The SMART Scholarship Program is a collaboration that includes the Colleges of Science and Technology (COST) and Education (COE) at Georgia Southern University (GSU) and school districts within a 60-mile radius of GSU. The project recruits math and science majors who are interested in teaching and obtaining the Master of Arts in Teaching degree (MAT)with the goal of preparing 30 additional STEM teachers during the five-year project. An aggressive marketing presence in public high schools, in community colleges, and on the GSU campus recruits high quality applicants, a large fraction of which are African American, and raises the level of awareness and respect for the teaching profession. SMART Scholars receive deliberate, constructive, and compassionate interactions through an intrusive advisement process that continue into the first years of teaching, a best practice for teacher retention. All SMART Scholars complete, as a pre-requisite, a rigorous 50-hour reflective field experience, designed by the COE; participate in inquiry-based learning both as students and as peer leaders; and engage in service leadership opportunities in science and mathematics education all designed to prepare them for the classroom. Scholars receive in-service support through the COE's Induction Program in which new teachers are mentored by content specialists and by Nationally Board Certified Teachers (NBCT).
The SMART Scholars program builds on four elements: the COE Pre-Professional Block field experience, the COE Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program, the COST Advisement Center, and the COE Induction Program. These elements are all thoroughly researched and based on best practices. Three principles organize the program: a focus on retention by self-selection, inquiry learning, and elevation of the teaching profession. The program includes an intense reflective observational component as prerequisite and an Induction Program that supports and guides through the first years of teaching. The freshman science and math courses have a supplemental instruction program that focuses on inquiry that is guided by a peer leader. The SMART Scholars engage in both experiences as student learners and later as peer leaders. The teaching internship course in the MAT program models Professional Learning Communities using the scholars' first teaching experiences as examples. This is a highly effective way to show inquiry by engaging in classroom stimulated problem solving. The teaching profession is elevated through aggressive marketing, multiple and diverse opportunities for teaching practice, attendance at professional meetings, and in the emphasis of Professional Learning Communities.
