- Year 2018
- NSF Noyce Award # 1758435
- First Name Anne
- Last Name Wilhelm
- Discipline Math
- Co-PI(s)
Scott Norris, Southern Methodist University, snorris@smu.edu
- Presenters
Anne Wilhelm, Scott Norris
Need
Dallas ISD recently named high school mathematics teachers as a ?critical shortage area? (Dallas ISD, 2016), suggesting that existing programs are not filling the need. A fresh and innovative approach is needed to actually get highly-qualified university teaching graduates into high-needs schools. SMU is currently preparing very few secondary mathematics teachers despite this great local need.
Goals
There are two main goals of this project: (1) generally, to improve the preparation of secondary mathematics teachers at Southern Methodist University, and (2) more specifically, to recruit and support students to become mathematics teachers and teach in local high needs schools. A critical component of this second goal is the recruitment of locally-rooted teachers from within Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD), in the hope that these teachers can return to their communities to teach the next generation of students. This project aims to develop a pipeline by which talented Dallas-area students are recruited through the DCCCD system, prepared at Southern Methodist University (SMU), and trained to return to and thrive in local high-need schools.
Approach
In order to design a program that’s going to be effective and meet the needs of the community, we are partnering with a number of different individuals across SMU and across Dallas. These partners include Dallas County Community College District, Dallas ISD (principals, teachers, and Human Resources), SMU Department of Mathematics, and SMU Administrators (Transfer office, financial aid). Each of the partners will be represented on the steering committee which will meet bi-monthly and will aim to provide feedback on the different components of the program as they are being developed and implemented.
Outcomes
We are just beginning but we are hoping to get feedback on our proposed design from other Noyce programs to improve our design.
Broader Impacts
This program is designed with community impact in mind. The goals are to build on beginning collaboration between the Department of Teaching and Learning and the Department of Mathematics to produce more and better-prepared mathematics teachers at SMU, which contributes to improved K-12 mathematics education generally. More specifically, the project aims to recruit and develop locally-rooted students from DCCCD campuses who are prepared and supported to work in high-need schools.
