Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Track 2 Project: Mississippi Teacher Residency for STEM Critical Shortage Areas

About This Grant

The Noyce Track 2 project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly qualified STEM teachers. This project plans to support 24 fellows specializing in computer sciences, engineering, biological sciences, mathematics and statistics, and physical sciences by offering comprehensive teaching fellowships, including scholarships, teaching licensure exams fees, textbooks, structured mentoring and salary supplements. Project components are designed to enable high-achieving prospective teachers to become elementary and secondary STEM educators proficient in active learning, reflective practices, and instructional excellence. This project at Mississippi State University includes partnerships with multiple high-need local education agencies (LEAs) in proximity to Starkville and Meridian, Mississippi, as well as the East Mississippi Center for Educational Development (EMCED), Mississippi Children's Museum-Meridian, and Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience (The MAX). Project goals include recruiting and preparing 24 new STEM teachers over two cohorts, increasing STEM enrollments and completion rates within the Mississippi Alternate Routing Teaching (MAT) programs, and ensuring fellows' sustained retention in the STEM teaching positions. This project is poised to implement an iterative evaluation strategy. Evaluation of the project will be guided by the following evaluation questions: (a) What is the effectiveness of the project's instructional preparation and mentoring model in enhancing STEM teacher performance? (b) To what extent do project strategies influence STEM teacher retention in high-need school districts? The results of this project will be disseminated to help enhance the field. This Track 2: Teaching Fellowships project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.