Preparing and Retaining Diverse, High-Quality Secondary School STEM Teachers in Maryland High-Need Schools

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This project aims to help build a diverse STEM teacher workforce in Maryland high-need school districts. Since 2004, Maryland has had a statewide teacher shortage in mathematics and science. The need for mathematics and science teachers is persistently critical in Prince George’s County Public Schools, with whom the project will work. More than ninety percent of the students in Prince George’s County Public Schools are underrepresented minorities. Research has shown that the success of children in school is positively affected by having same-race teachers. Bowie State University, a historically black institution within Prince George’s County, provides an ideal population from which to recruit and prepare highly skilled teachers who match the demographics of the school district. Through internship opportunities, academic scholarships, pedagogical training, and mentoring activities, this project seeks to attract, prepare, support, and retain talented underrepresented minority secondary teachers in Prince George’s County Public Schools and other Maryland high-need school districts. The project includes a partnership with Prince George’s County Public Schools, a high-need school district through achieving three main goals: 1. To support the recruitment and retention of undergraduate STEM majors into Math Education and Science Education programs. 2. To support career development of Noyce scholars committed to teaching in high-need schools. 3. To support success and retention of induction-phase Noyce scholar teachers. This project is modeled on social cognitive career theory, which posits that personal experiences shape and alter career interests. By providing students with meaningful teaching and mentorship opportunities, this project aims to recruit undergraduates majoring in biology and mathematics into teaching careers. To support the success and retention of the Noyce scholars committed to teaching in high-need schools, the project plans continued support during the induction phase of teaching in Prince George’s County Public Schools. A supportive community of educational professionals will be developed through the engagement of Noyce Scholars in a mentoring network with master teachers. To develop teaching self-efficacy, Noyce Scholars will attend pedagogy seminars on culturally responsive educational approaches and career development. The Scholars will have opportunities to attend Praxis II prep workshops, perform action research projects in their yearlong practical classroom experience, attend conferences, and engage in educator networking opportunities. As part of the project’s recruitment and development efforts, a STEM communication club will be created to engage community members in science at public events. For each of the first three years of funding, the project intends to offer 40 paid, semester-long tutoring internships in a Prince George’s County Public School and 18 paid summer internships in the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research’s GEMS program summer camp program. By the end of the award, the project intends to produce at least 23 new secondary teachers who are prepared to engage students in successful learning experiences in high school biology and mathematics. The project’s research and evaluation agenda will measure how program activities impact Scholars’ self-efficacy and outcome expectancy toward choosing teaching as a career. Overall, this project intends to increase the number of underrepresented minority teachers who are well-prepared to teach in high-need schools. It also aims to provide insights into successful methods for training and retaining underrepresented minorities in STEM teaching careers. 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.