS program. TOMS features junior-year placement of the mathematics teacher candidates into high need middle and high school settings, such as those in the Hempstead, Westbury, and Roosevelt Districts of Long Island, New York. Adelphi's School of Education has an established a working partnership with these schools. This feature is unique to TOMS since teacher candidates usually do not begin working in a district until their Master's year, and usually not in high need districts such as these. The program includes at least 100 hours of these field observations and a semester of student teaching in middle and high schools in high needs settings. Induction support for the TOMS scholars includes a mentored first year experience; regular on-site small group meetings and "back to campus" forums with scholars, mentors, other experienced teachers, and TOMS faculty; classroom visits by the PI and co-PI; a week-long professional development summer workshop series following the first year of teaching; and a specially designed website. The TOMS model is contributing to the knowledge base on how to best recruit, prepare, and retain highly skilled and qualified mathematics students to teach in high need school districts, including ways to effectively recruit and support candidates and new teachers from traditionally underrepresented groups.