In collaboration with South Carolina's Coalition for Mathematics and Science, the University of South Carolina-Columbia seeks to establish professional development mechanisms for 20 Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs). Four challenges faced by rural teachers and their school districts have been identified; (a) relative isolation from other teachers, (b) high attrition, (c) lack of leadership, and (d) weak opportunities for continuing teacher education. The project will initiate strategies to address these challenges and evaluate their implementation. The work will be carried out in partnership with Fairfield County, Lexington County, Lexington, Orangeburg Consolidated, and Sumter school districts.
The project is based on research that addresses effective STEM professional development for rural teachers. The project team will employ proven strategies to create a network of teacher-leaders with strong content knowledge through on-site and virtual mentor/coach, content-knowledge, and new math and science standards training. In years one through three of the project, teachers will participate in intensive summer workshops or Instructional Leadership Academies which they will begin to co-lead by year four. Data generated through assessment and evaluation will underpin investigations of how the project components enhance the preparation and commitment of the MTFs and the circumstances governing success. Formative and summative evaluation will focus on determining whether or not the conceptual basis of the interventions (addressing the four challenges) is sound. Assessment will include both qualitative and quantitative data collected through tracking MTF participation in project activities, perceptions of all aspects of the project (online surveys), performance in coursework, and classroom observations. The results of this work will be presented at annual regional and national meetings and submitted for publication in a variety of teaching journals such as The Journal of Science Teacher Education, Journal for Mathematics Teacher Education, and Journal for Research in Rural Education.
