Where Are the teachHOUSTON Preservice Candidates Now? Are They Still in the Urban Teacher Force?

Abstract

This chapter traces the career trajectories of the teachHOUSTON science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers since the inception of the program. It asks whether the National Science Foundation (NSF) investment of millions of dollars in STEM education produced more STEM teachers of high quality for the diverse, urban area. The chapter is filled with descriptive statistics and stories. Two major findings are that the teachHOUSTON program produced double-digit physics teachers when the Greater Houston area had not had a freshly prepared physics teacher in over a decade. Additionally, teachHOUSTON graduates have distinguished themselves by being named recipients of several awards such as beginning teacher of the year awards, district teacher of the year awards, among other distinctions. teachHOUSTON alumni are also serving in a variety of leadership capacities for high-need public school districts. The chapter ends with a discussion of the program's strengths as well as the areas in which it continues to grow. Three new NSF grants allow for continued improvement and transition this work into two additional books proposed in this three-volume series.

Citation

Evans, P.K., Manuel, M., Nguyen, H., Stokes, D.W., Craig, C.J., Han, X. and Morgan, J. (2021), "Where Are the teachHOUSTON Preservice Candidates Now? Are They Still in the Urban Teacher Force?", Craig, C.J., Evans, P.K. and Stokes, D.W. (Ed.) Preparing Teachers to Teach the STEM Disciplines in America’s Urban Schools (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 35), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 201-226. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-368720210000035012