Building Rural STEM Educator Capacity through Partnership

该项目汇集了来自农村地区的STEM和STEM教育教职员工、教师和管理人员，以及其他致力于改善STEM教育的人，以发展合作伙伴关系，在缅因州建设能力，以吸引、准备和支持迫切需要的农村地区的STEM教师和教师领袖。这一伙伴关系促进了一个网络改进社区，以开发和传播示范的STEM教学方法课程，使职前和在职教师做好准备，开始下一代科学标准和数学共同核心国家标准所要求的转变过程。在对高需求地区进行需求评估后，该伙伴关系正在利用这些信息设计招聘战略、创新的、协作的实地经验和其他专业发展，以支持STEM教师和教师领导的持续专业成长，并使硕士教学研究员获得研究生证书。这些教师的定位是对他们的学生和社区产生重大的、长期的影响。随着信息的收集和能力的建立，伙伴关系成员正在获得费用分担承诺和伙伴安置协议，制定研究和评估计划，为国家科学基金会教学奖学金和硕士教学奖学金提案提供基础。这一倡议的合作伙伴包括在STEM教与学方面具有专业知识的研究人员、经验丰富的教师和课程主任，他们中的每一位都为社区带来了不同的知识。课程和课程的开发是以学科为基础的教育研究，包括与实施实践的挑战有关的研究。对职业发展的每个要素进行评估，并将结果用于指导改进。该项目的网络改进社区正在为使用这一战略在农村地区持续改善教育提供见解。通过这个项目开发的课程被广泛传播，因此其他人也从这个社区的产品中受益。

This project brings together STEM and STEM education faculty, teachers and administrators from rural districts, and others committed to improving STEM education to develop a partnership to build capacity in Maine to attract, prepare, and support STEM teachers and teacher leaders in high-need rural districts. This partnership fosters a networked improvement community to develop and disseminate exemplary STEM teaching methods courses, preparing both pre-service and in-service teachers to begin the transformation process called for in the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. After conducting a needs assessment of high-need districts, the partnership is using this information to design recruitment strategies, innovative, collaborative field experiences and other professional development to support ongoing professional growth of STEM teachers and teacher leaders, with Master Teaching Fellows earning a Graduate Certificate. These teachers are positioned to have a significant, long term impact on their students and their communities. As information is collected and capacity is built, partnership members are obtaining cost share commitments and agreements for Fellow placements, develop a research and evaluation plan, providing the basis for an NSF Teaching Fellowships and Master Teaching Fellowships proposal. The partnership for this initiative includes researchers with expertise in STEM teaching and learning, veteran teachers, and curriculum directors, each of whom brings different knowledge to the community. The course and curriculum development is informed by discipline-based education research, including studies related to challenges of implementing the practices. Each element of professional development is assessed, with the results used to guide improvements. The project's networked improvement community is providing insights into the use of this strategy for ongoing educational improvement in rural areas. Courses developed through this project are disseminated broadly, so others benefit from the products of this community.