This Phase I project supports the Program for Recruiting and Educating STEM Teachers with Integrated Graduate Enrollment (PRESTIGE) at Augusta State University (ASU). PRESTIGE creates an Integrated Master of Arts in Teaching (IMAT) program in partnership with four nearby rural, "high-need" county school districts with capacity to hire graduated Noyce scholars. PRESTIGE graduates will earn a Bachelor's Degree (B.S.) in a STEM content area and a Master's of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in a 5-year period, then be placed in a rural, high-need school to teach. PRESTIGE is a new program designed to generate student desire to attain K-12 teacher certification through the IMAT program, to recruit the best qualified undergraduate STEM majors for the program, and to place these graduates in high-need rural schools. It targets students in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics, creating three cohorts over the course of five years of funding to ensure the production of 18 high quality Secondary STEM teachers.
