Creating Pathways: Building the Region's Capacity to Address the STEM Teacher Shortage

University Of Saint Mary, Leavenworth KS

Investigators

Abstract

This Noyce Capacity Building project at the University of St. Mary aims to address the well-documented national shortage of qualified STEM teachers by increasing the local pool of potential secondary STEM teacher candidates. Project partners will include three high-need school districts, two community colleges, and Ft. Leavenworth military base in the Kansas City metropolitan area. With these partnerships, the project will implement a four-pronged recruitment strategy that will enhance pathways into STEM teaching. Pathways will be available for students from local high schools and community colleges; undergraduate STEM majors at the University of St. Mary who have not previously considered teaching as a career; and second career seekers/career changers, including military affiliates. The project will incorporate strategies aimed at attracting women and underrepresented minorities to become STEM teachers. Such efforts have the potential to diversify the population of undergraduates who pursue science careers. The expectation is that, with more highly qualified and diverse STEM teachers, area students will be more likely to pursue careers in STEM. Such an increase in STEM interest has the potential to boost local and regional economies, which is relevant to the country's global competitiveness. The project team will disseminate evaluation results, sharing key findings with other educational institutions and communities that seek to attract and prepare high-quality, diverse STEM teachers in schools and districts where the teacher shortages more acutely affect poor children and children of color. The project aims to accomplish the following objectives: (1) create a process for introducing high school students to teaching as a career option; (2) improve pathways for students transferring from community colleges into the University of St. Mary STEM majors and secondary teaching certificate programs; (3) increase the number of University of St. Mary students who major in a STEM discipline and concurrently enroll in the secondary teacher certification program; and (4) develop the capacity for ongoing outreach to military-connected candidates/career changers. Project results have the potential to advance knowledge and understanding of (i) how to recruit traditionally hard-to-reach populations, such as military-connected individuals; (ii) how to leverage existing partnerships, including those with school districts, community colleges, and military bases; and (ii) strategies that are particularly effective in attracting STEM students and graduates to careers in teaching. Findings will be relevant for many communities and educational institutions seeking to attract more highly qualified candidates into STEM teacher education. 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.