Duke University Noyce Scholarship - Phase II

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

The Duke University Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program, in collaboration with the Durham Public Schools and the STEM departments in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, establishes a Robert Noyce Scholarship Program Phase II Project to provide stipends to 30 Duke Noyce Scholars during the project period. This project has four goals: 1) Recruit and enroll diverse cohorts of highly-qualified STEM graduates and mid-career professionals; 2) Prepare teachers to improve student achievement in mathematics and the sciences; 3) Support new teachers during the first three years of their career as they teach in high-need school districts; and 4) Continue longitudinal evaluation and analysis of the project to determine those factors most effective in recruiting, preparing, and retaining highly-qualified teachers for high-need school districts. This project extends and expands work completed in a Phase I project awarded in 2006. In particular it seeks to increase teacher retention and to attract more underrepresented minority STEM majors and professionals into STEM teaching. A comprehensive set of activities is implemented to reach these goals. This Noyce project seeks to build relationships with and recruit from prestigious historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The one-year MAT Program for Noyce Scholars includes a curriculum of pedagogical coursework, graduate coursework in the Mathematics and Science disciplines, and two-semester internships in high schools of Durham Public Schools. New teachers in their first three years in the profession are supported by an innovative, structured teacher mentoring program that includes the early-career Duke Noyce graduates, experienced Duke Noyce graduates, and faculty. Other support activities include bi-annual Noyce Learning Conference events and support of professional development through conference participation. The broader impacts of this project include increasing the diversity of highly-qualified science and mathematics teachers and implementing a model to effectively recruit, prepare and retain STEM teachers. The systematic mentoring program for early-career teachers encourages higher teacher retention rates and provides a model that can be adapted at other programs. Through the evaluation activities, this project advances the understanding of strategies to develop and implement an effective MAT program for STEM majors and mid-career professionals and to support new teachers in high-need school districts.