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Research Office
Title: CalTeach Santa Barbara
Principal Investigator: Jane Conoley / Pierre Wiltzius / Julie Bianchini / WIlliam Jacob / Petra van Koppen
Total Project Amount: $900,000
Agency: National Science Foundation
Project Dates: 06/01/2009 – 05/31/2014
Abstract:
The University of California, Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences, UCSB’s Gevirtz Graduate School of Education (GGSE), three regional community colleges, and seven school districts in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties propose a collaboration to prepare exceptional secondary science and mathematics teachers for California’s secondary schools. The proposed program – CalTeach at Santa Barbara, or CTSB – has three objectives: 1) to use the rapidly expanding undergraduate program at the GGSE, including a new Minor in Science and Mathematics Education, to recruit students, particularly underrepresented ethnic minority students, into science and mathematics teaching; 2) to increase the overall number of science and mathematics credential candidates in UCSB’s Teacher Education Program by a minimum of 47%; and 3) to build cohorts of students through shared activities so as to prepare and retain student-centered, reform-minded science and mathematics teachers. These objectives are all the more crucial given the increasing need for qualified science and mathematics teachers and the lack of support at the state level due to the budget crisis.
An estimated 75 scholarships ($10,000 each) will be awarded over a five year period to STEM majors who have successfully completed their undergraduate degree and been accepted to the UCSB Teacher Education Program. Selection procedures will favor students who are the first in their families to attend college, bilingual, and/or graduates of our undergraduate Minor in Science and Mathematics Education. Three scholarships each year will be designated for community college transfer students. Scholarship recipients will complete their student teaching in schools serving substantial numbers of students who are economically disadvantaged and/or English learners. Further, they will fulfill their teaching commitments in designated, high need partnership school districts while completing an enhanced beginning teacher induction program.
The proposed CTSB is leveraged by several established and successful efforts, including a partnership between the State of California and UC System’s CalTeach Initiative to improve the teaching of science and mathematics to all students in California’s secondary schools. Over the last three academic years, the CalTeach Initiative has placed hundreds of UCSB undergraduates in 30 area schools providing thousands of hours of classroom support under the supervision of master teachers. This initiative has both built on existing partnerships and established new ones across UCSB’s Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and departments of science and mathematics, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of courses in the newly established minor are designed and taught by science and mathematics faculty.
The intellectual merit of CTSB is demonstrated in a number of ways. One, strong conceptual connections exist across the recruitment and support of undergraduates considering a career in science or mathematics teaching, our highly regarded UCSB Teacher Education Program, and successful Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) induction programs. These connections will provide CTSB students a continuous, coherent pathway for growth in content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Two, firmly established collaborations among education, science, and mathematics faculty will ensure that the challenges of preparing science and mathematics teachers for California’s diverse students are examined and addressed from multiple points of view and intellectual traditions. A third important aspect of CTSB will be evaluation research to determine if and how best to meet program objectives of recruitment, teacher preparation, and establishment of cohorts of exceptional science and mathematics teachers.
Broader impact will be ensured by continuing to strengthen the pipeline from STEM undergraduate education to secondary science and mathematics teaching: the deepening of partnerships across educational segments (K-12, community college, and university), the expansion of opportunities for promising transfer students, and the enhanced ability to attract ethnically diverse candidates. The program will also allow UCSB to broaden its service to high need schools and districts through the increasing numbers and wider placement of our highly qualified science and mathematics teacher graduates. Ultimately, CTSB will make a difference in the learning of science and mathematics for underserved students: It will provide more Latino/a students, poor students, and English learners with access to an equitable and excellent science and mathematics education.