National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program: Regional Alliance for Mathematics Teacher Development, Uplift, and Professionalization in Los Angeles

About This Grant

The National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program Regional Alliance for Mathematics Teacher Development, Uplift, and Professionalization in Los Angeles (RAMPTD-UP-LA) project aims to recognize outstanding STEM educators who advance educational excellence in the West Region. This project will support 30 grade 4–12 math teachers in the greater Los Angeles area in two cohorts. The goals of this program are to (1) heighten STEM learning experiences for all students, (2) promote the retention of excellent STEM teachers, (3) elevate the STEM teaching profession, and (4) develop teacher leaders. Teachers must apply to this proposed program in pairs or groups from the same school site with some initial ideas for how they want to improve student outcomes at their school. If one teacher reaches 120 students a year, these 30 Corps Members can directly reach roughly 14,400 students during four years of support. Furthermore, STEM Teacher Corps Members will mentor other teachers, promote changes in their schools and districts that broaden access to high-quality math education for all students, and disseminate their efforts regionally and nationally, leading to improvements in math education beyond their own classrooms. To help teachers grow and carry out these proposed improvements, the program will provide STEM Teacher Corps Members with an annual stipend, time for teachers to collaborate, on-site coaching, funding for supplies and travel to conferences, support to become National Board Certified, PD through monthly meetings and a summer institute, and mechanisms to help the teachers share their work with their colleagues. This comprehensive support structure was devised to help counteract the challenges of teaching math in the Los Angeles area. The program will be supported by a robust evaluation plan that will allow project leadership to monitor the impact of the program on participating teachers (including on their retention in the teaching profession after their participation has ended) and to continually improve the program to best meet teachers' needs. Student achievement measures will also be analyzed. This Regional Alliance project is supported through the National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program. The NSF National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program supports outstanding STEM educators in high-need schools that advance educational excellence in our Nation's preK-12 classrooms. 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.