The Robert Noyce Scholars Program at Indiana State University (ISU) is increasing the number and retention rate of licensed secondary school teachers in science and mathematics in high-need schools in the Indianapolis Public School system. Noyce Scholars are recruited from among transfer students entering ISU from two-year institutions, as well as from transitioning professionals with backgrounds in science and mathematics. Undergraduates receive scholarships to support their teacher training, and graduate students, entering ISU's Transition to Teaching program, receive stipends to offset the costs of attendance at ISU. Twenty-six future teachers are being trained and mentored in a well-established teacher education program, which builds on a long-standing partnership between ISU and the Professional Development Schools in the Indianapolis area. Students in the program take coursework that integrates both Indiana Academic Standards into content area training, as well as a problem-based learning approach to teaching science and mathematics. Noyce Scholars commit to teaching in the Indianapolis Public Schools for two years for each year of the scholarship. The intellectual merit of the project includes an evaluation of the effect of targeted teacher training for the urban environment as a strategy for transforming the urban setting into a learning tool for both students and teachers in training. ISU is also using its Noyce program to assess the value of problem-based learning in urban settings. The broader impacts include more and better STEM teachers and improved learning outcomes in an urban school district.
