Culturally Responsive Education and Teaching Empowerment in Mathematics in Hawaii (CREATE-Math-HI)

The project aims to serve the national need of developing highly effective teachers by enhancing practices to recruit and diversify mathematics educators who are culturally responsive to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) multilingual students throughout Hawai'i. The Hawai'i Department of Education has even identified Mathematics and English as a Second Language as areas with teacher shortages.

This Scholarship and Stipends project, Culturally Responsive Education and Teaching Empowerment (CREATE), will focus on recruiting and retaining "homegrown" mathematics teachers to become STEM leaders in the community who are knowledgeable in Hawai'i's unique cultural environment and are familiar with the NHPI student population. Additionally, the project's focus on NHPI students and scholars will help diversify the field of education by cultivating effective mathematics educators who are of backgrounds that are historically underrepresented.

The CREATE project is a collaborative effort between two indigenous-serving institutions: the University of Hawai'i at West O'ahu (UHWO) and the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UHM). By implementing innovative and efficient streamlined education, CREATE scholars will obtain a Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences with Applied Mathematics concentration (BS-NSCI-AM) from UHWO, and a master's degree with graduate certificates in Multilingual and Multicultural Professional Practice (MMPP) and Ethnomathematics from UHM.

The project brings together over 22 educators with expertise in mathematics, teacher education, Hawaiian knowledge, and multilingual learning to enable 13 content-rich, highly-qualified, and culturally responsive secondary mathematics teachers who can fulfill kuleana (right, privilege, concern, or responsibility to take care of one another and the community) to NHPI within high-need Local Education Agencies (LEA) in Hawai'i. The CREATE project will incorporate two initiatives, Peer Academic Leader (PAL) and Math Teachers' Circle of Hawai'i (MaTCH), to further support Noyce scholars in becoming effective mathematics educators.

The PAL component allows scholars field-based experiences by supporting and mentoring fellow UHWO students in lower division mathematics courses. The MaTCH workshops introduce students to content-based activities and will challenge them to think of pedagogical implications and opportunities for these activities, as well as help to foster relationships with in-service mathematics educators who can further support the scholars in and beyond the CREATE project.

Both initiatives will provide scholars with opportunities for authentic engagement in mathematics education and learning communities. 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.