Leadership through Equity and Advocacy Development in STEM

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

Leadership through Equity and Advocacy Development in STEM (LEAD-STEM) is a Noyce Track 3 Master Teaching Fellowships (MTF) project at the University of Houston. LEAD-STEM will focus on the acute shortage of effective secondary science and mathematics teacher leaders in America's urban high schools. It will also capitalize on reports that the Greater Houston area's current demographics reflect the future demographics of the United States. The project will develop, mentor, and retain STEM teacher leaders in high-need school districts in the Greater Houston area. To this end, LEAD-STEM will emphasize incorporation of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) in secondary STEM curricula. The project activities will equip the LEAD-STEM MTFs with the knowledge and skills needed to: mentor secondary STEM preservice teachers in the teachHOUSTON Program; work collaboratively with in-service teachers throughout the district and state; and serve as change agents at the local, regional and national levels. Additionally, project activities will focus on: 1) the combined roles of technology, inquiry-based instruction, and CRT in supporting the development of STEM concepts in secondary, underrepresented students; 2) the refinement of MTFs' instructional practices specific to CRT; and 3) the development of teachers' leadership skills. In partnership with the National Math and Science Initiative (NSMI) and the Greater Houston high-need school district (among the country's largest in population and area), this project will recruit and prepare 30 secondary science and mathematics teachers to serve as teacher-leaders on public school campuses with high enrollment of underrepresented students. LEAD-STEM MTFs will earn a Curriculum and Instruction master's degree with an emphasis in STEM Education. They will participate in summer professional development experiences and instructional coaching guided by project leaders. The experiences of designing and delivering professional development locally will help the MTFs transition to leadership at the national level, through the partnership and support of NMSI. The combination of grounding STEM instruction in culturally responsive pedagogies and using this knowledge to address equity and learning disparities in STEM education may produce a generalizable model of instruction. This project may also serve as a model for other teacher leader development efforts across the country. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.