Bridging Pathways to Prepare Highly Qualified Mathematics and Science Teachers

University Of South Carolina At Columbia, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national need for high-quality mathematics and science teachers. To do so, it will support college students as they earn both STEM and secondary education degrees, and prepare them to teach in high need school districts. Specifically, the project will recruit Spartanburg Community College STEM students to become Noyce Scholars. The Noyce Scholars will receive scholarships as they pursue both a STEM major and a secondary education major. Three different internship experiences will be available for college students to work with middle and high school students. These experiences will enable the college students to focus on the teaching and learning of mathematics and science (biology/chemistry), while also working closely with university faculty and highly qualified high school teachers. Once Noyce Scholars graduate as certified teachers and are hired in a high-need school district, they will attend a monthly pedagogical seminar series throughout the school year and summer for the first two years of their teaching careers. Addressing the social-emotional needs and challenges facing high-need schools will be the keystone of the pedagogical seminar series. This project at the University of South Carolina Upstate includes partnerships with Spartanburg District Schools and Spartanburg Community College. The project goals include: 1) to increase the number of STEM majors who also pursue a secondary teaching degree from eight in 2018-2019 to twelve in 2022-2023, supporting a total of 21 different teacher candidates over five years; and 2) to raise awareness of STEM education careers among community college students by providing internship opportunities early in their degree programs. The project intends to develop curricular and extracurricular programming that support the transition of community college STEM students to a four-year institution and also to a teaching major. Intended project outcomes include preparing Noyce Scholars to become mathematics and science teachers who can meet the needs of diverse students, as well as improving the retention of pre-service teachers. The project intends to monitor and support new secondary mathematics and science teachers through seminar meetings so that every Noyce Scholar remains in high-need teaching positions six years after initial job placement. The project has the potential to inform future initiatives that aim to prepare STEM secondary education teachers who are both well qualified in STEM content area knowledge and successful in engaging middle and high school students in high-need environments. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 STEM teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. 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.