Recruiting, Preparing, and Supporting STEM Professionals as Secondary STEM Teachers in High-Need School Districts in Ohio

Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green OH

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national need of preparing effective STEM teachers for high-need schools. To address the critical shortage of teachers, the state of Ohio approved an accelerated preparation pathway for college-educated individuals to earn teacher licensure. This project would recruit STEM professionals from across the state and support their career transitions into secondary STEM teaching careers in high-need school districts. These prospective teachers would participate in specialized teacher preparation coursework, virtual one-on-one mentoring, in-person field placements in STEM classrooms, and networking opportunities. Over four years, this project aims to increase the number of qualified STEM teachers serving in the region’s high-need school districts. This project at Bowling Green State University, in partnership with Washington Local Schools and the 6,000+ members of the Rotary International Northern Ohio Districts #6600, #6630 and #6650, aims to recruit 32 new STEM professionals to secondary STEM teaching in high-need school districts over four years. This project leverages Ohio’s new alternative pathway to teacher licensure. Recruitment will target STEM professionals who live and work in communities where schools have STEM teacher shortages, as well as STEM professionals from populations underrepresented in STEM. These STEM professionals would experience an accelerated, alternative licensure pathway that uses intensive one-on-one mentoring, targeted accelerated coursework, new teacher preparation technologies, enriched field experiences, and long-term partnerships. To prepare STEM professionals for high-need school district contexts, their preparation would include studies of cultural competence, professional dispositions, and pedagogical content knowledge. This project aims to investigate how the different elements of this accelerated program may be effective in recruiting and preparing STEM professionals for secondary STEM teaching careers in high-need settings.This Track 1: Scholarships & 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.