With the support from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, this Capacity Building project at Bellarmine University aims to address the critical shortage of certified STEM teachers in the local public schools by strengthening STEM teacher education pathways in Kentucky by bringing together the key stakeholders to build and strengthen the infrastructure, by forming new partnerships, recruitment pipelines, and retention strategies that will lead to increasing the number of STEM teachers in high-need schools in the targeted STEM fields. Our goals included the following:

Goal 1: To develop a pipeline into STEM teaching programs via high school STEM and Education Academies and a partnership agreement for community college students with wrap-around supports to ensure their success.

Goal 2: To develop a partnership agreement with high schools to hire the future Bellarmine-Noyce Scholars as certified Mathematics and Science teachers to teach in high-need schools when we implement the Bellarmine Noyce Scholars Program.

Goal 3: To develop an early-start Master of Arts in Teaching certification curriculum program for the STEM students with recruitment from BU’s STEM students, as well as from prospective high school students from high school STEM and Education Academies.

Goal 4: To develop a STEM summer camp and internship agreement with the Kentucky Science Center for STEM students and future Bellarmine Noyce Scholars.

Goal 5: To design and develop a plan along with our partners and collaborators for recruiting, preparing, and supporting new STEM teachers in high-need schools to expand and diversify the pool of new STEM teacher candidates.

NSF Awards: 1852898

Presented in: 2021 (see original presentation & discussion)