TY - JOUR
T1 - Recruiting future science and mathematics teachers into alternative certification programs
T2 - Strategies tried and lessons learned
AU - Abell, Sandra
AU - Boone, William
AU - Arbaugh, Fran
AU - Lannin, John
AU - Beilfuss, Meredith
AU - Volkmann, Mark
AU - White, Susan
N1 - Funding Information:
Through its STEM-TP Program (NSF 01-136, http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/ getpub.cfm?nsf01136), the National Science Foundation recognized the need to alleviate teacher shortages by developing a call for alternative pathways to teaching for postbaccalaureate students. In response to their call, a team of science and mathematics educators and scientists from the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU), with a group of school-based partners, developed a proposal for SMAR2T: Science and Mathematics Academy for the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers. Since 2003, we have recruited four cohorts of students for two different routes to postbaccalaureate teacher certification for teaching grades 5–12 science or mathematics. Because our recruitment efforts did not meet our target numbers for the first cohort, we decided to examine more carefully our recruitment strategies and their effects. In this paper we discuss the strategies we used to recruit for the first and second SMAR2T cohorts and the outcomes of those strategies, as well as the intentional and unintentional gatekeepers of our program. We begin by describing our programs and discussing our data collection efforts.
Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE 0202847. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We presented previous versions of this paper in January 2004 at the Association for the Education of Teachers of Science annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, and in March 2004 at the NSF Teacher Preparation PI Conference in Arlington, Virginia. The authors acknowledge the contributions of the other SMAR2T team members, Meera Chandrasekhar, Abdulkadir Demir, Mary Laffey, and Jan Weaver to the creation and implementation of the program.
PY - 2006/9
Y1 - 2006/9
N2 - SMAR2T: Science and Mathematics Academy for the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers is an NSF-funded project for the alternative certification of science and mathematics teachers. Since 2003, we have recruited 4 cohorts of students for 2 different routes to postbaccalaureate teacher certification for teaching grades 5-12. Because we did not meet our target numbers for the recruitment of the 1st cohort, we examined our recruitment strategies and their effects. In this paper, we discuss strategies used to recruit for the 1st SMAR2T cohort and the outcomes of those strategies. We present ongoing recruitment efforts and data on inquiries and applicants for the 2nd cohort. Finally, we highlight the intentional and unintentional gatekeepers of our program and present implications for others engaged in designing and implementing alternative pathways certification.
AB - SMAR2T: Science and Mathematics Academy for the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers is an NSF-funded project for the alternative certification of science and mathematics teachers. Since 2003, we have recruited 4 cohorts of students for 2 different routes to postbaccalaureate teacher certification for teaching grades 5-12. Because we did not meet our target numbers for the recruitment of the 1st cohort, we examined our recruitment strategies and their effects. In this paper, we discuss strategies used to recruit for the 1st SMAR2T cohort and the outcomes of those strategies. We present ongoing recruitment efforts and data on inquiries and applicants for the 2nd cohort. Finally, we highlight the intentional and unintentional gatekeepers of our program and present implications for others engaged in designing and implementing alternative pathways certification.
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U2 - 10.1007/s10972-005-9001-4
DO - 10.1007/s10972-005-9001-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33845491909
VL - 17
SP - 165
EP - 183
JO - Journal of Science Teacher Education
JF - Journal of Science Teacher Education
SN - 1046-560X
IS - 3
ER -