A Collaborative Investigation of the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program
Researchers from The Brookings Institution, Texas State University, and Florida Atlantic University are teaming up to investigate how to build a reliable high-quality supply of STEM teachers for high-need school districts. This work will contribute to the national need for educating a robust and diverse STEM workforce. The project will analyze whether and, if so, how scholarships provided by the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce program) help to alleviate STEM teacher shortages.
The project seeks also to provide insights about how to create partnerships between local school districts and higher education institutions. The project has four collaborating institutions with active Noyce programs (Texas State University, University of Texas at Arlington, University of West Florida, and Florida International University) that will participate in the research. The collaborating institutions are in two populous states, and together serve both rural and urban school districts and cover multiple STEM disciplines.
This research has the potential to raise awareness of challenges STEM teachers face in high-need settings and to suggest policy solutions to address these challenges. In addition, the project will contribute to understanding the influence of the Noyce program on the STEM teacher workforce. The project will analyze local and national databases for patterns that uncover the impact of Noyce programs on the supply of STEM teachers in the school districts they serve. The project seeks to raise awareness of challenges specific to STEM teachers in high-need settings, generate evidence-based policy solutions, and promote a better understanding of how Noyce projects influence the STEM teacher workforce.
This project is supported by funding from NSF #1950292, as part of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program by the Division of Undergraduate Education. The project time period is 2020-2024 and total award amount is $1,160,761. For more information about the award, check the NSF website. For more information on the Noyce program and the institutions that have been funded through it, view our interactive data dashboard here.
Our Work
“Rising to the challenge of providing all students with high-quality STEM education”
Talia Milgrom-Elcott; March 23, 2022, Brown Center Chalkboard: This post explores recent progress in STEM teacher training and recruitment, as well as challenges that remain in offering all students a high-quality STEM education.
“The Robert Noyce Scholarship and the STEM teacher pipeline”
Li Feng, Michael Hansen, and David Devraj Kumar; July 16, 2021, Brown Center Chalkboard: This post examines the teacher workforce in STEM subjects and how the Noyce program operates to produce more STEM teachers nationwide.
View all content from this project →
Research Team
Core Research Team
Texas State University Research Team:
- Principal investigator (PI) and Project Director: Dr. Li Feng, Associate Professor of Economics
- Co-PI: Dr. Hunter Close, Associate Professor of Physics
The Brookings Institution Research Team:
- PI: Dr. Mike Hansen, Senior Fellow — Brown Center on Education Policy; Herman and George R. Brown Chair in Governance Studies
Florida Atlantic University Research Team:
- PI: Dr. David Kumar, Professor of Science Education
- Dr. Sharon Moffitt, Director/ Clinical Instructor
Collaborating Institutions
University of Texas at Arlington (UTA):
- PI: Dr. Ann Cavallo, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning Excellence, Co-director of UTeach Arlington, and Distinguished University Professor of Science Education
- Co-PI: Dr. David Sparks, Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction
Florida International University:
- PI: Dr. Maria Fernandez, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education
University of West Florida:
- PI: Dr. John Pecore, Associate Chair and Professor, Teacher Education and Educational Leadership
Advisory Board Members
100KIN10:
- Ms. Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Founder and Executive Director
California State University:
- Dr. Kathy Hann, Mathematics Professor
Pembroke Pines Charter School in Florida:
- Dr. Lisa Libidinsky, Principal
University of Texas at Austin:
- Dr. Michael Marder, Physics Professor and Executive Director — UTeach
The Robert Noyce Grant Awards Dashboard (below) provides basic descriptive data from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and the institutions that have been funded through it. View the interactive on a separate web page here; learn more about the data behind the dashboard and its functionality here.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1950292, 1950284, 1950013, 1950152, 1950209, 1950270. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.