Community Network Practices to Cultivate Resilient STEM Educators

该项目旨在满足国家培养高质量STEM中学教师的需求，以填补重大短缺。认识到学生通常具有多个重叠的身份，这会影响对STEM教育职业的兴趣和准备，该项目将招募、准备和支持来自不同学生群体的地区机构的高成就中学STEM教育学生，并在大学衔接项目中提供奖学金，以增加对STEM教学职业的兴趣和机会。该项目将使用与文化相关的实践和学术支持来提高中学STEM教师的毕业率，包括西班牙裔和神经多样性教师，以服务于高需求地区。创新黑客马拉松将让学生参与“破解”解决早期职业教师面临的问题，培养协作和解决问题的技能，以及建立STEM教育社区。参加会议和暑期STEM经历也将丰富学生的发展。该项目将继续支持毕业生在课堂上积累经验，并帮助建立和维护STEM教师的社区网络。该项目有可能增加和多样化追求STEM教师认证并取得成功的学生，特别是来自文化和语言背景不同的学生以及神经多样性的学生。这个奥罗拉大学项目包括与两个高需求学区，西奥罗拉和东奥罗拉，以及埃尔金社区学院，一个为期两年的西班牙裔服务机构的合作伙伴关系。该项目将在五年内招收24名生物、化学和数学专业的本科生，利用与文化相关的课程计划和学术支持，在早期STEM课程中取得成功，并扩大所有学生的能力，以提高二级STEM执照。该项目使用交叉性的理论框架来帮助识别和支持学生的需求，并教未来的教师在他们未来的课堂上这样做。项目目标包括：1)提高STEM中等教育的入学率、保有率和毕业率；2)提高对STEM中等教育职业的认识；3)使用STEM内容支持、辅导和教师干预，降低STEM专业学生的辍学/不及格/退学率；4)使用在线资源中心、指导和黑客马拉松来监控和指导新的STEM教师。项目团队将研究交叉性对STEM教学学生的影响，以及对从事STEM教学的神经发散学生的鼓励、支持和交叉性的影响。项目评估员将审查各项活动，收集和综合数据，以评估是否成功实现目标和目的，并进行访谈和调查，以确定作为高需求学校和西班牙裔人口教师的参与者的有效性。通过项目网站、学术期刊和会议传播成果，将通过在其他机构进行改编和复制产生更广泛的影响。本项目由Robert Noyce教师奖学金项目（Noyce）资助。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。

The project aims to serve the national need to prepare high-quality secondary STEM teachers to fill major shortages. Recognizing that students often have multiple, overlapping identities that impact interest in and preparation for STEM education careers, the project will recruit, prepare, and support high-achieving secondary STEM education students from area institutions with diverse student populations and neurodiverse students in a College Pathways program, providing scholarships to increase interest in and access to STEM teaching careers. The project will use culturally relevant practices and academic supports to increase the graduation of secondary STEM teachers, including Hispanic and neurodiverse teachers, to serve in high-need districts. Innovative hackathons will involve students in “hacking” solutions to issues faced by early career teachers, building collaborative and problem-solving skills as well as a STEM educator community. Conference attendance and summer STEM experiences will also enrich student development. The project will continue to support graduates as they gain experience in the classroom and help to build and maintain a community network of STEM teachers. The project has the potential to increase and diversify students pursuing and succeeding in STEM teacher certification, particularly students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those who are neurodiverse.This Aurora University project includes partnerships with two high-need school districts, West Aurora and East Aurora, and Elgin Community College, a two-year Hispanic serving institution. The project will recruit 24 undergraduates in biology, chemistry, and math majors over five years, using culturally relevant lesson plans and academic supports to build success in early STEM courses and broaden the capacity of all students to increase secondary STEM licensure. The project uses a theoretical framework of intersectionality to help identify and support student needs, and to teach prospective teachers to do so in their future classrooms. Project goals include 1) increasing enrollment, retention, and graduation in STEM secondary education, 2) increasing awareness of STEM secondary education careers; 3) Decreasing drop/ fail/ withdrawal rates among STEM majors using STEM content supports, tutoring, and faculty interventions; and 4) Monitoring and mentoring new STEM teachers using an online resource hub, mentoring, and hackathons. The project team will generate knowledge on the impact of intersectionality among STEM teaching students and of encouragement, supports, and intersectionality on neurodivergent students pursuing STEM teaching. The project evaluator will review activities and collect and synthesize data to evaluate success meeting goals and objectives and conduct interviews and surveys to determine the effectiveness of participants as teachers in high-needs schools and Hispanic populations. Dissemination of results through the project website, academic journals and conferences will allow broader impact through adaptation and replication at other institutions. 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.