Building Capacity to Improve Pathways for Students Pursuing Careers in Secondary STEM Education

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This project aims to serve the national need for developing highly qualified secondary STEM teachers for high-need schools. The project will identify barriers to undergraduate STEM students pursuing secondary STEM teaching careers, specifically in Pennsylvania. These barriers will be identified through student interviews, focus groups, surveys, and institutional data. Additionally, the project will bring together STEM and education faculty in working groups to understand these barriers. Faculty will develop action plans to improve academic pathways and increase numbers of STEM students pursuing secondary teaching careers in the region.This project at Millersville University in Pennsylvania includes partnerships between STEM and education faculty at the institution. The proposed efforts are in response to recent declines in student completion of STEM education pathways. The project will create a Faculty Advisory Council that will guide activities among faculty, advisors, and other stakeholders to assess and address students' perceived barriers to pursuing STEM teaching careers. The project will gather data from university STEM students through interviews and focus groups. Additionally, the project will convene a 2-day “All Hands-On” forum, which will engage faculty in the analysis of gathered data and the design of action plans to improve STEM education leading to teaching careers. Evaluation will be conducted by an educational psychologist with local insight into the context. Outcomes from this project could provide foundational groundwork for a future Noyce Track 1 proposal. 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 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.