Smoky Mountain Noyce Scholars Program: Recruiting, Preparing, and Retaining Secondary Mathematics Teachers for High-Need Schools

The project aims to meet the national need to recruit and train high school mathematics teachers in the rural areas of western North Carolina. It will collaboratively develop cohort-based, pre-service teachers, energized by community colleges serving western North Carolina, through a three-pronged approach: curricular support, early field experiences, and mentoring.

Participants will benefit from focused advising and supplemental instruction to ensure direct and successful matriculation. Through practical assistance, real-world experience, and valuable networking and mentoring, this project aims to increase the number of motivated, quality secondary mathematics teachers available to high-need schools in rural Western North Carolina.

This project at Western Carolina University includes partnerships with several community colleges, high-need Local Education Agencies (LEAs), and the non-profit partner, Smoky Mountain Math Teachers' Circle. The overarching goal of the project is to increase the number and diversity of talented undergraduate students and to graduate at least twenty-one (21) mathematics majors certified to teach secondary mathematics in high-need school districts.

The project is supported by a detailed formative and summative evaluation plan focused on determining the impact and efficacy of project activities. New knowledge is anticipated regarding recruitment from and interactions with community colleges, the value of internships in recruiting prospective teachers, and the impact of teaching circles on networking and pre-service teacher development in rural settings.

Proactive dissemination of the project's findings and outcomes is planned for mathematics, mathematics education, and the wider STEM education communities through publications, presentations at national and regional conferences, local seminars, and workshops through the North Carolina Math Teachers' Circles. 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.