Education Commons^™

Executive Summary, Morton Sternheim, Joseph B. Berger, Yijie Zhao

STEM ACT Conference

A National Science Foundation funded conference entitled, “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – Alternative Certification for Teachers” (STEM-ACT) was held in May, 2006 in Arlington, VA. The conference was designed to facilitate a significant exchange of information, which was then synthesized to produce white papers on the three threads of the conference, i.e., policy, practice, and research. This summary presents the highlights of the three white papers.

Practice Report, Morton Sternheim, Yijie Zhao

STEM ACT Conference

The University of Massachusetts (UMass) STEM Education Institute and the UMass School of Education hosted a National Science Foundation funded conference entitled “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—Alternative Certification for Teachers” (STEM-ACT) in Arlington, Virginia on May 5-7, 2006. This “practice” white paper summarizes issues presented at the conference that are of importance for providers of alternative certification (AC) for science teachers, highlights what we know so far about effective alternative certification programs, and discusses what we still need to know through future rigorous research on AC programs for science teachers. This paper also provides guidelines for assessment of alternative certification …

Policy Report, Joseph B. Berger, Yijie Zhao

STEM ACT Conference

The University of Massachusetts (UMass) STEM Education Institute and the UMass School of Education hosted a National Science Foundation funded conference entitled “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—Alternative Certification for Teachers” (STEM-ACT) in Arlington, Virginia on May 5-7, 2006. This white paper summarizes issues presented at the conference that are of importance to policy makers on alternative certification (AC). It focuses on issues concerning science teachers, analyzing the nature and scope of the policy endeavor as a solution to current and projected teacher shortages, and discussing the implications of AC policies on teacher supply and demand and on teacher turnover. Two …

Research Report, Allan Feldman

STEM ACT Conference

The University of Massachusetts (UMass) STEM Education Institute and the UMass School of Education hosted a National Science Foundation funded conference entitled “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—Alternative Certification for Teachers” (STEM ACT) in Arlington, Virginia on May 5-7, 2006. This white paper summarizes issues presented at the conference that are of importance for academic researchers of alternative certification (AC) for science teachers. It also outlines a research agenda for the initial preparation of science teachers, regardless of programs, which is intended to identify and examine how teacher learning occurs in their preparation, what is learned, and how teachers put that …

Powerpoint Presentation, Nsf Dr-K12 Meeting, Sept. 10, 2007, Morton Sternheim

STEM ACT Conference

Conference goals

In-depth look at some existing programs and models, including NSF funded alternative certification programs, plus district-based programs (e.g., Teach New York) and national programs (e.g., Teach For America).

Identify an agenda for future research questions on alternative certification to guide development and implementation of new programs.

Grant Proposal For Stem Act Conference, Morton Sternheim, Joseph B. Berger, Allan Feldman

STEM ACT Conference

The STEM Education Institute and the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst propose to hold a conference entitled Science, Technology, Engineering and Math - Alternative Certification for Teachers (STEM-ACT) in November 2005 in the Washington D.C. area. The conference will focus on alternative certification programs for the preparation of science teachers. The overall purpose of the conference is to identify key features and issues relating to the alternative certification of science teachers as a basis for developing a more systematic approach to the study of these efforts. In particular, the conference asks, "What do we know and …