The Robert Noyce Teaching Fellowship project at California State University-Bakersfield (CSUB) is designed to address a pressing need evolving from the misalignment of traditional baccalaureate programs and California's subject matter requirements (requiring more science breadth preparation) for teachers. A credential track within an MS in Science Education has been developed to address this problem. It provides science breadth, pedagogy and credential coursework for individuals with existing science degrees and represents a novel approach to recruiting and training science teachers by targeting enhanced preparation specifically towards individuals for whom teaching was not an initial career choice.
Intellectual Merit: Four main aspects of the program are being studied: Recruitment, Retention, Preparation and Teacher Quality. An evaluation of effectiveness is undertaken by comparing characteristics of the Noyce Fellows with science teachers prepared in traditional credential programs.
Broader Impacts are realized as the program can potentially serve as a model in California and nationwide for programs aiming to increase the pool of science teachers by attracting individuals from non-teaching backgrounds and enhancing the science breadth and pedagogy preparation of these individuals compared to both traditional and existing alternative routes to the credential. The Noyce Fellowship program at CSU Bakersfield is serving ten Teaching Fellows in two cohorts, impacting approximately 5,400 students.
