Talented Teachers in Training for Texas, Expanded

Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly effective STEM teachers to serve in high-need school districts. To do so, it intends to recruit a diverse group of STEM undergraduate students and support them to become skilled STEM teachers. The project will use two strategies to recruit future teachers. The project will offer two one-credit courses on the campuses of Stephen F. Austin State University and Lone Star College Houston North. These courses are intended to help STEM majors explore a career in STEM teaching. The project will also recruit future STEM teachers through a one-week, paid STEM Master Teacher Job Shadow, which will help STEM students experience a STEM teaching career up close. The undergraduate STEM majors who are recruited to become certified teachers will be supported financially through scholarships. These Noyce Scholars will also receive biweekly training and robust mentoring and coaching that will continue in in their early years of teaching. The project expects that these supports will reduce both undergraduate attrition and STEM teacher attrition. This project builds upon the infrastructure of two previous teacher preparation projects supported by the Noyce Program. It is led by Stephen F. Austin State University in partnership with Lone Star College Houston North, in collaboration with Angelina College, Kilgore College, and Tyler Junior College, with Lufkin and Nacogdoches Independent School Districts (both high-need), and with the Region 7 Education Service Center. The project works from a recruiting base of JacksTeach, which is a replication of the nationally recognized UTeach program at Stephen F. Austin State University. In addition, Scholars will be recruited from the STEM Master Teacher Job Shadow for STEM majors prior to the junior year. The project aims to recruit and support 26 undergraduate STEM majors to become certified teachers and teach STEM in a high-need school district for at least four-years. Project aims include the following: engaging over 100 STEM students through participation in either the JacksTeach or STEM Master Teach Job Shadows; recruiting committed STEM undergraduates who will graduate in STEM and become teachers; supporting Noyce graduates with professional development and sustained research; and equipping Scholars with expertise in culturally relevant pedagogy. This Track 1: Scholarship 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 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need 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.