Rural and American Indian School Educators as STEM Teacher Leaders

Montana State University, Bozeman MT

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to address the national need of developing highly effective STEM teacher leaders in high-need districts. Like many areas, Montana experiences both a high teacher turnover rate and a shortage of new teachers entering the field. But as the state with both the highest percentage of rural schools (74.0%) and rural school districts (95.3%), this phenomenon is devastating for Montana’s smallest communities, where the departure of just one teacher could represent the loss of an entire STEM department. This project will recruit, train and support 26 STEM teachers from seven high-need school districts in becoming Master Teacher Fellows (MTFs) with the leadership skills, content knowledge and confidence to elevate their fellow educators, schools, and communities alongside their students. Training and supports for MTFs will rely heavily upon local and traditional knowledge, cultural insights, and the diverse viewpoints of rural and American Indian communities, thus providing customization that aids teacher retention, recruitment and success while also serving as a model for similar rural and tribal communities across the U.S. This project at Montana State University includes partnerships with several non-profit organizations (School Services of Montana, The Museum of the Rockies, and Population Education) and seven high-need districts across three American Indian Reservations and other rural locations: Browning Public Schools, Cut Bank Public Schools, Arlee Joint School District No. 8, Superior Public Schools, Lame Deer Public Schools, Northern Cheyenne Tribal School, and St. Labre Indian Catholic Academy. Project goals include recruiting and supporting 26 MTFs from seven high-need school districts, enhance MTFs' leadership competence in STEM education, and facilitate MTFs' integration of culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy into STEM curriculum and instruction. Leadership development will underscore collaborative engagement among MTFs to advance creation of funds of knowledge-based curriculum, implement culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy in STEM classrooms, and align with Montana's Indian Education for All. In addition, the project intends to empower MTFs to design and facilitate formal and informal STEM activities within their schools and communities. This goal will address partner schools' needs for staffing, materials, and STEM lesson plans, aiming to elevate student attitudes, behaviors, and achievements in STEM. MTFs will also refine their skills in developing STEM activities aligned with their schools' and communities' cultural values. These focal points will position the project to explore innovative potential affordances that MTFs can offer within the unique context of frontier locations, community cultures, and school settings. Project evaluation adapts relevant elements of the Indigenous Evaluation Framework, providing a participatory approach for project assessment. Dissemination of project outcomes include leveraging social media platforms, presentations at professional conferences, statewide conferences and meetings, and publications. This Track 3: Master Teaching Fellows 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.