This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The Noyce Scholars at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) are enrolled in the Transition to Teaching (T2T) program that allows both STEM graduates and STEM professionals to complete the requirements and field experiences for teacher preparation in the sciences and mathematics at the secondary level (grades 6-12) over the course of one calendar year. The T2T program builds on the established partnership between School of Education and high-need school districts in Marion County, including the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) system. The current Robert Noyce Program (DUE-0531598) has successfully prepared 26 highly qualified science and math teachers for the urban high-need classrooms in Indiana.
The Noyce Phase II has three objectives. It plans to continue to increase the number of secondary science and mathematics teachers - 10 teachers each year, with an emphasis on the recruitment of individuals from ethnic minorities. It will also enhance retention of novice teachers by providing on-going mentoring for the new teachers while simultaneously initiating a longitudinal research plan to assess the effectiveness of the program.
The intellectual merit reflects on its focus on recruitment of diverse scholars who possess developed skills in inquiry-base teaching, the additional emphasis on new teacher retention by creating an in-service teachers' mentoring program, sophisticated mechanisms for measuring the impact of the project and the effectiveness of the program. The broader impact of this project may be recognized by the enhanced diversity of math and science teachers who are committed to increasing the quantity, quality, and diversity of students in urban schools who will enter STEM fields in the coming decades.
