Preparing STEM Professionals to Teach in High Needs Urban School Districts Using the Whole Teacher Support Model

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

This NOYCE Track 1 project aims to serve the national need for improving recruitment, preparation, and retention of highly effective K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts as defined by the National Science Foundation. The project will support sixty-five (65) talented STEM professionals who have undergraduate degrees with majors in biology, chemistry, physics, or mathematics (and related fields) and intend to become secondary STEM teachers. Candidates will complete a Master of Education (MEd) program in sixteen (16) months resulting in a sophisticated skillset and STEM teacher certification followed by an induction process consisting of four additional years. Teacher preparation and induction will feature coaching and mentoring with a focus on STEM content, STEM pedagogy, experiential learning, and teacher well-being. An important feature of the project will be the implementation of a Whole Teacher Support Model, which encompasses a holistic and customized approach to support project participants to develop dispositions and practices for healthy and balanced professional lives and thereby improve teacher retention. The proposed project components will enable high achieving prospective teachers to become middle and high school teachers in high-need schools who understand the pedagogy of integrated STEM education such as active learning, problem and project-based learning, and engineering design principles. This will help ensure that all students are exposed to high quality STEM learning environments, which will help provide a background and direction for secondary school students to be prepared for postsecondary education and the STEM workforce. This project at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) leverages its strong partnership with the Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS). The project will be guided by several goals. First, over a duration of five years, the project will recruit, provide scholarships, and prepare sixty-five (65) high-quality post-baccalaureate students who hold undergraduate degrees in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering, or mathematics, to become teachers in high-need schools in the Baltimore area. Second, the project will implement, study, modify as appropriate, and disseminate a Whole Teacher Support Model approach to teacher well-being. This model will support efforts to retain these STEM professionals through focusing on life-design training, which is an approach to future planning and vocational wayfinding as well as openness to failure and learning from mistakes, resiliency, and resourcefulness towards creating innovative solutions. A third goal is to support Noyce Scholars' strong STEM content knowledge through discipline coursework and induction coaching and mentoring. Goal four is to instill pedagogical content knowledge that includes applications of technologies to support all students' learning. Throughout the project, participants will receive individualized support to reach professional goals that include National Board Certification, improved student achievement, advancement in the teaching profession, and preparation for school leadership. This project will be iteratively evaluated. Evaluation of the project will be guided by the following evaluation question(s): (a) Q1: To what extent was the program implemented with fidelity? and (b) Q2: To what extent did program M.Ed. students demonstrate successful program outcomes (e.g., course grades, program retention, demonstration of pedagogical mastery; continuation in the teaching profession)? Project team members and evaluators will disseminate outcomes and project models through publications, conference and workshop presentations, and intentional exchanges with K-12 decision and policy makers. 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.