Valdosta State University is providing 20 scholarships to academically talented but financially needy science majors who commit to teaching at high-needs school districts including Valdosta City School (VCS) system. The program assists worthy students in obtaining teaching certification though a post-baccalaureate program designed to prepare future teachers for high-needs school districts in Georgia. In part, the project manifests this by reducing professional isolation through collaborative learning, enhanced mentoring and involvement in professional science education societies, and by enhancing STEM and pedagogy content competencies by providing enhanced information dissemination, content delivery, field experiences at VCS, and by including an induction budget for new scholars entering the teaching profession. The project also provides professional development opportunities including a summer research project internship where mentors from the discipline and master high school teachers collaborate with pre-service teachers to provide guidance and support through the induction period. The project also addresses the challenge of attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers in a geographic region where recruiting new teachers has been difficult. The program's intentional design of integrating research with educational experiences enables new STEM teachers to adopt similar models in their own classrooms, infusing education with the excitement of discovery and sparking their students' interest in STEM.
