A Collaborative Regional Alliance to Prepare STEM Secondary Teachers for Service in Rural, High-Need Schools and School Districts

University Corporation At Monterey Bay, Seaside CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national need of preparing qualified and innovative STEM teachers among a rural population that has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Transforming the early experiences of future teachers can help to ensure the Nation has qualified STEM educators capable of inspiring and preparing the future STEM workforce. The project intends to do so by recruiting, preparing, and supporting a diverse group of undergraduate STEM majors to become highly skilled STEM secondary teachers. These future teachers will include community college students and lower division students who represent the region's demographic diversity. The project intends to prepare these students to serve as highly qualified middle and high school STEM teachers in rural, high-need schools and school districts. To recruit, prepare, and support these STEM students, project partners will coordinate two teacher preparation pathways that emphasize early STEM research and inquiry experiences. This project at California State University Monterey Bay, a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) will leverage a regional alliance between three other post-secondary HSIs (Cabrillo College, Hartnell College, and Monterey Peninsula College) and the County Office of Education, representing 24 school districts in California's Central Coast region. Responding to consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project will provide future teachers with online instruction and prepare them to be skilled online and in-person teachers. For example, it will help future STEM teachers develop their capacity to facilitate STEM inquiry in ways that integrate digital citizenship and technology. It aims to recruit, support, and prepare 30 new STEM teachers who will be recruited from undergraduate STEM majors (including biology, computer science, environmental science, marine science, mathematics, or statistics) at California State University Monterey Bay and partnering community colleges. The students will receive scholarship support for their senior year and post-baccalaureate STEM teacher credentialing year. In addition, mid-career STEM professionals will be recruited and receive stipend support to complete the one-year post-baccalaureate STEM teacher credentialing program. The Next Generation Science Standards Regional Collaborative Teacher Network coordinated by the County Office of Education will provide the prospective teachers with access to an early, inclusive STEM community of practice of current in-service teachers who are implementing best practices for STEM instruction and student learning. Early STEM inquiry, teaching, and mentored research opportunities will integrate active learning and culturally responsive pedagogy to build early social capital and create a diverse STEM teacher community. Project outcomes have potential to provide a model for the California Community College system (115 colleges) and California State University system (23 universities) to broaden the applicant pool of highly qualified STEM teachers. Dissemination of the model and strategies will help to address short- and long-term teacher shortages through an expanded STEM teacher preparation pipeline. Qualified and innovative STEM teachers in rural districts will have critical roles in developing the STEM workforce to meet emerging critical needs. 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 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.