The Silicon Valley Consortium for Mathematics and Science Teaching (SVCMST) is engaged in planning a project to help increase the teacher workforce in mathematics and science in one of the most technologically vital geographic areas in America, Silicon Valley, California. The ultimate goal is to recruit and prepare new teachers who will be hired in hard to staff, culturally and linguistically diverse middle and high schools in Silicon Valley school districts. SVCMST is a collaboration designed to bring together faculty, staff and administrators from the University of California, Santa Cruz education, mathematics, and physics departments, Foothill and De Anza Community Colleges (both in Silicon Valley), Franklin McKinley School District, East Side Union High School District (both highly impacted districts in SV/San Jose), representatives from the science and technology based industry (Silicon Valley Leadership Group), as well as education experts from the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, to work collectively and collaboratively on the pressing issue of providing STEM teachers to the most highly impacted school districts in Silicon Valley. This planning grant focuses on matching needs (those who are expert in science and mathematics, but jobless and underserved districts that need STEM teachers) in a creative, cost effective and timely way. The SVCMST is identifying best ways to create synergies, create future cost share possibilities, learning how to work as a cohesive unit. Efforts focus on preparing a new category of secondary science and mathematics teachers by: (1) Re-qualifying STEM professionals recently unemployed due to the recession (2) Recruiting and preparing new teachers to teach mathematics and science to the increasingly culturally, linguistically and economically diverse student population (3) Expanding the knowledge base on the development of teacher knowledge and skill in teaching science and mathematics to diverse student populations (4) Researching and designing new evaluation tools for measuring success. The goal is to help meet both an "achievement gap" (lagging scores, jobs and college placements for culturally and linguistically diverse students) and an "occupation gap" (increasing need for math and science teachers, and the presence of recently unemployed Silicon Valley science and math specialists) in one "re-qualifying" program.
