The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), in partnership with the national nonprofit Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL, Inc.), is developing the TESOL components of a new teacher preparation program. In response to the New York State Board of Regents' recent decision to authorize non-traditional entities such as informal science education institutions (ISEs) to develop teacher preparation programs, AMNH is developing the capacity to offer a program that would allow teacher candidates to earn a NYS Board of Regents-awarded Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree with a Specialization in Earth Science teaching for grades 7-12. The unique resources AMNH bring to bear on the MAT program include (1) a scientific staff of more than 200, (2) a staff of doctoral-level education and pedagogy professionals, (3) a history of providing content-rich professional development opportunities to teachers, (4) a track record of partnering with host public schools to improve student achievement, (5) experience using mentors to aid students and teachers through prior NSF investments, and (6) its vast collections, research facilities/laboratories, and exhibition halls. The 15-month, 36-credit academic program, offered jointly by faculty in the fully accredited AMNH Richard Gilder Graduate School and the AMNH Education Department, includes coursework in science content and pedagogy, summer teaching and science practicum residencies at AMNH, and mentored school-based residencies in six high-needs host schools in the NYC region. AMNH is working with TESOL, Inc. to infuse the following TESOL components into its MAT program: (1) preparation of Museum and school mentors to support teacher candidates in meeting English Language Learner (ELL) needs, (2) baseline analysis of ELL demographics, resources, and needs in host schools, and (3) support in ELL instruction for AMNH science and education faculty through professional development and the creation of a TESOL resource collection. The MAT program presents a model for how a nonprofit such as TESOL, Inc. can work with a combined ISE and Institute of Higher Education to improve ELL achievement across the nation. Leveraging the unique resources of a science museum for teacher preparation, the project also contributes to education reform more broadly by strengthening the formal role of science-based cultural institutions in improving the teaching and learning of science.
PIs Maritza Macdonald and Edmond Mathez The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), in partnership with Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL, Inc.), a global non-profit education association, received a NOYCE capacity-building grant to support its efforts to build the English language learning component of a newly designed Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Residency Program with a Specialization in Earth Science. This innovative MAT program has been designed to prepare science teachers for service in high need schools through museum residencies, online and on-site coursework, induction support, and mentored clinical residencies in host schools. With NSF support, AMNH identified the English as a Second Language (ESL) needs of host schools and their faculty, provided professional development for teacher candidates, and designed an infrastructure for future support of ESL instruction throughout the implementation years of the program. The three goals of the grant were to: Research and prepare baseline reports on the linguistic profiles of the high need partner residency schools in the program. Design and implement professional development sessions for school mentors, school principals, and AMNH science and pedagogy faculty to infuse ESL strategies in the work of school mentors and AMNH teaching faculty. Design an ESL support structure that would support school mentors, AMNH teaching faculty, and MAT teacher candidates during the 2012-2014 implementation years of the MAT program. The goals were achieved in the following ways: AMNH and TESOL, Inc. conducted research and the resultant linguistic profiles identified a high percentage of students in host residency schools who are English Language Learners (ELL) and whose low English Language Arts achievement and graduation rates required continued ESL support through well researched Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (TESOL) strategies. The linguistic profiles were used to provide feedback through information meetings and professional development sessions to the 28 residency school mentors, the 21 teacher candidates, and key instructional science and pedagogy faculty. AMNH created a hybrid ESL online support structure for MAT program faculty, host school and AMNH mentors, and teacher candidates that will be managed by the same TESOL, Inc. consultant who provided the capacity building research and professional development under this grant. This newly designed structure consists of an online ESL Resource Room in the MAT program platform available 24/7 to the three audiences, built-in capacity for SKYPE and Webinar sessions, and several on-site course sessions, all hosted and implemented by the same TESOL, Inc. consultant. Implementation of the Noyce capacity-building activities will be supported by New York State. Evaluations to be conducted over the next two years will provide further details about this project’s impact and dissemination possibilities.
