- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 1759454
- First Name Paige
- Last Name Evans
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline STEM Education (general)
- Role Principal Investigator (PI)
- Presenters
Paige Evans, University of Houston; Robert White, Houston Independent School District
Need
Although teacher education programs and professional development for practicing teachers provide preparation for teaching children from historically underrepresented cultures, application of that knowledge in the classroom is often inconsistent and ineffective because a theory-practice disconnect frequently occurs. The missing component is professional development in culturally relevant pedagogy, paired with on-site training with teachers. The Greater Houston area consists of an urban core surrounded by satellite communities and, as such, the need to develop and retain quality secondary STEM teachers within this region is critical. Moreover, in the most diverse city in the U.S., that is home to significant numbers of students living in poverty (85% or more in Houston), there also exists a need for secondary STEM teachers steeped in the knowledge of culturally responsive teaching. This Noyce MTF program addresses these disparities through the following objectives: (1) retain STEM teachers in high-need school districts; (2) cultivate teacher leaders in high-needs districts to mentor preservice teachers and work collaboratively with in-service teachers who are focused on implementing STEM disciplines through culturally responsive teaching in secondary classrooms; and (3) build a cadre of STEM teacher leaders that are equipped to advocate for change at the local, regional and national platform.
Research Questions
UH-LEAD’s objectives are to retain STEM teachers in high-need school districts; to cultivate teacher leaders in high-need school districts to mentor preservice teachers and work collaboratively with in-service teachers; and to build a cadre of STEM teacher leaders in high-need school districts who are equipped to be advocates of change at the local, regional and national levels. Goals will be met through: (1) providing support for 30 Master Teacher Fellows (MTFs) with tuition and fees of $18,000 through a 14-month master’s program with an emphasis in STEM Education; (2) providing MTFs an annual salary supplement of $10,000 for four years subsequent to completing the master’s program; (3) providing ongoing face-to-face and virtual professional development that includes culturally responsive teaching in STEM and instructional coaching in STEM; (4) creating a UH-LEAD Academy where MTFs will assume leadership roles in facilitating culturally responsive teaching with preservice STEM teachers and in-service teachers in their schools/districts; and (5) collaborating with NMSI to provide professional development on a national stage.
Approach
This Noyce Track 3 grant is grounded in the conceptual framework of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP). CRP is a major concept in urban and multicultural education and uses cultural knowledge, prior experience, frames of reference, and performance styles of underrepresented students to make learning encounters more relevant. In partnership with the National Math and Science Initiative (NSMI) and the Greater Houston high-need school districts, this project recruited and prepared 30 secondary STEM teachers to serve as teacher-leaders on campuses populated with underrepresented students. The experiences of designing/delivering professional development locally is preparing MTFs to transition to the national stage through the partnership and support of NMSI. Through the master’s program in STEM Education, professional development opportunities, and instructional coaching, MTFs are better prepared to teach in local urban classrooms and support both preservice and in-service teachers.
Outcomes
During the past year, MTFs were provided with a variety of face-to-face and virtual professional development opportunities during Spring 2023, Summer 2023, Fall 2023, and Spring 2024. To demonstrate various practices they are employing in their classrooms, MTFs submitted artifacts of classroom enactments, providing evidence of the infusion of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) and STEM pedagogical practices. MTFs also participated in other activities such as creating a curriculum through a curriculum platform, Teacher Moments, that infused CRP into learning scenarios, a summer STEM camp (Full STEM Ahead), as well as learning how to research, write and present a one-page policy brief in Washington, D.C. to educational staffers for various U.S. representatives from Texas. MTFs received professional development at the Annual Noyce Summit 2023. Four MTFs attended the Noyce Annual Summit in the summer, attending professional development sessions and networking with others in the field through informal learning communities. Five MTFs along with teachHOUSTON faculty attended and presented at the Western Regional Noyce Conference in Portland, Oregon. We provided leadership opportunities for MTFs to mentor culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) and STEM and pedagogical knowledge through mentorship opportunities with pre- and in-service teachers. These leadership opportunities occurred through various events. For example, some of our MTFs presented at the New Teacher Academy, a key part of the teachHOUSTON induction program, in training and supporting both pre-service and novice teachers in CRP, inquiry instruction, and other STEM-related research-based practices. Seven LEAD MTFs continued serving under the lead grant as Induction Specialists. The MTFs and teachHOUSTON faculty met on a monthly basis to discuss professional development opportunities, mentoring of current teachHOUSTON novice teachers, and plan professional development for the New Teacher Academy. Results have been shared through conference presentations, digital stories, and book chapters (published and in-press/progress). The MTFs have also designed and conducted professional developments for their schools/districts. Altogether there are 3 publications, 6 publications in review, and 13 conference presentations. The program recently received the Insight into Diversity Award for Inspiring Programs, teachHOUSTON, 2023. The grant is culminating at the end of this school year, LEAD fellows will continue to participate in Day on the Hill where MTFs will get exposure to policy and policy advocacy and meet with Texas lawmakers. They will also help plan and host the LEAD Houston Summer 2024 New Teacher Academy where they will present to educators in early career stages. MTFs will also conduct professional development that was developed and deliver it to novice teachers during Summer 2024.
Broader Impacts
UH-LEAD has the potential to provide 30 STEM teacher-leaders in the Greater Houston Area with rich opportunities to engage in innovative STEM teaching by embedding culturally responsive teaching in their classrooms. Through the master’s program in STEM Education, professional development opportunities, and instructional coaching, MTFs will be better prepared to teach in Houston’s urban classrooms and support both preservice and in-service teachers in adopting the culturally responsive teaching philosophy, which resonates well with underserved learners who tend to be diverse and from high poverty households. Moreover, the experiences of designing and delivering professional development locally will prepare fellows to transition to the national stage through the partnership and support of NMSI. Thus, other preservice teacher education programs, including but not limited to the fifty-five national UTeach replication sites, will be better informed with practiced-based and research-informed methods to address equity in their programs. The combination of grounding STEM instruction in culturally responsive pedagogies, and utilizing this knowledge to address equity and learning disparities in STEM education will form a model of instruction for other UTeach replication sites and elsewhere, given NMSI’s platform, focus and reach. The next step in this program is to prepare fellows in policy and advocacy development at the state level.
