Building Capacity to Increase the Pool of Highly Qualified STEM Teachers in High-Need Texas School Districts with Predominantly Hispanic Student Populations

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This project aims to address the need for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) K-12 teachers at both the national and regional level. Toward this aim, St. Mary’s University, a four-year Hispanic Serving Institution in San Antonio, Texas, will work with local education agency partners to evaluate and build capacity within its STEM Teacher Certification programs. The project will focus broadly on improving the pipeline for STEM majors seeking teacher licensure. In addition, it will encourage STEM pre-service teachers to teach in high-need schools and develop strategies and resources to support STEM pre-service teachers through their undergraduate studies and early stages of their professional K-12 teaching careers. This effort will include a careful investigation of available resources that might influence the development of an effective teacher preparation program and partnerships with local school districts. The project will also work to understand factors that impact Hispanic and other students as they make educational and career choices. This project at St. Mary’s University includes partnerships with the Northside Independent School District (Northside ISD) and the San Antonio ISD. Project goals include: 1) analyzing baseline data to explore the need for highly qualified STEM teachers in the partner local education agencies; 2) understanding the motivations and obstacles faced by Hispanic and other students as they make educational and career choices, particularly whether to major in STEM fields and to pursue a career as a K-12 STEM educator; 3) evaluating the existing university infrastructure for a robust program for student recruitment and STEM teacher preparation; and 4) developing a comprehensive plan to enhance the University’s ability to (a) successfully recruit, retain, and graduate talented students as STEM teachers; and (b) to support them during their first year as teachers in high-needs school districts. The project will generate new knowledge about effective recruiting and support mechanisms for diverse pre-service teachers, in partnership with school districts that have predominantly Hispanic student populations. Project outcomes are expected to contribute to ongoing efforts to broaden participation in K-12 STEM teaching. This Capacity Building 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 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.