This project is developing a new Junior-year entry point for highly qualified candidates into the Hunter Teacher Academy by funding scholarships for 40 new biology, chemistry, earth science, mathematics and physics pre-service teacher candidates for service in grades 7-12. It takes advantage of an existing program, the Teacher Academy, an honors program that is currently attracting highly qualified high school students to careers in math or science teaching. The program is creating: a new pipeline of high caliber students into undergraduate teacher education programs; the infrastructure to facilitate innovation and collaboration (among Department of Education teachers, Arts and Sciences faculty, and School of Education faculty); and an infrastructure to support, evaluate, and refine the program. The project adds ten graduates per year to the 18 STEM teacher candidates the academy presently graduates.
Broader Impacts: Preliminary results from the existing Academy suggest that an honors college can attract and graduate as STEM teachers outstanding applicants from the high schools. This project greatly broadens that outreach; by extending the concept to junior-year applicants it provides an entry point for community college students and for transfers from other colleges thus greatly expanding the pool of students eligible for the program.
Intellectual Merit: The Noyce Teacher Academy Program serves as a "proof of concept" to CUNY and to the Teacher Academy partnership by demonstrating how to integrate advanced students into a pre-service community originally designed only for freshmen entry. It is an experiment in partnership and vision between CUNY and the New York City Department of Education. The designers of the project are rethinking every aspect of teacher education including courses in discipline-based Arts and Science departments, fieldwork and the entire process used to recruit students to teaching.
