With support from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, this Track 1 project at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) aims to serve the national need of preparing high-quality STEM teachers. UTEP is partnering with the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), a high-need district with a majority of its population classified as Hispanic and at-risk. The partnership will establish an innovative and transformative teacher preparation program, integrating Noyce Scholars into school sites currently implementing project-based learning (PBL) with support from the New Tech Network (NTN), a national, non-profit network for comprehensive pedagogical and cultural change in public school settings. Specifically, the partnership will establish professional development school sites where pre-service STEM teachers learn theory and practice alongside university- and school-based faculty to innovatively prepare and graduate knowledgeable STEM teachers, who understand how learning theories inform meaningful and valuable instructional practices. The El Paso Partnership for the Preparation of STEM Teachers to Implement Project-based Learning program goals are to: (1) recruit, certify, and retain Noyce Scholars, who are STEM undergraduate students; (2) design and refine coursework and field-based teaching experiences to prepare Noyce Scholars to be effective teachers; and (3) create and disseminate knowledge on how best to prepare STEM teachers. Thirty-six (36) Noyce Scholars are expected to graduate with secondary STEM teaching certification and be fully prepared to teach in high-need school districts.

NSF Awards: 1852817