Developing Computer Science Master Teachers for Georgia Rural Schools

The project aims to serve the national need of developing highly effective computer science (CS) teacher leaders. These teacher leaders will be prepared to strengthen the ability of rural school systems to provide access to high-quality CS instruction for all students. In preparing CS teacher leaders, the project seeks to address the insufficient level of CS instruction in rural schools, a significant gap in the STEM knowledge pipeline.

The project will prepare 16 exemplary and certified grades 6-12 STEM teacher leaders in southern Georgia schools. The preparation of CS teacher leaders will encourage continuing CS education in partnering school districts and provide CS learning experiences for current and future students. Project efforts are aligned with the Georgia Department of Education's CS Career Pathways and opportunities to pursue careers in a well-paying industry with a shortage of applicants.

Partnerships with agriculture, health care, and the military will provide participating teachers with exposure to paths for students to pursue CS careers. Providing students with CS educational experiences that can lead to well-compensated jobs will provide economic benefits to rural communities across the entire region.

This project at Mercer University includes partnerships with Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, the Computer Science for Georgia Academic Partners Network, and Georgia high-need school districts in Clinch County, Coffee County, Dublin City, Evans County, Jeff Davis County, Tattnall County, Treutlen County, and Wheeler County. Unique to the proposed project is CS as a new teaching area for experienced STEM teachers.

The project will implement and investigate a professional development approach to increase the number and diversity of CS teacher leaders in rural, high-need school systems in southern Georgia. Guiding the project's approach and evaluation is a research-based framework that extends the work of the Developing Master Teachers through the South Carolina Science and Mathematics Teacher Leaders program, which highlights areas of need for rural school systems and their teachers, specific to CS teaching and leadership.

The project team will employ research-based strategies to develop a network of teacher leaders with CS content and pedagogical knowledge, understandings of instructional coaching, and awareness of content-specific teacher leadership. The strategies will be implemented through a 14-month online Educational Specialist in Teacher Leadership master’s degree program, followed by online CS mini-courses, in-person CS Leadership Assemblies, and CS system-level planning events.

Evaluation and assessment data will be used to investigate how the project approach affects the learning, actions, and dispositions of the Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs) and school and system-level factors impacting the MTFs' success as CS teacher leaders. Nonprofit and industry partners will provide the MTFs with CS career-focused links within rural communities.

Project results will be presented at professional conferences and submitted for publication. This Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowship project is supported by the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts.

It also supports research on the retention and effectiveness of K-12 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.