Idaho Making Progress Addressing Critical Teacher Shortages in STEM

The project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly qualified STEM teachers. To help address the critical shortage of highly qualified STEM teachers, this project will recruit STEM majors to become secondary STEM teachers to teach in rural and high-need school districts. Through a four-phase process to develop a robust community of practice, the project will support and mentor Noyce Scholars from their initial development as a prospective STEM teacher through their continuing growth as a practicing STEM teacher.

Noyce Scholars will have the opportunity to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching degree alongside their teaching certification. In addition, the program will support first-year and sophomore students to participate in internships to introduce them to K-12 STEM education followed by more extensive field experiences as Noyce Scholars. Strong schools within local communities are a central element to an informed democracy and strong, highly qualified STEM teachers can meaningfully contribute to creating strong schools.

This project at Idaho State University includes partnerships with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe, the American Falls School District, and the Pocatello/Chubbuck School Districts, all of which are high-need districts. Project goals include: 1) Increasing the number of highly qualified K-12 STEM teachers in Idaho and the Intermountain-west region, and 2) creating effective support and mentoring structures between Idaho State University (ISU) STEM departments and the College of Education.

To this end, this project will support 26 undergraduate and graduate level scholars over the lifetime of the project. ISU will implement a four-phase Communities of Practice for STEM Scholars consisting of: 1) internal experiences, 2) external experiences, 3) leadership opportunities, and 4) on-going, classroom-based mentoring and professional development.

Phase One will implement internal STEM and STEM education experiences such as, teaching assistantships, content mentoring with STEM faculty, and an ISU Noyce STEM Student Team to recruit and develop a Community of Practice in STEM education. Phase Two will engage Scholars with the education community by supporting secondary STEM classrooms and STEM outreach activities such as STEM camps for secondary students.

Phase Three aims to build Noyce Scholars' leadership skills by leading ISU Noyce STEM Student Team, co-facilitating professional development for incoming Noyce Scholars, and presenting at conferences with current STEM and Education practitioners. Phase Four intends to support and nurture new Noyce teachers in the classroom with site-based mentoring, remote networking, and annual reunions for continued professional learning.

This project will potentially develop understandings of the role and effect of recruitment and retention activities, collaborative structures, and develop evidence-based pathways in constructing programs to develop and sustain STEM educators for high-need, rural, and Intermountain-west region schools. Project results will be evaluated through both qualitative and quantitative means (e.g. field notes, interviews, surveys) and will be shared through publications and presentations at conferences.

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.