Meeting the Demand for Secondary STEM Teachers in Rural and Urban High-need School Districts in Kansas and Missouri

This project aims to serve the national interest of growing and diversifying the STEM workforce, including secondary STEM teachers. To do so, the project will recruit and support 24 STEM undergraduates to become certified secondary teachers of biology, chemistry, or mathematics. The project’s objectives will be achieved through: (1) an innovative mentorship program pairing teacher candidates with active teachers and peer mentors; (2) a series of online modules focused on developing essential professional skills, learning more about inclusive pedagogies, and addressing current issues in STEM education; (3) online courses offered between academic terms; and (4) induction supports designed to sustain teacher graduates in their first years of teaching.

The project intends to contribute new knowledge about best practices for preparing STEM teachers and fill a gap in the literature about elements affecting retention of STEM teachers in rural and urban classrooms. To analyze these differences, project leaders will develop a rigorous and dynamic STEM education program focused on training student teachers to succeed in diverse classroom settings.

Additionally, project leaders will collaborate to design teacher surveys focused on: pedagogy, classroom resources, and classroom management; lab-based teaching and the availability of supports unique to STEM classrooms; and the teaching environment, including parent and community support.

This project at Baker University includes partnerships with Grandview Consolidated School District #4 and Topeka Public Schools. The project objectives are to: (1) recruit, retain, and graduate 24 undergraduate STEM majors seeking teacher licensure in biology, chemistry, and mathematics over the five-year period; (2) provide field experiences for STEM teacher candidates in high-need school districts; (3) provide teacher induction support after placement of the STEM teacher candidates; (4) improve STEM teacher candidates’ sense of preparedness for the classroom through enrichment opportunities, professional development, and mentorship with in-service teachers; and (5) increase knowledge about the different causes of STEM teacher attrition in rural and urban school districts.

More specifically, the project will explore if challenges faced by STEM teachers differ between rural and urban school districts and whether ongoing professional development connected with a teacher certification program might address some of these challenges. Project outcomes and evaluation will generate evidence about successful programmatic elements that may be replicated at similar 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 persistence, 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.