Louisiana State University is providing 24 scholarships over four years to juniors and seniors preparing to become science and math teachers in the GEAUX Teach program. In addition, summer research internships are available for freshmen and sophomores to provide teacher candidates with authentic hands on mathematics and science research experiences. These experiences are designed to enable mathematics and science teachers to accurately relay to secondary school students not only the facts and skills of the school subject, but also something of the actual culture of research in the discipline. Thus STEM students may be attracted to the GEAUX Teach program not only because it leads to a teaching credential, but also because it supports their summer internship in a laboratory setting assisting with ongoing research projects under the guidance of university researchers. Although authentic research experience is necessary for the fully capable mathematics and science teacher, it may not be sufficient to ensure teachers can translate that experience into curriculum innovation. To address this, the internship experience is designed to involve summer scholars, as a cohort, with teacher mentors - former graduates of the GEAUX Teach who were previous recipients of Noyce Scholarships whose teaching practices embody the ideals of disciplinary fidelity. By reinvesting in its own graduates, the GEAUX Teach program is building a recursive community of teaching excellence in the surrounding school districts. The project is conducting an assessment of the success of the graduates using a value-added analysis of teacher effectiveness. The evaluation design links the GEAUX Teach program with the statewide data base of longitudinal data within a complex three layer hierarchical model and uses prior achievement, attendance, and demographic variables at the student, classroom, and school levels to estimate teacher preparation effects. This provides a systematic, longitudinal evaluation of NOYCE Scholarship awardees, addressing the impact of the program on teacher retention, attrition, and service in high-need schools/districts.
