Capacity Building for Increasing STEM Teacher Education at an Urban Lasallian University

该项目旨在满足提高高等教育能力的国家需要，为服务于不同城市学生群体的高需求学校培养合格的STEM教育者。这些高需求的学校往往难以招聘和留住合格的STEM教师。因此，学生在STEM科目中的表现往往会受到影响。基督教兄弟大学计划与当地一个高需求的学区合作，评估学区需要为攻读STEM专业的学生寻求教师执照而完善自己的路径。该大学旨在加强其招聘战略，以提高STEM专业学生对获得教师资格证书的兴趣。它还打算调查计算机科学专业与教师资格证书相结合的可行性和必要性。这些活动的目的是使大学培养出多样化和高素质的STEM教育者，他们准备满足城市学区的需求。基督教兄弟大学的这个项目包括与谢尔比县学校的合作，谢尔比县学校是田纳西州最大的学区，面临着STEM教师空缺和学生在STEM科目上表现不佳的挑战。超过一半的学生就读于基督教兄弟大学的STEM专业。然而，这些STEM专业的学生对目前可用的两个本科STEM教师资格证书选项的兴趣和完成率都非常低。为了解决这一问题并满足谢尔比县学校的需求，该项目的目标是：1)评估谢尔比县学校的需求，加强大学课程，满足城市多样化学校设置的需要；2)研究和制定有针对性的战略，以提高STEM学生对教学许可证课程的兴趣和入学率；3)确定扩展现有途径以包括新的计算机科学/教学许可证认可的可行性和兴趣。除了揭示大型、多样化和高需求学区的STEM需求外，该项目还旨在就各种招聘战略的有效性提供有价值的反馈，这些战略旨在刺激新生和现有STEM学生对STEM教师职业的兴趣。更广泛地说，该项目旨在设计计划，为该地区培养更多、更多样化的STEM教育者，这反过来可能有助于鼓励谢尔比县的学生从事STEM培训和职业，从而进一步使STEM劳动力多样化。该能力建设项目由罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划(NOYCE)提供支持。Noyce计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人员成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富、模范的K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM硕士教师。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的持久性、保留率和有效性的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national need for increasing the capacity of higher education to prepare qualified STEM educators for high-need schools that serve diverse, urban student populations. These high-need schools often struggle with recruiting and retaining qualified STEM teachers. As a result, student performance in STEM subjects often suffers. Working with a local, high-need school district, Christian Brothers University plans to assess school district needs to refine its own pathways for students pursuing STEM majors to seek teaching licensure. The University aims to enhance its recruiting strategies to generate greater interest among STEM majors to pursue teaching licensure. It also intends to investigate the feasibility and need for a computer science major paired with teaching licensure. These activities are intended to position the University to produce diverse and highly qualified STEM educators who are prepared to meet the needs of urban school districts. This project at Christian Brothers University includes a partnership with Shelby County Schools, the largest school district in Tennessee, which faces the challenges of STEM teacher vacancies and poor student performance in STEM subjects. More than half of the students enrolled at Christian Brothers University’s major in STEM fields. However, these STEM majors have remarkably low interest in and completion of the two currently available undergraduate STEM teaching licensure options. To address this problem and to meet the needs of Shelby County Schools, the goals of the project are to: 1) assess Shelby County Schools’ needs, to strengthen University programs and meet the needs of an urban, diverse school setting; 2) research and develop targeted strategies to increase interest and enrollment in teaching licensure programs among STEM students the University; and 3) determine the feasibility of and interest in expanding existing pathways to include a new computer science/teaching licensure endorsement. In addition to shedding light on the STEM needs of a large, diverse, and high-need school district, the project aims to produce valuable feedback on the efficacy of various recruiting strategies designed to spur interest in STEM teaching careers among new and current STEM students. More broadly, the project aims to design programs to generate a larger and more diverse supply of STEM educators for the area, which may in turn help to encourage Shelby County students to pursue STEM training and careers, thereby further diversifying the STEM workforce. 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.