PRISE and the National Science Foundation Noyce Scholarship Program
Over the past 12 years, PRISE (formerly Philadelphia Regional Noyce Partnership PRNP) has benefited greatly from the National Science Foundation’s investment in recruiting and supporting math and science majors becoming STEM teachers in high need schools. Through the Noyce Scholarship Program, the PRISE partners have been able to recruit and support over 300 STEM teachers in the Philadelphia area. In 2011, seven area schools (Bryn Mawr/Haverford Colleges, Drexel University, La Salle University, Temple University, Saint Joseph’s University and the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Education Fund had received Noyce Scholarship grants and were each running their own program. A few of the Principal Investigators talked about the benefits they might derive from working together and from that conversation the Philadelphia Regional Noyce Partnership (PRNP) was formed so that they could “do together what they could not do alone!’ The group has been working together and expanding their partnerships for the past 12 years. Below is a short history of the funding received and the projects it has supported.
2011 to 2014 – NSF Capacity Building Grant #1136323 Philadelphia Regional Noyce Partnership – 3 Years – $300,000
Eight organizations (Bryn Mawr/Haverford, Drexel, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Education Fund proposed to form the Philadelphia Regional Noyce Partnership so as to build synergies between their Noyce programs that will strengthen
all aspects of the STEM teacher pipeline: recruitment, pre-service preparation, induction, and
ongoing professional development and growth throughout a teacher’s career.
2014 to 2016 NSF Capacity Building Grant # 1439790 New Teacher Support Program: Retaining and Sustaining Early Career STEM Teachers in the Philadelphia Region – 3 years – $300,000
Goal: Develop a model of early career teacher support using regional resources that will retain and sustain new STEM teachers.
Objectives:
- By the end of the project, establish flexible, individualized supportive services for 20 early career Noyce teachers that will increase their persistence and professional growth as STEM professionals in the Philadelphia region.
- Provide these early career Noyce teachers with increased opportunities to participate in professional development, communities of practice and social networks among regional STEM professionals in lived and virtual environments.
Outcomes:
- 28 new teachers were engaged in a cohort-based community of learners that met monthly for professional development and peer support, thereby surpassing the project’s target of working with 20 teachers.
- The PRNP New Teacher Support Program, in addition to the cohort-based professional development hosted 12 day long professional development workshops over the course of the grant and co-sponsored more than 20 others through affiliated STEM organizations.
- Twenty-four of the twenty-eight STEM teachers remained teaching in high need schools after the third year of the program.
2018-2024 NSF Collaborative Noyce Scholarship #1758353 PRNP-Scholarship – 5 years – $1.4 million
Goals:
- Increase the number of STEM majors that enter and remain in teaching in high-need schools in the Philadelphia region.
- Increase the social capital of Noyce program participants at all levels
- Increase Noyce teachers’ understanding of Culturally Responsive Teaching practices
- Increase Noyce teachers’ knowledge of Education for Sustainability content and pedagogical practices.
Outcomes:
- 31 new Noyce Scholarship STEM teachers have been recruited to date and have participated or will continue to participate in a 3-year, monthly cohort-based professional learning community focused on education for sustainability and culturally relevant teaching
- Partnership with West Chester University allowed 29 additional STEM teachers supported financially by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly Woodrow Wilson Foundation) to join the PRNP-S New Teacher Support Program Noyce teachers in our monthly professional learning community.
- Retention rate after three years of teaching for participants of the program is approximately 87%
- 22 Interns from the Community College of Philadelphia participated in a course and field experience aimed at inspiring them to choose STEM teaching as a career
Presentations:
