A Plan to Prepare STEM Teachers for Rural Montana

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This Capacity Building proposal for Noyce Scholarships develops strategies for attracting majors in science and mathematics to the teacher licensure programs at Montana State University Billings (MSUB). The goal of this project is to recruit current STEM majors and help them become successful licensed teachers in Montana's high-need school districts, especially those located on or near reservation schools and suffering from high teacher turnover and sub-standard student achievement. The Capacity Building phase examines the feasibility of redesigning specific courses to make them more appropriate for teaching students in high-needs schools. The use of blended learning will be analyzed as a delivery strategy, both to facilitate learning by teacher candidates and to model innovative instructional strategies for high-needs districts. Implementation of this proposal lays the groundwork for recruiting STEM teachers to serve in high-needs school districts as indicated by high teacher turnover and sub-standard student achievement. Because retention of teachers in high-needs schools is a continuing problem, this phase also creates a network of mentor teachers to assist Noyce scholars in their induction years as teachers.This Capacity Building proposal is leading to the development of a Phase I proposal to recruit about 15 prospective teacher candidates as Noyce scholars. The projected long-term effect of this proposal is to increase the number of qualified STEM teachers for high-needs school districts in Montana and, through induction support, improve teacher retention rates in these school districts.