All of us at MNA have either taught in K-12 and/or 2-and-4 year institutions in the US and abroad. We bring our classroom teaching experiences to all our grant evaluation work with our clients.
One of the grants that we are immensely attracted to is the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce teacher scholarship grant that aims to serve the national need for highly-qualified and diverse teachers of STEM. It is a known fact that the nation faces significant disparity in the percentage of STEM teachers who mirror the percentage of students from diverse backgrounds they serve in their classrooms.
Happy to report that we have signed a contract with the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL, Texas) to externally evaluate their newly funded, 5-year Track 1 Noyce Scholarship grant.
This project includes partnerships with eight high-need independent school districts:
Channelview, Dickenson, Goose Creek Consolidated, Hitchcock, Humble, Pasadena, Spring Branch, and Texas City; four community colleges: San Jacinto College, Alvin Community College, College of the Mainland, and Galveston Community College; and four STEM organizations: Armand Bayou Nature Center, Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation, Environmental Institute of Houston, and Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Project goals include:
1. Recruiting a diverse pool of 24 undergraduate mathematics, science, and computer science majors to the teaching profession
2. Increasing prospective STEM teachers’ content mastery and pedagogical skills, and
3. Enhancing new STEM teachers’ retention and success in the teaching profession.
This is MNA’s eighth Track 1 Noyce scholarship evaluation and overall, 11th evaluation of the Noyce program grant since 2009. The others are in the Planning and Capacity Building (2) and Research tracks (1).
Looking forward to working with UHCL, the project team members, and their partners at the ISDs, community colleges, and STEM organizations.