Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program for Education of Secondary STEM Teachers in Rural Virginia

James Madison University, Harrisonburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This Track 1 project at James Madison University (JMU) aims to increase the number of highly qualified secondary STEM teachers by providing scholarships to 32 Noyce Scholars over the five years of the award. The project includes a partnership between JMU, Blue Ridge Community College, Piedmont Virginia Community College, and Harrisonburg City Public Schools to increase the number of undergraduates who pursue secondary teaching careers. The project will use established practices to: expand recruiting efforts across all STEM fields including transfers from community colleges; support pre-service teacher identity development; and build induction support structures to help JMU teacher education graduates become outstanding STEM educators. This induction support aims to improve persistence among middle and secondary STEM teachers. During the grant implementation, researchers will study how different elements of pre-service teacher preparation and early career professional development affect the development of effective teachers and their persistence in a STEM teaching career. The goals of this Track 1 Scholarships & Stipends project are to (1) expand recruiting efforts across all JMU STEM majors and broaden efforts to recruit from a larger pool of potential students; (2) support student development as STEM pre-service teachers and identify the most promising candidates as Noyce Scholars; and (3) build an induction program for Noyce Scholars that uses best practices to improve retention and to support the needs of new teachers to become outstanding STEM educators. This project aims to better understand the factors that most influence students' decisions to enter the STEM teaching pipeline and become teachers, and to investigate the factors that impact students' decisions to persist in a STEM preparation program during their development as preservice teachers. A multi-layered support framework, beginning prior to licensure, extends through the induction period, and uses evidence-based practices to support teachers' development as effective educators. The extent to which STEM students' teaching identities are strengthened through close mentoring and academic team- building activities during the two-year induction program, and their ability to implement Three-Dimensional Learning in the classroom will also be investigated. The project's investigation of students' long-term development as STEM teachers may help to identify patterns in the complexity of curricular design and support structures that are necessary to attract and retain individuals in the STEM teaching profession. The highly-qualified teachers that should emerge from the program will further serve to support future graduates as teacher-leaders within their disciplines. 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.