Preparing Successful STEM Teachers to Serve Students in High-Need Schools through Pathways, Pipelines, and Partnerships

This project aims to serve the national need for high-quality STEM teachers prepared to equip middle and high school students in high-need school districts to be the next generation of STEM professionals. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide scholarships to twenty-two (22) aspiring STEM teachers majoring in biology, chemistry, computer science, or mathematics with a double major in education. This project at Webster University (WU) includes partnerships with the Ritenour School District, Ritenour High School, and St. Louis Community College (STLCC). To support student professional and educational experiences to lead to well-prepared STEM educators, the project also includes community partnerships with the Academy of Science St. Louis, the Urban League of St. Louis, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. A fundamental impetus of the project is to strengthen the pathways and pipelines for the combination of STEM and STEM teacher preparation programs through specialized curricula and specially designed project activities. This will enable high-need schools in the St. Louis area and beyond to provide their students a strong and inclusive STEM education, which, in turn, will help prepare many of these students for success in a future STEM education and the STEM workforce. This project at Webster University in St. Louis will be guided by four main goals. First is to recruit more students beyond current numbers to pursue both a STEM degree and teaching certification through purposeful pathways. The project will follow a "grow your own" approach by recruiting prospective teachers and, later, placing them as certified teachers in high-need schools in their home community. Second, project initiatives will strengthen the pathways and pipelines to STEM teaching through specialized curricula, culturally relevant pedagogical methodologies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, enhanced advising, collaborative faculty-student research projects in STEM, field experiences in high-need schools, and STEM outreach programs with community partners. A third goal is to enact collaborative partnerships with academic and community organizations that provide relevant professional and educational experiences leading to better-prepared STEM educators. A fourth goal is to promote success for STEM teachers working in high-need schools through supportive mentorship and intentional induction opportunities to strengthen students’ mastery of STEM concepts and skills and improve teacher retention. Qualitative and quantitative project evaluation will provide formative and summative feedback and assessment. Project data collected regarding how demand is met for high-quality STEM teachers in St. Louis will be compared to results in the literature to add to the knowledge base on filling gaps in teacher shortages, especially in urban areas. This project will also add to the "grow your own" literature on meeting teacher capacity needs through the three Ps (pathways, pipelines, and partnerships). The project will distinguish itself in that the three Ps leverage not only a high-need school district, but also local community colleges and community partners engaged in STEM activities. Through publications and presentations at several different venues, investigators will proactively disseminate project findings and outcomes to other institutions regionally and nationwide. 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 district. 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.