Preparing Science and Mathematics Teachers for Grades 7-12: A Community of Scholars at Work

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In response to the critical need for qualified STEM teachers, a team composed of the Provost of Louisiana State University and Deans and faculty members of the LSU Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Basic Sciences and Education and a team of faculty members from all three colleges designed a new 4-year (128-credit hour) undergraduate degree program to better prepare larger numbers of STEM majors for teacher certification. Called the "Content Major with Concentration in Secondary Education'', this program has been approved as a certification route by the Louisiana Board of Regents and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.The program adapts features of the UTeach program (UT-Austin) but incorporates new elements that make it distinctive nationally. It is a 4-year program within which students complete both an undergraduate bachelor 's degree in a STEM discipline and all secondary teaching certification requirements. It is heavily field-based and includes extensive channels of cooperation with local schools. STEM faculty are broadly involved in the preparation of these new teachers. A highlight is a collaborative course structure in which STEM faculty, education faculty, and mentor teachers in the field work together in the design, delivery, and supervision of course work and field experience. This is a form and degree of collaboration that may be unparalleled at major research universities in the United States.The target production rate is 80 graduates annually, nearly tripling LSU 's recent production rate of certification-ready STEM teachers. Candidates in the program have a deeper understanding of their subject, are better prepared to meet the needs of local schools, and have the advantage of a much broader-based support structure than teachers prepared under the kind of programs that were dominant in the 1990s.