Working Groups
About Our Working groups
PRISE brings educational stakeholders together to work on issues of common interest. At present the PRISE working groups are:
1. PRISE New Teacher Support
PRISE has developed a New Teacher Support Program (NTSP) to increase the retention of new STEM teachers. The program assists and supports early career educators as they make the transition from their teacher preparation program through the first two years of teaching. Pre-service teachers may commit to a 3-year program while new teachers can engage in a 2-year program.
The NTSP uses the power of social networks. Program mentors bring together educators at similar stages of their careers to learn from one another, with opportunities to critique and improve their teaching practices. “Teacher cohorts meet monthly on Saturday mornings for three hours, integrating multiple perspectives into classroom instructions that capitalize on learners’ experiences, identities, and heritage” and “provides rigorous learning experiences and relevant projects in culturally supportive spaces that integrate advocacy skills, listening and thinking, collaboration, resource gathering, and strategic actions” (PA Common Ground Framework 2024).
Program Components
The NTSP consists of 4 component parts, resting on a foundational base of self-care and social network building.
Content Learning: Using their own discipline content, teachers in the program learn to embed multiple perspectives into their lesson and unit planning.
Identity Formation: Participants develop their identity as STEM teachers.
Student Engagement: To support student engagement in their classrooms, program participants learn about who their students are and their individual lived experiences so that they can connect the concepts they need to teach in their discipline with what is happening in their students’ lives.
Teacher Leadership: Participants learn about and participate in opportunities to take on teacher leadership roles. Access to a wide-network of educators and educational resources helps them build confidence in their ability to impact
their peers and the wider educational community.
Program facilitators provide case-based management so that each new teacher knows they have someone they can reach out to and who will check in on them throughout the year.
If you are interested in learning more about PRISE’s New Teacher Support Program, please contact us at XXXX.
2. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The DEI working group’s primary goal is to improve teacher practices and school environments in order to foster belonging and create welcoming STEM classrooms where all students are empowered to persist in STEM courses, pursue STEM careers, and gain STEM literacy. The group is developing a framework for creating welcoming classrooms with the aim of offering professional learning communities (PLC) in which K-16 STEM educators can work together to improve their practice.