TSETS: Tribal Steppingstones in Educational Transformative STEM: A TCU-Led Secondary and Middle School Teachers Mathematics Networking Strategy

部落学院和大学计划（TCUP）的一个目标是支持符合TCUP条件的机构加强和应用其科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教学和研究能力，以更好地为国家的土著公民服务。支持这些目标的是该计划的TCUP为STEM（TSETS）的中小学教师提供资金，为TCUP合格的机构提供资金，以应用其居民STEM能力，为社区中在职的大学前STEM教育工作者提供专业发展项目。具体而言，TSETS项目旨在加强K-12教师在STEM学科或STEM教育内容和/或研究方面的能力。TSETS Tribal Steppingstones in Educational Transformative STEM：A TCU Led Secondary and Middle School Teachers Mathematics Networking Strategy project，由纳瓦霍技术大学的教师领导，将通过提供为期三年的专业发展经验直接解决这一目标，重点是提高纳瓦霍保留地中学和高中当地教育工作者的数学内容知识。该项目与为纳瓦霍学前班学生服务的教育工作者合作，旨在全面加强数学教学，最终结果是提高学生的数学成绩。该项目包含了灵活的要素，旨在满足20名当地教育工作者的专业发展需求，并采用一套全面的战略，以确保学校数学课程和教学的长期系统性改进。这个STEM教师专业发展项目旨在支持教育工作者通过更新和/或获得新的数学教师资格证书来改进他们的数学教学。新墨西哥州教师许可证所需的一系列数学课程将在该项目的五年期间提供，为教育工作者提供各种适合其个人能力和需求的入学点。该项目成功的其他关键策略包括广泛使用同伴导师，他们将为专业发展活动的设计和交付做出贡献，定期在小组和一对一论坛中指导个别教师，并培养一个强大的专业学习社区，包括学前教育工作者，NTU教职员工和同伴导师。活动还将涉及教学内容知识，旨在提高教师使用有效教学方法的知识和熟练程度。另一个预期成果是开发更强大的大学预科STEM课程途径，以更好地为学生在大学STEM学位和劳动力职位上取得成功做好准备。项目评估将使领导层能够综合项目设计的有效要素，这些要素将传播给数学教育界，从而促进对有效数学教师准备的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to support TCUP-eligible institutions in strengthening and applying their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities to better serve the Nation's Indigenous citizens. Supporting these goals is the program’s TCUP for Secondary and Elementary Teachers in STEM (TSETS) funding focus which offers funding for TCUP-eligible institutions to apply their resident STEM capacity in providing professional development projects for inservice pre-college STEM educators in their communities. Specifically, TSETS projects are designed to strengthen K-12 teacher proficiency in STEM disciplinary or STEM education content and/or research. The TSETS Tribal Steppingstones in Educational Transformative STEM: A TCU Led Secondary and Middle School Teachers Mathematics Networking Strategy project, led by faculty members at Navajo Technical University, will directly address this goal through the delivery of three-year professional development experiences focused on improving the mathematics content knowledge of local educators employed in middle and high schools on the Navajo Reservation. Working with educators serving Navajo precollege students, the project is designed to strengthen mathematics instruction overall with the ultimate outcome of improving students’ mathematics outcomes. The project incorporates flexible elements designed to meet the professional development needs of twenty local educators and employs a comprehensive set of strategies to ensure long term systemic improvements in schools’ mathematics curriculum and instruction.This STEM teacher professional development project is designed to support educators in improving their mathematical instruction with options to renew and/or gain new mathematics teacher credentials. A range of mathematics courses that are required for New Mexico teacher licensing will be offered over the project’s five-year duration, providing a variety of entry points for educators tailored to their individual competencies and needs. Additional critical strategies for the project’s success include the extensive use of peer mentors who will contribute to the professional development activities design and delivery, regularly mentor individual teachers in group and one-one-one forums, and foster a strong professional learning community that includes precollege educators, NTU faculty members, and peer mentors. Activities will also address pedagogical content knowledge, aiming to improve teachers’ knowledge of and proficiency with using effective instructional methods. An additional anticipated outcome is the development of more robust precollege STEM curriculum pathways to better prepare students for success in college STEM degrees and workforce positions. The project evaluation will enable leadership to synthesize the effective elements of the project design which will be disseminated to the mathematics education community, thereby advancing understanding of effective mathematics teacher preparation.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.