Building a Pathway for Recruiting and Preparing STEM Teachers in Rural West Central Illinois

该项目旨在满足全国对高素质数学和科学教师的需求，这些教师为在包括农村地区在内的高需求学区任教做好了充分准备。伊利诺伊州中西部农村的许多公立学校资金不足，人口较少，而且位于贫困率较高的社区。该项目将通过为其中学招聘和培训STEM教师，为这些伙伴农村地区提供服务。学者将完成STEM课程，并将受益于高质量的教师准备计划和入职支持。他们将得到STEM和教育教职员工的指导和建议，学科领域考试的辅导，以及帮助构建课堂材料的小型设备赠款。为了促进专业发展，学者将有机会参加一系列研讨会，重点是如何教授二级STEM主题，包括如何使用教学方法，使学者能够以一种对文化敏感和有意识的方式教授这些主题。学者们还将完成一个夏季研讨会，为他们在高需求地区任教做好准备，并将有机会完成本科研究经验和/或参与其他职前教学经验。西伊利诺伊大学(WIU)的这个项目包括与黑鹰学院(BHC)和当地五个高需求地区(加尔斯堡、马科姆、布什内尔-草原、富尔顿县和莫林-煤炭谷)的合作伙伴关系。该项目的目标是1)使24名学者毕业并将他们安置在当地急需的地区；2)向至少6名来自BHC的学生提供奖学金；3)为从当地高中毕业的STEM教育专业的学生建立一条途径，从BHC开始，在WIU完成学位，并在当地中学任教；4)扩大机会，向STEM早期专业的学生介绍STEM教学的理论和实践；以及5)培养在教学和教学方面接受过广泛培训并经过专门培训，具有文化敏感度和意识的STEM教师。该项目的学术价值在于确定所有项目活动的效力和影响，包括参加以准备在高需求地区教学为重点的研讨会和讲习班。项目组还将衡量扩大现有WIU学习助理计划的影响和效果。拟议活动的更广泛影响包括满足对合格的STEM教育人员的迫切需求；开展招聘活动以吸引不同的应聘者；展示STEM教学的好处和STEM中等教育提供的机会。此外，学习助理计划的扩展将支持WIU和BHC的所有STEM入门课程。该项目包括对所有活动进行形成性和总结性评价的具体计划；将通过会议发言和期刊文章等传统渠道传播项目成果。这个Track 1：奖学金和津贴项目由罗伯特·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。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的有效性和留住的研究。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。

This project aims to address the national need for high-quality math and science teachers who are well-prepared to teach in high-need school districts, including rural districts. Many public schools in rural West Central Illinois are underfunded, have small populations, and are in communities with high poverty rates. This project will serve these partner rural districts by recruiting and preparing STEM teachers for their secondary schools. Scholars will complete STEM curriculum and will benefit from a high-quality teacher preparation program and induction support. They will receive mentoring and advising from both STEM and education faculty, tutoring for subject area exams, and small equipment grants to help build their classroom materials. To facilitate professional development, scholars will have access to a workshop series that focuses on how to teach secondary STEM topics, including how to use pedagogies that enable the scholars to teach these topics in a way that is culturally sensitive and aware. Scholars will also complete a summer seminar that will prepare them to teach in high-need districts and will have the option to complete an undergraduate research experience and/or participate in other pre-service teaching experiences.This project at Western Illinois University (WIU) includes partnerships with Black Hawk College (BHC) and five local high-need districts (Galesburg, Macomb, Bushnell-Prairie, Fulton County, and Moline-Coal Valley). The project goals are 1) to graduate 24 scholars and place them in local, high-need districts; 2) to grant scholarships to at least six students from BHC; 3) to build a pathway for STEM education majors who graduate from local high schools, start at BHC, finish their degrees at WIU, and teach in local secondary schools; 4) to expand opportunities to introduce early STEM majors to the theory and practice of teaching STEM; and 5) to prepare STEM teachers who are broadly trained in both content and pedagogy and specifically trained to be culturally sensitive and aware. The intellectual merit of the project is to determine the efficacy and impact of all project activities, including participation in seminars and workshops focused on preparation for teaching in high-need districts. The project team will also measure the impact and effectiveness of expanding the existing WIU Learning Assistant program. The broader impacts of the proposed activities include addressing the critical need for well-qualified STEM educators; recruitment activities to attract a diverse candidate pool; and demonstrating the benefits of STEM teaching and the opportunities available in STEM secondary education. Furthermore, expansion of the Learning Assistant program will support all introductory STEM courses at both WIU and BHC. The project includes specific plans for formative and summative evaluation of all activities; dissemination of project results will be made through traditional channels, such as conference presentations and journal articles. 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.