Recruiting, Preparing, and Retaining STEM Teachers for Western Kansas is a Noyce Track 1 Scholarships & Stipends project at Fort Hays State University. The project aims to place new teachers into rural high schools in Western Kansas, thus increasing the workforce for secondary STEM education. To accomplish this goal, the project will provide students with scholarships and develop curriculum materials to prepare them to be successful teachers in high needs, rural classrooms with high percentages of students eligible for free and reduced lunches (a poverty indicator). A key element of the curriculum will be a rural field experience planned in cooperation with the school districts through a regional service center, coupled with academic year seminars. The project will use a mentoring program for undergraduates and a professional development program for early teachers that will support both future and practicing teachers. Rural areas in Kansas have a critical shortage of STEM teachers. By supporting the pipeline of students from community college, through teacher certification, and placement into high-need rural areas of Western Kansas, this project will contribute to STEM workforce development.
The project aims to recruit 33 undergraduates from five local community colleges (Dodge City, Garden City, Barton County, Colby, and Seward Community Colleges) to Fort Hays State University, where they will double major in secondary education and a STEM discipline. The project will also collaborate with the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center, which serves 34 rural school districts in Western Kansas. The service center will provide scholarship recipients with early experiences in rural schools and assist with student teaching placements. The project will provide scholarships and support activities to students through their undergraduate and post-baccalaureate year, intended to enable the students to become certified STEM teachers. The project focuses on research questions including: What recruiting practices for attracting STEM teachers to FHSU are most effective? What recruiting strategies attract more STEM teachers? What factors result in retaining STEM teachers once they enter the profession in a high needs rural area? What factors negatively impact retention in rural areas? Answers to these questions has potential value to other teacher education programs, particularly those focused on preparation of pre-service teachers for high-needs, rural schools.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
