Mentoring Urban STEM Teachers for Equity and Innovation

Kutztown University, Kutztown PA

Investigators

Abstract

Noyce Track 1 project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly-qualified STEM teachers. Additionally, this project will support 25 scholars as beginning 7-12 grade teachers of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, and/or Earth and Space Science by providing scholarships and mentoring in pedagogical content knowledge from STEM and education faculty. The proposed project components will enable high-achieving prospective teachers to become secondary STEM teachers with extensive expertise in active learning instruction specific to their STEM content area. This project at Kutztown University includes partnerships with Allentown and Reading School Districts. Project goals include recruiting and retaining 25 new secondary STEM teachers over 5 years, specifically to include Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth and Space Science teachers. The project recruits new teachers with Bachelor’s degrees in the content area for the university’s Master’s (post-baccalaureate) initial certificate program. This project will be iteratively evaluated. Evaluation of the project will be guided by the following evaluation question(s): (a) To what extent is the program successfully recruiting, supporting, and graduating STEM professionals into secondary teaching roles? (b) How effective is the mentoring provided by STEM and CoE faculty in supporting scholars during their training and early teaching careers? and (c) What are the key factors influencing the success and retention of Noyce scholars throughout the program and into their teaching careers? The results of this project will be disseminated to help enhance the field. 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 effectiveness and retention 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.