- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 1339936
- First Name Amanda
- Last Name Datnow
- Discipline STEM
- Co-PI(s)
Jeff Remmel,University of California San Diego, jremmel@ucsd.edu
Chris Halter, University of California San Diego, chalter@ucsd.edu - Presenters
Chris Halter, UC San Diego, chalter@ucsd.edu
Need
The UCSD Noyce-CalTeach Scholar Program recruits future teachers from the STEM majors. The recent teacher shortages being experienced in California and throughout the nation have highlighted the need for dedicated and knowledgeable K-12 classroom teachers. Our program seeks to fill these shortage areas with teacher leaders who promote strong academic success in an equitable classroom.
Goals
The University of California San Diego Education Studies Noyce Scholarship Program enhances secondary mathematics and science teaching in San Diego County public K-12 schools and beyond. The program recruits high achieving STEM majors from the UCSD undergraduate degrees of mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, geoscience, and management sciences. The scholarship program is embedded within UCSD’s CalTeach program.
Recruitment efforts of the CalTeach program are to support high achieving STEM majors who are committed to making a difference in the lives of diverse children in San Diego County public schools. The courses in the minors and the hands-on experiences you will gain in local schools will provide you with important preparation to become a teacher when you enroll in a credential program after you complete your bachelor’s degree. Once in the UCSD EDS Single Subject credential program you will gain the skills and expertise to guide young learners towards their own academic goals.
Approach
Activities focus on three areas: recruitment, support and retention. This program seeks to recruit the best and the brightest from our STEM majors. Once in the program you will be nurtured within a close cohort based experience as you learn the art and science of teaching. All CalTeach participants engage in extensive K-12 classroom experiences under the mentorship of outstanding veteran teachers. Once our scholars graduate and take charge of their own classrooms, they return to the CalTeach program as mentors and advisers for our new participants.
Outcomes
The UCSD Noyce-CalTeach Scholar program has been very successful as evidenced in multiple measures. The program has graduated over 70 new STEM teachers and graduates from the program report a greater sense of purpose, support, and preparedness. The Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE) prepared an interim report on the Noyce-CalTeach scholarship program. The report was very positive, highlighting areas that were seen as strengths in the program and recommending some areas for improvement that are addressed in this Phase II proposal.
Program highlights from the report include:
** The availability of financial support from the NSF Noyce Fellowship and the opportunity to interact with expert math/science teachers were strong motivators to enter the credential program.
** UC San Diego faculty members are cited as a source of encouragement to enter the teaching profession.
** The most influential experience on the decision to enter teaching was the opportunity to engage in early fieldwork in local K-12 high needs classrooms with mentor teachers.
** There was a general belief that they learned a lot about the profession, received very good instruction, and would (or have) recommended the minor to other students.
** Credential students had very positive experiences at their school sites, with uniform agreement that they were provided with good role models and that the experiences increased their desire to become teachers.
** Based on their experiences as interns or student teachers, credential candidates felt confident in their ability to teach independently in their own classrooms, especially in high need schools.
Broader Impacts
The collaboration between scholars and our Noyce Master Teacher Fellows creates an active and vibrant learning community striving to improve the education of all our children. The power of our extensive early fieldwork and the mentoring opportunities within the program are significant. Pre-service teacher candidates within this program enter the classroom with a much deeper experience level than typical programs can offer. With the explicit and targeted mentor training provided to our Noyce Master Teachers, their ability to guide and support the Noyce Scholars has been greatly enhanced. Students leave the program better prepared and equipped to begin long productive careers in the teaching profession. Ultimately the new K-12 STEM teachers who leave the UCSD Teacher Credential program are better prepared for the realities of teaching, stay in the teaching profession longer, and have significant impacts on K-12 student learning.
