Closing the Loop: From Student to STEM Teacher for Idaho Schools

在国家科学基金会罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划的资助下，爱达荷州学校的闭合环路：从学生到STEM教师将招募STEM专业的本科生，并为他们在高需求的农村学区成为6-12年级的STEM教师做好准备。这个Track 1项目的目标是在五年内资助65个奖学金。在这个项目中，博伊西州立大学将与考德威尔、杰罗姆、金伯利、库纳和瓦利维学区合作，确定、招募并支持有兴趣从事STEM教学工作的学生。在学生头两年的学习中，支持的机会包括校园生活和学习社区以及STEM教育在学生家庭社区的暑期实习。学生将完成博伊西州立大学为期四年的STEM学科理学士/认证课程(IDoTeach)。除了在他们最后两年的学习中提供奖学金支持外，该项目还将通过一个入职计划支持他们过渡到STEM教师职业生涯，帮助新教师准备成为教师领导者。该项目旨在让教师在了解限制对一系列学生进行公平教学的系统性障碍的情况下进入这一职业，以便他们更好地倡导其日益多样化的社区的利益和需求。这项提议的优点在于它努力提高爱达荷州中学STEM教师的数量和质量。与这些努力相伴而来的是确定支持增加教师人数的机制，特别是在满足农村偏远地区的需要方面。这一提议背后的行动理论是，在招聘、实习安置、准备和持续支持中明确关注学生的地理位置将结束一个循环：将从农村家庭社区招募学生，准备在其中授课，并最终受聘为STEM教育者。计划评估将确定影响农村学区教师数量的招聘、准备和保留工作的特点。这些发现有可能为招聘和培养高素质的STEM教师到农村和高需求学校任教的有效战略提供重要信息。这一奖项反映了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。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, Closing the Loop: From Student to STEM Teacher for Idaho Schools will recruit undergraduate STEM majors and prepare them to become grade 6-12 STEM teachers in high-need, rural school districts. This Track 1 project aims to fund 65 scholarships over five years. In this project, Boise State University will collaborate with Caldwell, Jerome, Kimberly, Kuna, and Vallivue school districts to identify, recruit, and then support students interested in pursuing STEM teaching careers. During students' first two years of study, opportunities for support include an on-campus Living and Learning Community and STEM education summer internships in students' home communities. Students will complete Boise State University's four-year BS/certification program for the STEM disciplines (IDoTeach). In addition to scholarship support in their last two years of study, the project will support their transition into STEM teaching careers with an induction program that prepares new teachers to be teacher-leaders. This project aims to prepare teachers to enter the profession with knowledge of the systemic barriers that limit equitable instruction for a range of students, so that they are better advocate for the interests and needs of their increasingly diverse communities.This proposal's merits lie in its efforts to increase the number and quality of STEM teachers for Idaho's secondary schools. Concomitant with these efforts is the goal to identify mechanisms that support an increase in the number of teachers, particularly with respect to the needs of rural, isolated districts. The theory of action behind this proposal is that explicit attention to students' geography in recruitment, internship placement, preparation, and ongoing support will close a loop: Students will be recruited from, prepared to teach within, and ultimately hired to serve as STEM educators for their rural home communities. Program evaluation will identify features of the recruitment, preparation and retention efforts that impact the number of teachers in rural school districts. The findings have the potential to provide important information about effective strategies for recruiting and preparing highly qualified STEM teachers to teach in rural and high-needs schools.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.