- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 1339956
- First Name Sandra
- Last Name Adams
- Discipline Teacher Education
- Co-PI(s)
Douglas Larkin, Montclair State University, larkind@mail.montclair.edu
John Berger, County College of Morris, jberger@ccm.edu - Presenters
Douglas Larkin, Montclair State University, larkind@mail.montclair.edu
Need
The number of students in science teacher certification programs in the state of NJ remains quite low. The assumption of this project was that enrollment could be increased by easing the pathway for community college science majors into a science teacher education program.
Goals
The goal for this project was to recruit science majors into the MSU Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. To this end, we established a position for a community college recruitment coordinator and two additional recruiters at a total of three community colleges.
Approach
These efforts supplemented our overall recruitment efforts, which included a website, brochures, and multiple personal presentations and appeals in undergraduate science courses and clubs.
Outcomes
The key finding from this project is that community college recruitment efforts were largely unsuccessful for a number of reasons: the fact that many high achieving community college students simply did not choose teaching as a career, the long trajectory of course planning and advisement that was necessary to gain admission into the MSU teacher education program, and structural impediments between community colleges and 4 year institutions that went beyond what could be ameliorated by the program.
Broader Impacts
This project has influenced the overall discussion about recruitment of STEM majors into teacher education through the undergraduate route at our university. Currently, dissemination of these findings has occurred in meetings at the department and college level.
