The Adam Institute and the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics at Clark have been awarded a Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship grant from the National Science Foundation to recruit, prepare, and sustain teachers in the sciences and mathematics. This grant provides internship stipends and scholarships to highly promising future teachers in these fields who make a commitment to teach in high-need schools.
Download the Noyce Scholarship Flyer
The Clark Science-Math Teaching and Education Partnership (C-STEP)
The Adam Institute and participating science and mathematics faculty members join with partner schools and teachers in the Main South area of Worcester to form the Clark Science-Math Teaching and Education Partnership (C-STEP). C-Step provides a neighborhood-based “community of practice” to support the development of prospective and selected Noyce scholars as urban teachers. Members of the C-STEP community of practice share curriculum and teaching ideas across school and university boundaries; strive to deepen their understanding of powerful learning in mathematics and the sciences and how to support it in the Main South neighborhood; and work collaboratively to help Noyce scholars and neighborhood students in their learning.
Opportunities for Students
First-, second-, and third-year students who want to explore an interest in teaching may qualify for a Noyce summer internship stipend. Noyce summer interns pair up with one or more partner school teachers from the C-STEP community of practice in one of the Main South “college success” summer academies for neighborhood students (academies last from 3-5 weeks). Students interested in the summer internship program must submit a statement explaining their interest, as well as an unofficial transcript, to the Noyce scholarship adviser (see list below) in their department by March 1.
Noyce summer interns are encouraged to volunteer in their partner-school teacher’s classroom during the academic year.
Students who apply for the fifth-year, tuition-free MAT program by the end of their junior year may be selected to receive a Noyce scholarship in their senior year. Seniors who are admitted into the MAT program, but who are not eligible for the tuition-free fifth year as accelerated degree students, may also be selected to receive a fifth-year Noyce scholarship. As an MAT student in the fifth year, Noyce scholars work closely with a C-STEP partner school teacher during a full-year teaching internship.
After graduation, Noyce scholars automatically qualify for continuing support as a new teacher in either the C-STEP mathematics or science “Curriculum Team” while teaching in a high-need district such as Worcester.
Scholarship Requirements
The Noyce program targets students who want to explore an interest in teaching and then make a commitment to the five year B.A./MAT program. Noyce scholars will be selected based on several criteria:
- strong academic competence, as reflected in a GPA of at least 3.0;
- a commitment to enroll in the B.A./MAT program and to teach in a high-need school district for at least two years for each year of support from the Noyce scholarship;
- an aptitude and affinity for teaching youth in a high-need setting, as demonstrated through participation in the C-STEP summer internship and college success programs, and in volunteer or course-related field work in the classrooms of C-STEP teachers; and
- a demonstrated commitment to work in collaboration with others in a cohort group and community of practice.
Priority will be given to students from groups underrepresented in teaching, in particular people of color and people with disabilities, and who demonstrate financial need.
Noyce scholars must commit to two years of service as a mathematics or science teacher in a high-need school district for each year of scholarship support. “High-need” means at least one of the following:
- a high percentage of individuals from families with incomes below the poverty line (such as Worcester);
- a high percentage of secondary school teachers not teaching in the content area in which they were trained to teach; or
- a high teacher-turnover rate.
Questions
Interested Clark undergraduates should contact one of the following Noyce scholarship advisers:
Biology: Deb Robertson (DebRobertson@clarku.edu)
Chemistry: Luis Smith (LUSmith@clarku.edu)
Education: Tom Del Prete (TDelprete@clarku.edu)
Mathematics: Natalia Sternberg (NSternberg@clarku.edu)
Physics: Arshad Kudrolli (AKudrolli@clarku.edu)