Chattanooga STEM Education Noyce Scholarship Program

University Of Tennessee Chattanooga, Chattanooga TN

Investigators

Abstract

According to the Teacher Shortage Areas Nationwide Listing, persistent shortages of secondary mathematics and science teachers exist throughout the United States. To address this shortage, the Track 1: Chattanooga STEM Education Noyce Scholarship Program (CSENSP) aims to increase the number and diversity of undergraduate STEM majors at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) who enter the teaching profession. The project will include an intensive, residency field-based teaching experience in Hamilton County public schools. The goals of CSENSP include: attracting highly qualified STEM majors to secondary STEM teaching careers in high-need school districts; encouraging traditionally underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines to major in STEM fields and seek secondary STEM teacher licensure; increasing the number of secondary STEM educators; and supporting scholars during their first three years of teaching, with special emphasis on the unique challenges of high-need school districts. Noyce scholars will receive customized professional development to enhance their pedagogical and cultural competence skills. Additionally, Noyce scholars will attend semiannual seminars and receive monthly instructional coaching. This project includes partnerships between three colleges at UTC, the high-need school district of Hamilton County, and Chattanooga State Community College (CSCC). Through these partnerships, CSENSP will provide 30 two-year scholarships to juniors and seniors majoring in biology, chemistry, geology, physics, applied mathematics, or computer science. Scholarship recipients (?Noyce scholars?) will commit to teach for four years in a high-need school district. Additionally, the partnership with CSCC will enable 44 transfer students to join the STEM teacher candidate pipeline while at CSCC. These transfer students will later be eligible to become Noyce scholars. The results of formative and summative assessment of the project will inform the STEM teacher preparation community about best practices for STEM teacher preparation for high-need schools and districts. The students' pedagogical assessment instrument will provide composite data of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, via qualitative and quantitative assessments. Project outcomes will include providing best practices for use of data-driven recruitment to effectively recruit, advise, support, retain, and motivate students to successfully complete a STEM curriculum and have an impactful STEM teaching career. 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.