McMurry STEM Teacher Education Preparation Program (M-STEPP)

建设农村学区STEM教师培训能力该项目旨在满足国家增加农村地区高素质STEM教师数量的需要。该项目的目标是1)评估机构和当地学区的需求，以确定这些学区内STEM教师短缺的程度和领域；2)制定招聘战略，突出STEM职业生涯的重要性，并加强STEM教师候选人队伍；以及3)简化STEM认证课程，以强调教学参与，并以最佳方式培养职前教师，以便成功教授德克萨斯州的中学STEM课程。总体而言，这些努力旨在增加德克萨斯州中西部具有STEM学科背景的训练有素的教师队伍。通过该项目，麦克默里大学将与思科学院合作，对当地几家农村教育机构进行调查，以确定德克萨斯州中西部农村地区STEM教师短缺的程度。然后，麦克默里大学和思科学院将利用这些调查的结果来制定招聘战略，并确定学生追求STEM教师职业生涯的途径。调查还将为课程修改提供信息，以扩大认证领域并改善这些机构的教师准备。该项目将使用德克萨斯州教育管理局(TEA)为每个当地教育机构提供的人口统计数据，并使用调查和焦点小组来进行需求评估，重点是：1)STEM教师短缺的程度，2)学区提供的科学课程是否足够，以及3)学生选择STEM专业的潜在障碍。由于成为一名高素质STEM教师的第一步是选择STEM专业，该项目将为STEM专业制定新的招聘战略，专门专注于解决需求评估中发现的可感知的障碍。该能力建设项目由罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划(NOYCE)提供支持。Noyce计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人员成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富、模范的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，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，被认为值得支持。

Building Capacity for STEM Teacher Preparation in Rural School Districts The project aims to serve the national need to increase the number of high-quality STEM teachers in rural areas. The project’s goals are to 1) assess institutional and local school district needs to determine the extent and areas of STEM teacher shortages within those districts; 2) create recruitment strategies to spotlight the importance of STEM careers and strengthen the pool of STEM teacher candidates; and 3) streamline the STEM certification curriculum to emphasize instructional engagement and optimally prepare pre-service teachers to successfully teach secondary STEM curriculum in Texas. Collectively, these efforts seek to increase the pool of well-prepared teachers with a background in STEM disciplines in west-central Texas. Through this project, McMurry University will collaborate with Cisco College to survey several rural local educational agencies to determine the extent of STEM teacher shortages in rural west-central Texas. McMurry University and Cisco College will then use the results of these surveys to create recruitment strategies and identify pathways for students to pursue STEM teaching careers. The surveys will also inform curricular modifications to expand certification areas and improve teacher preparation at these institutions. This project will use demographic data provided by the Texas Education Administration (TEA) for each local education agency and use both surveys and focus groups to conduct a needs assessment centered on the following: 1) the extent of the STEM teacher shortage, 2) the perceived adequacy of the science curriculum as delivered by school districts, and 3) the potential barriers to students selecting STEM majors. Since a first step in becoming a highly qualified STEM teacher is the selection of a STEM major, the project will create new recruitment strategies for STEM majors that are specifically focused on addressing the perceived barriers uncovered in the needs assessment. This Capacity Building 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 retention and effectiveness 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.