STEM Teacher Pathways Capacity Building Project

Lewis And Clark College, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

The Lewis & Clark Noyce STEM Teacher Pathways Capacity Building Project focuses the strengths of four Portland-area institutions on the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program's mission to encourage talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors to become K-12 STEM teachers. Robust degree programs aimed at producing well-prepared teachers in STEM fields are a national priority that underpin progress in science, the advancement of national health initiatives, and overall national prosperity in an increasingly technical economy. Furthermore, recruiting and preparing a diverse workforce of K-12 teachers to teach science and math to an increasingly diverse group of students is crucial to improving STEM education while encouraging and supporting more women and students from underrepresented minority groups (URM) to pursue majors and careers in the sciences. As has been observed nationally, community colleges provide an increasingly important entry point to STEM careers. Developing a STEM teacher recruitment, preparation, and induction model with collaboration between an undergraduate liberal arts college, a graduate school of education, a local community college, and a large urban school district is an important step in addressing the national shortage of well-prepared STEM teachers, particularly those that come from groups currently underrepresented in STEM fields. The model ensures that future STEM teachers have the content knowledge and pedagogical skills needed to succeed in today's diverse classrooms using a combination of scholarship support, rigorous academic courses and lab-based STEM research opportunities, meaningful and supported early classroom experiences, and mentoring at all points of their preparation and early careers as teachers. The project is a partnership between Lewis & Clark College's College of Arts and Sciences (LC CAS), and Graduate School of Education and Counseling (LC GSEC), Portland Community College (PCC), and Portland Public Schools (PPS) and aims to build the framework for a STEM Teacher Pathways Program and design a scholarship model that will eventually engage four to five additional STEM preservice teachers per year in the LC GSEC Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program. At the conclusion of this Capacity Building project, a plan will have been developed for the recruitment, preparation, and induction of a more diverse cohort of STEM teachers. Key features of the plan include: an articulation agreement that allows for the seamless transfer of credits from PCC to LC CAS; the availability of scholarships for PCC transfer students as well as other STEM teacher candidates; opportunities for LC CAS undergraduate students to conduct research with STEM faculty, and to be mentored by LC GSEC STEM teacher candidates; and an induction and mentoring plan designed to support new STEM teachers once they begin teaching. These features create a pathway that will increase the number and diversity of candidates who complete an MAT in STEM Teacher Education and are hired and retained as teachers in local and other schools. This program will draw from students majoring in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, and Physics. Ultimately, this program should lead to increased recruitment and retention of STEM teachers from diverse backgrounds, increased success for their students, and, ideally, a society of scientific literacy for all.