North Carolina High School Mathematics Master Teacher Fellows Program

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, this Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships project aims to serve the national need of improving the development of highly effective secondary mathematics teacher leaders in high-need school districts. Each of the twenty Master Teachers prepared by the project will teach approximately 150 students per year. As a result, over the duration of the five-year project, up to 15,000 students in high-need North Carolina school districts will receive mathematics instruction from a highly qualified mathematics teacher leader. The project aims to build on experiences from two prior Noyce scholarship programs at North Carolina State University and a North Carolina Quest grant to support practicing high school mathematics teachers to implement new state standards for mathematics. This project includes partnerships between North Carolina State University, The Innovation Project (a nonprofit organization committed to improving education for all students in North Carolina), and four local high-need school districts (Cabarrus County Schools, Mount Airy City Schools, Rockingham County Schools, and Wayne County Schools). The project aims to prepare twenty mathematics Master Teachers across the state of North Carolina. Each cohort of Master Teacher Fellows will include two teachers from each of the partnering high-need school districts. During the five-year project, Fellows will complete graduate coursework in mathematics education, fulfilling requirements for National Board Certification in Adolescence and Young Adulthood Mathematics. In addition, they will engage in mentorship training to learn how to support student teachers and early career teachers, and will participate in leadership professional development. Evaluation activities have the potential to provide insights into how the project: (i) prepares and retains experienced mathematics teacher leaders; (ii) influences teachers' effectiveness as mathematics teachers and teacher leaders; and (ii) impacts the development of leadership skills in teachers at participating districts. The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts and experienced, exemplary K-12 STEM teachers to become STEM master teachers. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts. 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.