Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Track 1 at Quinnipiac University.

About This Grant

The Noyce Track 1 project aims to serve the national need to address the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teacher shortage by preparing highly qualified STEM teachers through a teacher residency for highly qualified STEM professionals and recent graduates. Additionally, this project will support 18 scholars from STEM majors, including mathematics, biology, chemistry, and STEM elementary, by providing a 15-month immersive Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Residency followed by three years of mentorship (induction) support. The project will leverage eight years of a successful MAT Residency, which places pre-service candidates with a co-teaching mentor in one classroom for one year. Additional opportunities for Residents Include workshops led by STEM experts, planning and leading STEM events for K-12 audiences, and attending STEM teacher conferences. The proposed project components will enable high-achieving prospective teachers to become highly effective secondary STEM teachers or elementary teachers (with a STEM background) who will demonstrate higher effectiveness and greater positive outcomes among K-12 students and higher retention rates in the teaching profession. The project at Quinnipiac University (QU) includes partnerships with New Haven, East Haven, and Hamden school districts. Project goals include supporting six highly-qualified prospective K-12 STEM teachers per year, over three years, in Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, or Elementary Education (with a qualifying STEM major) in an immersive Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Residency and subsequent induction support. This project will be iteratively evaluated. Evaluation of the project will be guided by the following evaluation question(s): (a) What is the evidence that being in the classroom of a Noyce Resident Scholar leads to improved student engagement and STEM outcomes? (b) How do the outcomes in terms of retention, graduation, teacher persistence, and impact compare based on the teacher preparation model? The results of this project will be disseminated to help enhance the field. Project measures of effectiveness, efficacy, impacts on learners, and retention will be compared to those of teachers who completed an existing traditional teacher preparation program. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends 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.