Recruiting and Supporting a Diverse Pool of Highly-Qualified STEM Teachers through Communities of Practice and Informal Science Internships

该项目旨在满足国家对高素质和多样化的数学，科学和计算机科学教师的需求。美国在STEM教师的比例方面面临着巨大的差距，这些教师反映了他们在课堂上服务的来自不同背景的学生的比例。这一点很重要，因为研究表明，在学校里表现出身份的学生的学习成绩有所提高。该项目将实施和评估几个特征的影响，包括1）早期接触非正式和辅导环境中的教学经验; 2）将潜在的STEM教师融入一系列举措中，以及3）来自成功的STEM教师的强化指导，这些教师在STEM学科中的学生比例很高。预期的结果是增加高素质和多样化的中学STEM教师的数量。休斯顿大学清湖分校的这个项目包括与八个高需求独立学区的合作伙伴关系（埃塞尔维尤、迪肯森、鹅溪联合、希区柯克、汉布尔、帕萨迪纳、斯普林分支和得克萨斯城），四所社区学院（圣哈辛托学院、阿尔文社区学院、大陆学院、加尔维斯顿社区学院），以及4个STEM组织（Armand Bayou自然中心，儿童环境素养基金会，休斯顿环境研究所和月球与行星研究所）。项目目标包括：1）招募24名数学、科学和计算机科学专业的本科生加入教师队伍; 2）提高未来STEM教师的内容掌握和教学技能; 3）提高新STEM教师在教师队伍中的保留率和成功率。通过财政支持，学术支持和丰富，以及社会和职业支持的镜头，该项目将探讨两个研究问题：1）奖学金支持如何增加追求STEM教育事业的动力？2）奖学金如何提高学生的成功率？在项目评估过程中收集的该项目数据将增加对有效和可复制战略的了解，以吸引STEM专业的学生从事中学STEM教学职业，并提高中学STEM教师的有效性。这些评估将有助于告知STEM教学法/内容丰富的经验如何影响未来STEM教师教授STEM的信心及其作为STEM教育工作者在高需求学校（包括英语学习者人数众多的学校）的有效性。通过定量和定性的措施，内部评估将侧重于检查计划参与者的利益，包括学术成功的措施和未来的职业规划。项目的形成性和总结性评估将采用并行的混合方法，采用项目进度指标和反馈循环来告知项目的有效性。成果将通过各种媒体传播，包括会议、出版物、介绍和项目网站。这个轨道1：奖学金和津贴项目是通过罗伯特诺伊斯教师奖学金计划（诺伊斯）的支持。诺伊斯计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人士成为有效的K-12 STEM教师和经验丰富的模范K-12教师，成为高需求学区的STEM硕士教师。该奖项反映了NSF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 highly-qualified and diverse teachers of Mathematics, Science, and Computer Science. The nation faces significant disparity in the percentage of STEM teachers who mirror the percentage of students from diverse backgrounds they serve in their classrooms. This is important because studies show improved academic performance among students whose identities are represented in their schools. This project will implement and evaluate the impact of several features, including 1) early exposure to teaching experiences in informal and tutoring settings; 2) integration of prospective STEM teachers into a range of initiatives, and 3) intensive mentoring from accomplished STEM teachers who serve in schools with high percentages of students from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM disciplines. The expected outcome is an increased number of highly-qualified and diverse secondary STEM teachers.This project at the University of Houston-Clear Lake includes partnerships with eight high-need independent school districts (Channelview, Dickenson, Goose Creek Consolidated, Hitchcock, Humble, Pasadena, Spring Branch, and Texas City), four community colleges (San Jacinto College, Alvin Community College, College of the Mainland, Galveston Community College), and four STEM organizations (Armand Bayou Nature Center, Children's Environmental Literacy Foundation, Environmental Institute of Houston, and Lunar and Planetary Institute). Project goals include 1) recruiting a diverse pool of 24 undergraduate mathematics, science, and computer science majors to the teaching profession, 2) increasing prospective STEM teachers' content mastery and pedagogical skills, and 3) enhancing new STEM teachers' retention and success in the teaching profession. Through lenses of financial support, academic support and enrichment, and social and career support, the project will explore two research questions: 1) How does scholarship support increase motivation to pursue STEM education careers? and 2) How does scholarship support increase student success? Data from this project, collected in the course of project evaluation, will increase knowledge of effective and replicable strategies to attract STEM majors to secondary STEM teaching careers and to improve effectiveness of secondary STEM teachers. These assessments will help inform how STEM pedagogy/content-rich experiences impact future STEM teachers' confidence to teach STEM and their effectiveness as STEM educators in high-need schools, including those with a significant number of English-language learners. Through both quantitative and qualitative measures, the internal evaluation will focus on examination of benefits to program participants, including academic success measures and future career plans. Both formative and summative evaluation of the project will use a concurrent mixed-methods approach, with program progress indicators and a feedback loop to inform program effectiveness. Results will be disseminated through a wide variety of media, including conferences, publications, presentations, and a project website. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends 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 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.