Recruiting, Preparing, and Retaining High-Quality, Equity-Focused Secondary STEM Teachers

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The project aim is to serve the national need of recruiting, preparing, and retaining high-quality secondary STEM teachers. The teacher shortage in combination with conditionally certified teachers has left many local secondary students without highly qualified STEM teachers. As one of the nation's largest school districts, Prince George's County Public Schools, serving a diverse student body, this is an issue of educational equity. Therefore, this project at the University of Maryland, College Park, (UMD) will recruit diverse STEM candidates from large prospective teacher pools on campus and within the local community. The project team will continue to improve the UMD equity-focused teacher preparation pathway and provide an enhanced internship experience for recipients. The project aims to retain graduates in the field by providing induction support during their first three years of teaching. This project is expected to increase, retain, and diversify the number of highly qualified certified STEM teachers locally for the good of the public. This project at the University of Maryland, College Park, includes partnerships with Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS), specifically DuVal High School. Project goals include (1) enhancing and expanding the number of candidates utilizing teacher preparation pathways by providing scholarships and stipends to teacher candidates and (2) improving long-term retention in teaching by providing three years of induction support. The project aims to produce three cohorts of 10 highly qualified STEM teachers each year (approximately 30 total over the project). This includes secondary mathematics, science, and computer science teachers. The project team will enhance the equity-focused teacher preparation experience by offering one-year, renewable scholarships ($11,500 each) for undergraduates and one-year stipends ($23,000 each) for post-baccalaureates to support the completion of the teacher certification programs. Three years of induction support will be offered including online modules, virtual coaching, summer book clubs, in-person observations with feedback, and conference support. This project will evaluate the extent to which financial support increases the number of students graduating with STEM certification, with specific attention to students from groups underrepresented in STEM. Moreover, the project will evaluate to what extent the induction efforts support teacher retention. Not only will highly qualified, diverse STEM teachers benefit the local communities, but they will increase and strengthen the pool of potential STEM majors and thus benefit society more broadly. The findings of this project will be disseminated nationally with the UTeach network and other teacher preparation programs via conference presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals. 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.