Through this proposed scholarship program funded by the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, SUNY Cortland will create 38 scholarships for secondary school teacher candidates in mathematics, science and technology fields. These teachers will serve in central New York and the five major city areas of New York State. Partners in the project include departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics, the School of Education, SUNY Cortland's Urban Recruitment of Educators (CURE), the SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center, and Central New York (CNY) public school districts including Cincinnatus, Cortland, Dryden, Homer, Marathon, and South Seneca. Having highly trained STEM teachers who truly understand both their content and pedagogy will engage students in such ways as to increase the numbers of both future STEM professionals and the next generation of STEM teachers.
The proposed work has three major foci: (1) to support 38 new Noyce Scholars with scholarships and value-added immersion experiences with project partners; (2) to develop a freshmen-learning community at SUNY Cortland named 'STEM2ED COR' that provides orientation sections for the recruitment of future STEM educators early on in their careers as freshmen and sophomores; and 3) to design a longitudinal study that aims to identify which aspects of the immersion model designed for the SUNY Cortland Noyce Scholarship Program have the most positive impact in attracting, preparing and supporting participants for work in high-need schools. This immersion model system of specialized classwork, field experience, student teaching in a high-need school district (HNSD), and integrated professional development will produce exceptionally-trained and qualified teachers ready to be successful in a HNSD. Additionally Noyce Scholarship recipients will attend on-campus workshops, seminars, and book chats with New York State Master Teachers with a focus on successful teaching in high-need schools and working with students who live in poverty. A longitudinal research study will examine scholar recruitment and certification, teaching efficacy and effectiveness, and retention among Cortland Noyce scholars.
