Exploration of a Labs to Classrooms Teaching Fellowship Program for Career-Changing STEM Professionals

该项目旨在满足国家对培养科学、技术、工程和数学专业人员的能力建设需求，使他们能够过渡到教学岗位并取得成功。这些职业转换者通常受雇于实验室或其他制造业岗位，他们将成为美国学校中完全合格且得到充分支持的STEM教师。该项目将探索一个加速的全在线教学硕士（MAT）项目的设计，为这些职业转换者提供初步的教学许可证和进入教学专业的支持。作为能力建设项目的一部分，将设计访问渠道，使在职专业人员能够获得重新设计的在线硕士学位所需的质量、灵活性和协作。该项目还将在整个过程中满足忙碌的工作成年人的持续需求。这种能力建设探索的预期结果将确定招生目标、独特的营销策略和确保开发成功的模式项目所需的支持结构。多特大学（DU）的这个项目探索了与全国各地大学选区的合作伙伴关系。它的重点将放在邻近地区的学区和学校协会，以及杜大学在美国各地80个历史上相互联系的杜大学选民网络的一部分，这些地区目前正在寻找STEM教师。项目目标包括征求利益相关者的意见，评估各组成领域对STEM教师的需求，以及评估STEM毕业生的兴趣。另一个目标是评估现有的研究生和本科课程，关于成人友好的初始许可路径。一旦这一探索证明MAT项目是有前途的，结果将是为工作STEM专业人员设计一个独特的在线硕士项目。该设计将包括市场营销、招聘和建议计划，以快速实施该计划。该项目将确定招生、许可和第一年成功率的具体目标。这种形式将减轻转行的常见障碍，如长期的教师培训计划，需要在工作时间在校园里上课，紧急或临时许可证，以及缺乏相关或方便的实地经验。设想中的在线课程将包括最佳实践，如早期实习经验、标准许可路径、成人学习理论、入门指导和多方面的评估系统。该项目的广泛影响基于这样一个假设，即进入教学永远不会太迟，高需求的农村学校应该并且能够拥有高质量的STEM教师。反过来，这可以让这些学校的学生对STEM更感兴趣。这一探索阶段将根据具体数据的数量进行评估，并为规划设想的项目提供方向。本能力建设项目由罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金项目（诺伊斯）支持。Noyce计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人士成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富的模范K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM大师教师。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的有效性和留任率的研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 building capacity to prepare working professionals in science, technology, engineering, and math to transition to and succeed in teaching positions. These career changers, often employed in labs or other manufacturing positions, will become fully qualified and adequately supported STEM teachers in the Nation’s schools. The project will explore the design of an accelerated fully online Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program to provide initial teaching licenses and support for induction into the teaching profession for these career changers. As part of this Capacity Building project, avenues of access will be designed to allow working professionals the quality, flexibility, and collaboration needed for success in the redesigned online master’s degree. The project will also be responsive to the ongoing needs of busy working adults throughout the process. The expected outcomes of this capacity building exploration will identify enrollment targets, unique marketing strategies, and support structures needed to ensure development of a successful model program.This project at Dordt University (DU) explores the partnerships needed with the university’s constituencies around the country. Its focus will be on school districts and school associations in the immediate region and in areas that are part of DU’s network of 80 historically connected pockets of DU constituents around the U.S. currently seeking STEM teachers. Project goals include soliciting input from stakeholders, assessing needs for STEM teachers in constituent areas, and assessing interest among STEM graduates. Another goal is to evaluate existing graduate and undergraduate curricula regarding an adult-friendly path to initial licensure. Once this exploration demonstrates an MAT program to be promising, the outcome will be the design of a unique online master’s program for working STEM professionals. The design will include marketing, hiring, and advising plans for quickly implementing the program. The project will identify specific targets for enrollment, licensing, and first-year success rates. The format will alleviate common barriers to career changing such as a long teacher training program, the need to attend classes on campus during work hours, emergency or temporary licenses, and the lack of relevant or convenient field experiences. The envisioned online program will include best practices such as early practicum experiences, a standard licensing path, adult learning theory, induction mentorships, and a multi-faceted assessment system. The broader impact of this project rests on the assumption that it is never too late to go into teaching and that high-need and rural schools deserve and can have high quality STEM teachers. This, in turn, can lead to more STEM interest among students in those schools. This exploration phase will be evaluated on the amount of concrete data and direction provided for planning the envisioned program. This Capacity Building project is supported by 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 effectiveness and retention 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.