Philadelphia Regional Noyce Partnership

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The project is building the capacity in the greater Philadelphia area to strengthen all aspects of the STEM teacher pipeline. Seven regional colleges and universities that currently hold Noyce grants, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, Drexel University, La Salle University, University of Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph's University and Temple University, are partnering with the Philadelphia Education Fund to create the Philadelphia Regional Noyce (PRN) Partnership. The institutions in the partnership represent a broad array of Noyce programs impacting undergraduates, career-changers, post-baccalaureate students, and Master Teachers. With this range of Noyce programs, the partnership has the critical mass necessary to successfully develop a model demonstrating how multiple Noyce programs in the same geographical region work together to add value to what their individual programs offer. The intellectual merit of this project lies in understanding what initiatives lead to robust and productive synergies. The project has the potential for broad national impact as a model that could be adapted by other STEM teacher preparation consortia around the country. The PRN Partnership is developing Asset Mapping and Needs Assessment of the region's STEM teacher preparation programs, is using these data in a year-long planning process, and is pilot testing a variety of initiatives that bring together the partners' Noyce educators, representing all stages of the STEM teacher continuum, to learn from one another in a community of practice.The development of the partnership is inspired by theories of social network analysis which suggest that positive and unexpected synergies will occur and social capital will increase when trusted relationships are built between previously unconnected individuals and organizations.