Building capacity to recruit future STEM teachers in Pennsylvania

Albright College, Reading PA

Investigators

Abstract

The project aims to serve the national need of increasing the number of effective secondary STEM teachers. The project will explore models for recruiting more individuals to STEM teaching careers through partnerships with two local high-need high schools and a local community college. The project team will study how high school dual enrollment courses and transfer from the community college could provide pathways to STEM teaching careers. High school and college students from across partner institutions will be surveyed to investigate barriers and interests in STEM teaching careers. This project will explore models for recruiting future secondary STEM teachers that could inform other colleges and universities across the country. This project at Albright College includes partnerships with Muhlenberg High School, Reading High School, Reading Area Community College, and the Science Research Institute (SRI) at Albright College. The overarching project goal is to investigate new models for increasing the number of STEM majors who pursue secondary STEM education teacher certification at Albright College. This will be accomplished by strengthening STEM education partnerships with local high schools, recruiting high school students to STEM research experiences at SRI, and examining dual enrollment courses as a recruitment tool. Additionally, the project team will work with local community college partners to determine how to streamline the process for STEM transfer students to pursue a co-major in secondary STEM education. Further, the project will leverage current STEM majors’ immersive teaching experiences as a mechanism to recruit future secondary STEM teachers. All project efforts will be informed by survey data collected from high school, community college, and Albright College students to investigate interests in and barriers to students pursuing STEM teaching certification. Evaluation will be accomplished by an Advisory Board composed of stakeholders from local high schools, the community college, and across Albright departments and programs. This Capacity Building 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 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.