Developing Highly Qualified Middle Grades Teachers With Expertise in STEM Disciplines via SUSTAINS

Beginning in 2012, teacher educators throughout Pennsylvania launched programs to prepare teachers who specialize in middle grades (4-8). This new state-approved certification track will replace the current elementary track (K-6) and overlap with the existing secondary track (7-12). Camblin reminds us that “the middle grades, those enrolling 10to 14-year-old students, have an important relationship to college access. The middle grades are when students, families, and school personnel begin to address career aspirations, academic preparation, and college information.” The Commonwealth’s new emphasis on highly qualified middle grades teachers provides a unique opportunity to impact children at a crucial time in their formal education experience. In our project, we are aiming to (1) develop a program (SUSTAINS, STEM Undergraduate Students Teaching Adolescents Innovation and Sustainability) that will allow undergraduate STEM majors at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) to interact with young adolescents in formal and informal learning contexts and to engage with peers and faculty members around issues pertaining to K-12 education; (2) develop a state-approved, one-year Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program to prepare middle grades (4-8) teachers who will specialize in mathematics and/or science; (3) integrate issues related to sustainability across the undergraduate and teacher preparation programs; and (4) expand our capacity for faculty in the Schools of Education, Arts & Sciences, and Engineering to collaborate on program and course design. We expect SUSTAINS will help address the need for middle grades math and science teachers by developing a program to attract college STEM majors into the teaching profession and by developing a rigorous middle grades teacher preparation program that reflects core commitments of effective middle grades educators. We will present some of our progress thus far related to SUSTAINS development.