- Year 2018
- NSF Noyce Award # 155634
- First Name Debra
- Last Name Poese
- Discipline Other: All STEM, STEM
- Presenters
Debra Poese
, Montgomery College
, debra.poese@montgomerycollege.edu
Need
This presentation will highlight the ACET program, a partnership program between Montgomery College and Montgomery County Public Schools. The characteristics that make this program highly effective in recruiting, training and retaining new STEM teachers will be provided. The program has a nearly 90% retention rate and focuses on the high need content areas for Montgomery County, Maryland, schools.
Goals
The content included in the Teaching Institute has ensured a 100 percent passing rate for the Praxis Pedagogy exam, Principles of Learning and Teaching. We partner with our local school system in the selection of candidates and in support of candidates during their internship and resident teaching year to enhance their success and satisfaction with the work.
Approach
Our selection criteria include increasing the participants’ knowledge of adolescent culture before entering the program. Specific strategies have evolved over the last ten years. The design for instruction and internships for new teachers has been updated with the support of grant funding to provide for retention during the teaching institute.
Outcomes
In fall of 2017, Montgomery College was selected to be one of the partners with Montgomery County Public Schools in a new initiative designed to develop and implement pathways for support professionals who want to become classroom teachers, so that we can recruit and retain a diverse workforce of highly effective and committed educators in high need content areas. This partnership will provide a specific pool of candidates for targeted recruitment, many of whom already possess a bachelor’s degree and may be strong candidates for the Noyce Scholar program.
Broader Impacts
Our efforts in recruitment for the ACET alternative certification program are beginning to show an increase in interest and completion, and future efforts are expected to add to that result.
Having students who are underrepresented minorities (URMs) serve as LAs is extremely powerful. 80% of the LAs at Montgomery College are themselves URMs (this matches the percentage of URMs at the college in STEM), not by any special targeted recruiting, but just by having a diverse student body of students excited about leading and supporting their peers.
