The Tampa Bay Robert Noyce Master Teacher Fellows (MTF) program is a partnership between the University of South Florida (USF), Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), and Helios Education Foundation (HEF). The project is recruiting and selecting 20 content knowledgeable mathematics and science teachers with a proven track record of effectiveness who participate in a program for developing teacher leaders. Selected Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs) participate in a jointly developed Teacher Leaders for Student Learning graduate certificate program, a four-course sequence that examines the links between teacher leadership, job-embedded professional learning, and student learning. MTFs also participate in a Teacher Leader Academy, a two-year professional development program designed to enhance their mentoring and leadership skills so they can support mathematics and science programs at both institutions. The Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs) assume leadership roles within their schools and school district enabling them to mentor and support beginning and veteran inservice teachers. In addition, the MTFs support prospective mathematics and science teachers at USF by serving as mentors, supervising teachers, guest presenters, and co-instructors in preservice courses. This project builds capacity within the Tampa Bay Educational Partnership (TBEP) by training highly effective mathematics and science teachers to become teacher leaders who support prospective, new, and veteran teachers as they implement new standards for mathematics and science. Mathematics and science teachers, supported by MTFs, are influencing the STEM pipeline significantly as they teach the approximately 200,000 students in HCPS.
