Community-Based STEM Pathways to Develop Idaho Professional Educators

The project aims to serve the national need of preparing high-quality rural STEM teachers, referred to as Teaching Fellows (TFs). Through this project, rural schools in Idaho will have access to more highly prepared STEM teachers (e.g. mathematics, science, engineering, and computer science teachers). The project is scheduled to provide full tuition scholarships for 16 TFs to earn a Master’s in Teaching degree and an Idaho teaching 6-12 certificate via Boise State University’s College of Education. After completing teacher certification, the TFs will receive annual salary supplements during their first four years of teaching. This project takes an innovative approach to recruiting and preparing STEM degree holders to become secondary teachers in rural high-need school districts. The proposed fellowship program is positioned to establish a new place-based residency strategy within an existing master’s degree program at Boise State University. This residency program aims to integrate coursework with classroom experiences, allowing TFs to apprentice under the constant guidance of an experienced mentor teacher. The community-based focus of this project is designed to ensure the program is attractive and effective for STEM professionals already living in rural communities. An extended induction support program is designed to support TFs to engage in collaborative community-focused analysis of their instruction as they develop local leadership capacity. This project at Boise State University includes partnerships with several rural Idaho high-need school districts (Blaine County, Caldwell, Hansen, Kimberly, Wendell, and Twin Falls), the Idaho Business for Education organization, the Idaho Workforce Development Council, and the Idaho STEM Action Center Project. The project goals include: (1) recruit and select a diverse cohort of 16 well-qualified TFs with high geographic diversity, (2) ensure all TFs gain the cultural competencies, pedagogical techniques, and professional dispositions necessary to be successful STEM teachers in their rural settings, and (3) provide quality induction support so that TFs and their mentors can be effective leaders in addressing community-valued goals for increased participation in STEM. The 6-year project includes external project evaluation collecting data throughout the program, with two questions to guide the project evaluation: (1) How effective is the fellowship program in supplying STEM teachers to rural, high-need schools? and (2) Which program and induction practices of the program are most associated with candidates' and graduates' use of responsive teaching practices? Results will provide information about the potential value of teacher certification models for teacher education programs and high-need districts. Findings will be broadly disseminated to inform national efforts to recruit and prepare STEM professionals to be highly qualified STEM teachers. This Track 2: Teaching Fellowships 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.