- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 1540662
- First Name Andre
- Last Name Green
- Discipline Biology
- Co-PI(s)
Susan Martin,University of South Alabama, ferguson@southalabama.edu
; Justin Sanders, University of South Alabama, jsanders@southalabama.edu
; James VanHaneghan, University of South Alabama,
jvanhane@southalabama.edu - Presenters
Susan Martin, ferguson@southalabama.edu
, University of South Alabama
Need
Both the Noyce PTS and PTM are graduate degree programs focused on recruiting candidates with undergraduate degrees in STEM to become great teachers. The programs were proposed to the National Science Foundation as experimental interventions to increase the number of students seeking a graduate degree and certification in science/math education. With PTS we have been successful in increasing the number of teachers being produced by the university.
Goals
In June 2009, the University of South Alabama was awarded a Noyce Pathway to Science (PTS) grant in secondary science education. The first year of the grant was used to lay the foundation, advertise, and recruit. The purpose of these activities was to assist potential Noyce Scholars in making an informed career decision regarding entering the education profession. Therefore, to be eligible to apply for the Noyce PTS program, interested candidates had to complete a ten-week pre-residency experience the fall prior to a spring admission. The ten-week pre-residency experience for the first cohort occurred in fall 2010. Nine candidates completed pre-residency and seven were awarded the scholarship in spring 2011
. At the conclusion of the spring semester 2015, nineteen students completed the program bringing us to 95% of our goal of twenty teachers. It should be noted that our original goal was twenty-four students, but we received permission from then Noyce Program Director Dr. Joan Prival to reduce our number, as tuition increases were out pacing what we originally allocated for each participant. Due to careful spending over the granting period, we still had excess funds in our budget. We applied for an extension so that these unused funds could be used to support three additional students for three of their four remaining semesters through the fall semester of 2015, bringing us to twenty-two students supported through the Noyce PTS program, phase I.
For Phase II the program will:
1.) prepare a total of twelve additional science teachers over a five-year period who are highly qualified to teach chemistry, physics, biology, or general science by having them earn initial certification and a masters degree in four semesters. PTS seeks to continue to provide highly certified science teachers for high need schools, 2.) measure the effectiveness of creating a community of learners that provides ongoing mentoring and professional development for PTS scholars that will increase the likelihood that they will be retained and become career teachers., 3.) measure the impact of PTS scholars on student achievement and use that data to strengthen the science teacher preparation program, 4.) measure the self-efficacy of graduates by providing a qualitative analysis of those who have persisted and not persisted as science teachers, and 5.) measure the effectiveness of graduates who teach in the MCPSS against graduates of our modified program as well as measure the effectiveness of PTS graduates against non-Noyce graduates in the MCPSS.
Results from the previous award show that the USA has the capacity to deliver a high quality Noyce program. A strong history of collaboration will ensure that this Phase II project is as impactful as the previous project.
Approach
Our data suggest that the pre-residency experience is a critical component of the Noyce program, giving applicants a meaningful opportunity to explore teaching careers before committing to the time and coursework of a teacher education program. Scholarship applicants are reviewed on their performance during this experience and on their mentor teachers’ recommendations. Indeed, following the pre-residency, several students made the decision not to pursue a career in education.
Outcomes
The program addressed the need to increase the number of science teachers in the MCPSS and surrounding school districts. The PTS program enabled recent science or engineering bachelor’s degree graduates to complete secondary science certification in an intensive four-semester program that culminated with certification and an earned masters degree.
What’s next? PTS will:
1. ) Prepare a total of twelve additional science teachers over a five-year period who are highly qualified to teach chemistry, physics, biology, or general science by having them earn initial certification and a masters degree in four semesters. PTS seeks to continue to provide highly certified science teachers for high need schools.
2.) Measure the effectiveness of creating a community of learners that provides ongoing mentoring and professional development for PTS scholars that will increase the likelihood that they will be retained and become career teachers.
3. ) Measure the impact of PTS scholars on student achievement and use that data to strengthen the science teacher preparation program.
4.) Measure the self-efficacy of graduates by providing a qualitative analysis of those who have persisted and not persisted as science teachers.
5.) Measure the effectiveness of graduates who teach in the MCPSS against graduates of our modified program as well as measure the effectiveness of PTS graduates against non-Noyce graduates in the MCPSS.
Broader Impacts
The overarching goal of PTS is to increase the supply of qualified science teachers for the MCPSS as well as the retention of them as career science teachers. PTS will attract racially and ethnically diverse STEM majors into the teaching field by an extensive recruitment campaign that targets recent graduates in the STEM disciplines. Currently the lack of certified science teachers is a major cause of poor achievement and low expectations for high-risk pupils. This problem is greatly intensified in both rural and urban areas because schools in these locales typically have: (1) overpopulated science classrooms and inadequate science teacher staffing, (2) teachers who teach outside of their field of certification, and/or (3) long term substitute teachers who do not have a STEM background. PTS will continue to impact the staffing of our partner schools with high functioning teachers to impact the academic achievement of pupils in these locales. In addition, the results of longitudinal data on the effectiveness of former PTS graduates on student achievement, along with qualitative data describing their experiences, will assist in better preparation of science teachers to meet student needs.
