Preparing STEM Teachers for English Language Learners: the STELLER Project

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This project will implement a Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Phase II project, STEM Teachers for English Language Learners: Excellence and Retention (STELLER), at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). STELLER addresses the growing national need to recruit, prepare, and provide effective induction support for new STEM middle and high school teachers with degrees in STEM fields and strong content-specific pedagogical preparation. A unique aspect of this project is the intent to focus on preparing new teachers who can meet the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs), students whose difficulties in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding English may hinder their learning. This program seeks to recruit undergraduate STEM students across all disciplines for entry into a 13-month post baccalaureate program leading to certification and a career teaching in high needs secondary schools. A total of 40 scholars will be supported over the five years of the project. The new teacher scholars will obtain teaching positions in high-need secondary schools with a particular emphasis on placement in the Santa Barbara Unified School district but also elsewhere on the California Central Coast in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, and Kern counties.STELLER's team will consist of UCSB faculty from science, mathematics, engineering, computer science, and education; teachers and administrators from the high-need Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD); directors from UCSB's Office of Education Partnerships; and community leaders from the Santa Barbara County K-20 STEM Council. The program will continue efforts begun under the Noyce Phase I CalTeach at Santa Barbara (CTSB) to increase the quality, number, and diversity of secondary science and mathematics teachers who graduate from UCSB's post-baccalaureate Teacher Education Program (TEP). Starting at the undergraduate level, a focus on English Language Learners (ELLs) will be added so as to thoroughly prepare secondary science and mathematics teacher candidates to teach the disciplinary-specific language, core ideas, and practices outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. The trajectories of CTSB and STELLER Teacher Scholars will be tracked to generate new insights into effective teacher education. This project will produce a 24% increase in UCSB's production of science and mathematics teachers. Evaluation efforts will include an assessment of activities specific to this project as well as continued assessment of the success of beginning teachers from the initial Phase I Noyce Program at UCSB. A mixed methods approach will be used in project evaluation. Data regarding the program operation will be collected through surveys and interviews with all participants. Data regarding teacher effectiveness and training will be collected in classroom observations, tracking of average state standardized test scores of students, and performance on the state-mandated teaching performance assessment.