Supporting the Preparation of Science and Mathematics Teachers in Rural South Texas

The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg TX

Investigators

Abstract

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, this project at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will recruit undergraduate majors in science and mathematics and prepare them to become secondary science and mathematics teachers. Over the five-year span of the award, the project will support 55 scholars. In this project, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will collaborate with nine public school districts in South Texas (McAllen Independent School District, Edinburg Consolidated School District, South Texas Independent School District, Harlingen Consolidated School District, Brownsville Independent School District, Mission Consolidated Independent School District, Sharyland Independent School District, San Benito Consolidated Independent School District, and Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District). Noyce Scholars will have internship opportunities, and this project has a strong evaluation plan to investigate the outcomes of the scholarship program. This project will prepare science and mathematics majors to become certified high school science and mathematics teachers who will then teach in high-need school districts in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and surrounding areas. This project will be administered at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a federally designated Hispanic-serving Institution in South Texas with 89% of its more than 27,000 students self-identifying as Hispanic. By leveraging a curriculum grounded in equity, along with other strengths of the established UTeach model, this project has the potential to increase understanding of factors that contribute to successful recruitment and retention of STEM teachers, particularly those serving in largely Hispanic populations. 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.