- Year 2019
- NSF Noyce Award # 1339993
- First Name Rohitha
- Last Name Goonatilake
- Discipline Math
- Co-PI(s)
Puneet Gill, Texas A&M International University, puneet.gill@tamiu.edu
- Presenters
Puneet Gill, Texas A&M International University, puneet.gill@tamiu.edu; Ervey Gomez, Texas A&M International University, erveygomez@dusty.tamiu.edu
Need
The Noyce Scholarship program at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), Laredo, Texas, identifies evidence-based strategies that enhance retention in the workforce and the extent to which the potential teachers are adequately equipped to accept the challenges in high-need school districts. Some teachers experience challenges to succeed in the mission of teaching as expected by local and state education authorities, academy sponsors, and trustees due to the accountability embedded to their teaching tasks. The effort we present helps to recruit and maintain students in districts over a sustained period of time. We also have used strategies aimed at building connections between faculty in different disciplines to better support students.
Goals
Question: Can we sustain an apporach that supports high-quality induction and mentoring programs are the best technique for increasing teacher retention?
Approach
The process/approach for retention included Teacher summer internship program, summer boot camps, conference attendance, mentoring support, student support for the TExES Mathematics test through year long workshops. We will discuss how this process has been sustained and evolved from year to year.
Outcomes
Key outcomes are: Students need sustained cross-disciplinary faculty, workshops, mentoring experiences, summer internships and boot camps to be successful. We will discuss limitations and the what we have learned for subsequent years. We will also discuss efforts at delivering STEM based teaching methods and the implications of these efforts.
Broader Impacts
Broader impact will be discussed in terms of what we have learned from: 1. Teachers that are working in the field that have graduated from the Noyce scholarship program. 2. How can we support teachers with STEM based teaching methods in the future? 3. What we have learned from the mentoring program impact. 4. What we have learned from the boot camp experience. Our next steps is to consider how this program can be expanded to sustain more cohorts of students in the future and to integrate STEM teaching experiences into the Noyce scholarship program.
