As the nation grapples with a vexing lack of math and science teachers, UC Santa Cruz announced Thursday it has secured scholarship funding to entice graduate students to enlist in local classrooms.
The $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will augment recruitment efforts already under way at UCSC's Cal Teach Resource Center.
"There is an ongoing need for highly qualified math and physical science teachers in California schools, and this grant allows us to help more students follow that career path," Gretchen Andreasen, the center's director, said in a statement.
Along with the deans of the science, engineering and social sciences, Andreasen wrote a proposal arguing that Santa Cruz County school districts could directly benefit from an increase in science and math teachers UCSC could foster with the scholarship money. Results from the 2008 STAR testing help bolster that argument.
Math scores in Pajaro Valley and Santa Cruz school districts, the two largest in the county, are below the state proficiency average of 42.7 percent. Pajaro Valley also fell behind the state by 10 percent in science.
Educators said would-be math and science teachers are discouraged by California teaching credentialing standards that have become tougher as federal and state demands for student proficiency rise. Math and science teachers must possess more expertise than ever.
Rob Mayeda, human resources director for the Pajaro Valley district, often has to fill open math and science positions with teachers using emergency credentials.
Mayeda said college students good at math and science are also lured away from teaching by high-paying jobs in biomedical research or engineering.
"It becomes a competition for limited resources, and the limited resource is math and science candidates," he said.
Math, science or engineering students who participated in the Cal Teach Program as undergraduates will be eligible for the scholarships. They will be required to work at least two years in districts deemed "high need" by federal standards measuring student achievement and teacher qualifications. |
The program expects to prepare 32 math and science teachers by 2013. While scholarship recipients are not obligated to work in local districts, Andreasen said UCSC will "strongly encourage" it by hosting a career support network.
After graduating from UCSC's master's in education program, Heather Murphy became a science teacher at Harbor High because she wanted to educate students about environmental dangers like hazardous waste.
By teaching science, she said, she is "teaching students to be good members of a democracy."
Contact J.M. Brown at 429-2410 or jbrown@santacruzsentinel.com.
