- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 833283
- First Name Roy
- Last Name Hurst
- Discipline Science Education
- Co-PI(s)
Doug Hale, UT Permian Basin, hale_d@utpb.edu
- Presenters
Roy Hurst, UT Permian Basin, hurst_r@utpb.edu
Need
The school districts in UT Permian Basin’s immediate service area have the lowest rate of bachelor’s degree attainment in the state of Texas. A major barrier to being college ready is the shortage of qualified STEM teachers, and especially a shortage of STEM teachers who are female or ethnic/racial minorities. By reducing financial barriers to obtaining teacher certification, and by actively recruiting females and members of underrepresented populations, this project partially fulfills that need.
Goals
The goals for this project were to increase by 100% the number of STEM majors and professionals obtaining teacher certification; to increase the number of females and underrepresented minorities obtaining certification in STEM fields; to examine the effectiveness of mentoring and other induction support activities; to track the employment status and retention of program graduates; and to examine the demographics of the schools at which graduates are employed.
Approach
The goals of the project were achieved through increased collaboration among the faculty in Education and the Sciences, as well as through increased collaboration with the local school districts.
Outcomes
Over the duration of the project, the number of individuals obtaining teacher certification in STEM fields doubled from the baseline year. The goals of increased certification by females and underrepresented minorities was achieved, with 93% of the project participants being female and 55% being either Hispanic/Latino or Black/African-American.
Broader Impacts
The school districts and campuses where program graduates are teaching are ‘majority minority’ in their demographics. This project has impacted those schools and students by placing teachers in the classrooms who more closely mirror the student population in those classrooms.
