Collaborative Research and Teacher Preparation Program Leveraging the Strengths of a Research University and a Premier Teacher Preparation University

Colorado School Of Mines, Golden CO

Investigators

Abstract

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, the Colorado School of Mines-University of Northern Colorado STEM Teacher Preparation Noyce Scholarship Program is recruiting undergraduate majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and preparing them to become grades 7-12 STEM teachers. The project is funding 18 scholarships and 30 internships over 5 years. In this project, Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) are collaborating with Denver Public School District, Jefferson County School District, and St. Vrain Valley School District to educate and prepare STEM teachers. This project will: provide insight into how a partnership between a strong engineering school and a strong teacher education school can increase recruitment and retention of STEM majors who consider teaching as a profession; assess CSM students' perceptions of teaching as a profession; evaluate the impact of early support (e.g., mentoring and professional development seminars) on teacher retention; and, ultimately, meet the need for providing more highly-qualified STEM teachers. The Mines-UNC STEM Teacher Preparation Program is a unique partnership between CSM and UNC that offers a path toward secondary teaching licensure in science or math for CSM students. The program plays on the strengths of the two institutions to produce highly-educated graduates through an integrated program that is part of the students' undergraduate degree. CSM (a highly selective, small public research university) is fully responsible for STEM content preparation, while UNC (a strong teacher preparation institution) delivers the Professional Teacher Education Program. This project will add an important component to the teacher preparation program by making secondary teaching a more visible, accessible, and attractive career option for these students. The specific goals of this project are to: 1) increase the number of CSM graduates who become STEM teachers and teach in high-need school districts; 2) create early STEM education experiences for CSM students to encourage more to consider teaching of STEM subjects as a career; 3) provide ongoing mentoring and professional development support of STEM teachers during their induction year in high-need schools; 4) actively address ideas about teaching as a career to maintain a healthy supportive culture at CSM toward the profession; and 5) assess, disseminate, and sustain the best recruitment and retention practices. In addition to the immediate production of 18 teachers who have baccalaureate degrees in science or mathematics over five years, this project has the potential to serve as a model for similar collaborative work between institutions known for their STEM programs and those with strong teacher preparation programs.