Long Island Mathematics and Teacher Education Scholarship Program

Long Island University, Greenvale NY

Investigators

Abstract

Educating high-quality STEM teachers is a national priority that underpins progress in science, the advancement of national health initiatives, and overall national prosperity in an increasingly technical economy. The Long Island Mathematics and Teacher Education (MaTE) Scholarship Program is a Track 1 NSF Noyce Scholarships and Stipends project. It involves a collaboration between Long Island University Post (LIU Post), the Glen Cove and South Huntington public school districts, and Suffolk County Community College. The MaTE program aims to prepare scholarship recipients to become highly-qualified secondary mathematics teachers in diverse suburban high-need school districts on Long Island. Although many programs focus on providing diverse teaching corps to urban schools, population shifts to the suburbs also require consideration of teacher diversity. Based on the 2010 census, minorities constituted 35 percent of all people living in suburbs, and the outward migration of minority populations from the inner city to suburbia keeps growing. The MaTE program seeks to respond to these issues by providing approximately 24 Noyce Scholars with mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge needed to work effectively in high-need secondary schools. The program emphasizes culturally responsive pedagogy. The MaTE Program aims to guide three cohorts of Scholars, beginning in their initial years in community college and extending through their junior and senior years at LIU Post. During their tenure at LIU, each Scholar will receive two years of scholarship support, as well as additional supports such as mentoring. This educational experience includes an intensive clinical residency in secondary schools within the Glen Cove and South Huntington school districts, both of which are in suburban communities with large minority populations. It will culminate in a B.A. Mathematics degree with a New York State initial teaching certification in secondary mathematics education (Grades 7-12). The program includes a summer Calculus Enrichment Program, organized and operated by Suffolk County Community College, intended to aid community college students in their mathematics courses and serve as a recruitment tool for the MaTE program. Collected project data will inform participants, professors of mathematics and mathematics education, and community school districts of evidence-based results related to the following program goals: (1) Providing a replicable model for a successful collaboration between university mathematics faculty, university education faculty, community college faculty and staff, and teachers in local high-need school districts; (2) Connecting content knowledge and best practices to develop a better prepared and more effective new teachers; (3) Increasing and diversifying the corps of local STEM teachers by recruiting students from underrepresented populations in STEM who may, in turn, serve as role models to students from similar backgrounds; and 4) Improving the performance of minority students in secondary schools and reduce the gap between majority and minority students by providing highly trained teachers from similar backgrounds. It is anticipated that evidence-based findings and the addition of 24 mathematics teachers to regional high-need school districts will make important contributions to ongoing national efforts to produce teachers in STEM fields. 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.