Certified Rural Enhanced STEM Teachers

Fort Hays State University, Hays KS

Investigators

Abstract

The project aims to serve the national need of preparing high-quality science and mathematics teachers to serve in rural communities. In Kansas, the Kansas State Department of Education reported 180 unfilled STEM positions at the start of the 2022 school year, with 53% of these shortages in rural regions. This project will address this shortage of STEM teachers in rural areas in Kansas by recruiting and developing a cohort of Noyce Scholars who will be prepared to serve in these areas. To respond to these needs, the project will design a rural teacher certificate program and implement an online mentorship program to support prospective teachers embedded within the program, which continues after they obtain a teaching certification. Project partners will all collaborate to market information about STEM careers, organize a STEM education group, and identify prospective teachers with an interest in secondary teaching. Additionally, community colleges partners will award tuition assistance as a recruitment tool. This project at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) includes partnerships with five rural-serving community colleges in Kansas (Barton Community College, Colby Community College, Dodge City Community College, Garden City Community College, and Seward County Community College), the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center (a consortium of rural school districts), and Ingalls School District. Project goals include awarding 29 undergraduate scholarships to mathematics and science prospective teachers over five years, designing a rural teacher certificate program, and implementing an online mentorship program to support prospective teachers embedded within the program and continuing after they become practicing teachers. The theoretical basis of this project aims to address recruitment, retention, and effectiveness for rural schools and focuses on three areas, or three C’s, of educator preparation: context, curriculum, and conveyance. The project’s intellectual merit adds to the knowledge base of preparing teachers for rural placements; the broader impact is modeling a steward of place as a regional university. The success of this project will highlight what other institutions of higher education can do to serve their communities. The project aims to understand and address the unique challenges of rural STEM teaching to attract and retain teachers. 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.