Equipping Future STEM Teachers for Nashville Schools

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The project aims to serve the national need of preparing high-quality STEM teachers. It will do so by recruiting undergraduate STEM majors into STEM teaching careers in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics and supporting them as they become certified teachers. Recruiting activities seek to include community college transfer students and feature opportunities to learn about high-need schools through outreach activities. The project intends to help students develop strategies to succeed as teachers in high-need schools and to have a long-term career in teaching. To accomplish this goal, the project will provide students with multiple supervised teaching experiences in high need schools, as well as providing ongoing support from mentor teachers. This project at David Lipscomb University includes a formal partnership with Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. The project seeks to support 24 undergraduates minoring in teacher education and majoring in biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering, or physics. The financial and other supports will enable these Scholars to achieve certification and become highly qualified STEM teachers in high-need schools. Project activities include informal gatherings and outreach events, an annual week-long summer program, and a new seminar series focused on culturally responsive teaching. These activities are intended to support the development of a professional learning community of Scholars. Focused tutoring will be available to Scholars to ensure adequate preparation for licensure examinations. Evaluation of the project’s success will leverage state teacher quality metrics as well as qualitative data such as field notes, document analysis, and interviews regarding the use of culturally responsive teaching practices. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 STEM teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.