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A Perceptual Assessment of Non-Traditional STEM Teacher
Candidates: A University Partnership for Transition to Teaching
Dr. Gail Hughes, Dr. Alicia Cotabish, Dr. Carolyn Williams, and Dr. Donna Wake
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Recent science education reform has made significant commitments to improving K-20
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. A series of reports
have echoed a resonating call to increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12
mathematics and science education, and increasing the number of teacher candidates entering the
STEM fields (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010). Specifically,
the National Science Board (NSB, 2010) identified key recommendations to develop the next
generation of STEM innovators which included providing support for research-based STEM
preparation for general education teachers who have the most contact with children (NSB, 2010).
Within this policy context, university-based STEM initiatives have expanded and are responding
to a clarion call to increase access to and vastly improve K-20 STEM education. This paper
focuses on a federally-funded university-based transitional teacher preparation program,
Partnership for Transition to Teaching
(P3T)
,
aimed to respond to the call. Specifically,
researchers in this study examined P3T teacher candidates’ perceptions and concerns with
respect to teaching and their plans to continue teaching after participating one year in a
university-based transitional teacher education program.
Partnership for Transition to Teaching (P3T)
The P3T initiative is housed in a mid-size university centrally located in a southeastern
state. The P3T recruits recent college or university graduates, career changers,
paraprofessionals, and STEM majors to become mathematics and science teachers. For program
eligibility, applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree with at least 30 credit hours of either
mathematics or science. P3T participants are enrolled in the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)
program and are encouraged to finish their program and to earn full licensure within two years of
obtaining their provisional credentials. Participants in the P3T grant initiative receive additional
training, support opportunities, and $5,000 in financial assistance in a contracted scholarship. In
exchange for funding, teacher candidates agree to teach in selected highly diverse, urban districts
for three years. The purpose of the partnership is to provide highly qualified STEM teachers in
districts with demonstrated need. Characteristics of these districts include pervasive property,
cultural diversity, and high teacher turnover.
Perspectives and Theoretical Framework
It has been widely advocated that experienced teachers are better teachers. However,
experience comes in different forms such as years of teaching or practice in the discipline. To
meet the demands and challenges to recruit and hire mathematics and science teachers, content
experts – individuals with backgrounds in STEM disciplines – appear to be one avenue that
potentially addresses the STEM subject- area shortages (Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 2004). The