The Mercy Intensive STEM Teacher Initiative (MISTI), a Track I, Phase I Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, is a five year program designed to produce 20 certified high school or middle school math and biology teachers, each with a major in biology or mathematics and each earning a Masters in Adolescence Education as well as New York State teaching certification. Partner organizations include Yonkers Public Schools, the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns, Ossining Public Schools, and Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx, Westchester Community College, Bronx Community College, and Rockland Community College. Activities specifically designed for this program include STEM Summer Immersion Camps at the end of the freshman and sophomore years and, for juniors and seniors, an introduction to teaching that features classroom observations, peer teaching, pedagogical seminars, workshop development and presentation at the Mercy College Parent Center. It culminates in a full-year clinical residency in high-need middle and high schools. Noyce Scholars receive intensive mentoring at the undergraduate, graduate, and induction levels. The program puts an emphasis on community building through an online community of practice; and explicitly integrates STEM subjects through a summer engineering experience at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.
Intellectual Merit: The program design is firmly grounded in the literature on effective practices in teacher preparation and is adding to that growing body of knowledge through analysis of the outcomes of providing intensive mentoring, summer research and collaborative learning activities, and hands-on engineering experiences (a subject not traditionally included in teacher preparation but one of growing importance in K-12 education). MISTI project data is informing math and science teacher educators and other researchers of best practices related to the: 1) recruitment of underrepresented students into STEM teaching; 2) improving teacher retention in high-need schools; and 3) clinically rich models of teacher preparation.
Broader Impacts: By forging formal partnerships with regional community colleges, this project creates a new pathway for community college students in and around New York City to become STEM educators. Project findings are shared with partner colleges and through conference presentations, workshops, and peer-reviewed literature.
