electronic Mentoring for Student Success in STEM subjects
NTC seeks to improve student achievement by enhancing the effectiveness of new teachers through proven induction programs.
Teachers are the most effective school-based determinant of student success. But many new teachers, frustrated with the realities of classroom teaching, do not remain in the profession long enough to become truly effective. The problem is exaggerated for STEM teachers who require more content-specific assistance and have less access to on-the-ground support.
NTC’s online mentoring program, eMSS, is tailored to STEM middle and high school teachers and provides a flexible, scalable solution to the challenge of supporting new STEM teachers.
About You
About You
First Name
Alyson
Last Name
Mike
About Your Organization
Organization Name
New Teacher Center
Organization Website
Organization Phone
831-600 2200
Organization Address
725 Front Street, Suite 400, Santa Cruz, CA
Organization Country
United States, CA, Santa Cruz County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, XX
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Innovation
Entry Form title
electronic Mentoring for Student Success in STEM subjects
What change do you want to bring to the world?
NTC seeks to improve student achievement by enhancing the effectiveness of new teachers through proven induction programs.
Teachers are the most effective school-based determinant of student success. But many new teachers, frustrated with the realities of classroom teaching, do not remain in the profession long enough to become truly effective. The problem is exaggerated for STEM teachers who require more content-specific assistance and have less access to on-the-ground support.
NTC’s online mentoring program, eMSS, is tailored to STEM middle and high school teachers and provides a flexible, scalable solution to the challenge of supporting new STEM teachers.
What are the primary activities of your project?
eMSS provides a unique online solution that offers new STEM teachers one-on-one mentoring, high-quality professional development, and a facilitated community. New teachers are matched with exemplary mentors in the same content area and grade—regardless of geography.
eMSS consists of following components:
• STEM-focused curriculum integrated with critical pedagogy
• Discussion forums and topics chosen by teachers according to personal learning needs.
• Best-in-class mentors—top-performing science teachers—work with 3-8 new teachers
• On-going professional development for mentors and facilitators
• National community of practice that features university scientists and mathematicians as online facilitators / presenters
In addition, NTC has recently received funding to support the following enhancements and innovations:
1) Migrate eMSS to a robust web platform that delivers high-touch mentoring, including video classroom observations and a repository of proven videos, to new STEM teachers and supports the timely introduction of new functionality;
2) Provide tiered resources for new STEM teachers including a “freemium” model that could directly reach more than 2000 new STEM teachers annually; and
3) Offer STEM-focused professional development customized to client-learning goals.
The online program provides personalized, content-specific STEM support on a scale that would be difficult to implement by individual districts. The result: dedicated, engaged STEM teachers.
What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?
eMSS offers a unique blend of mentoring, community, and professional development rooted in research-based best practices and builds on NTC’s 20 years of experience as the leading provider of professional development for new teachers. Through STEM content and pedagogical strategies, eMSS provides new teachers with structured, personalized support. A continuous feedback cycle informs program staff of how best to meet needs of participants, mentors and facilitators
eMSS participants receive unique access to university scientists and mathematicians who support their content knowledge. Planned program enhancements will support new methods of content delivery, including webinars and remote observation of classrooms. The online program means that teachers, mentors, and expert facilitators participate at their convenience – and that participation expands beyond geographic areas.
eMSS provides personalized support for STEM teachers on a scale that would be difficult to implement by individual districts. While others are entering the arena of online mentoring, no other program concentrates on accelerating teacher growth and improving retention of STEM teachers.
The quality of the expert teachers who serve as mentors—30% are Presidential Award recipients or finalists and over 70% have received state or national level recognition—is another unique factor. Mentors report that they have grown professionally through participation in eMSS: eMSS supports the ongoing development and retention of expert STEM teachers.
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has recommended that the U.S. recruit and train 100,000 STEM teachers over the next decade who are able to prepare and inspire students. eMSS online mentoring program—where new teachers are matched with experienced teachers in their content area and grade level, coupled with a national community that offers rich content—is a proven professional development solution that addresses the challenge of supporting new STEM teachers.
Historically for the math community, over 3/4 of participating mentees were 1st and 2nd year teachers and taught mathematics to students in grades 5-12. Mentees prepared for an average of three different mathematics courses, taught five class periods and worked with 93 students daily. The median amount of allotted individual planning time per day was in the range of 31-45 minutes.
Historically for the science community, over 2/3 of participating mentees taught at the high school level (grades 9-12). In addition, mentees prepared for an average of two different science courses, taught five class periods and worked with 97 students daily. Nearly ¼ of the respondents were not certified in all of the subjects they taught.
Mentors are chosen from expert teachers from across the country. Content specialists are university scientists and mathematicians who ensure the quality of the content and share their current research with the online community in order to build connections between math/science and the classroom.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
Ellen Moir credits her high school Spanish teacher with encouraging her to become the first person in her family to attend college. Miss Haywood—new to the profession and committed to helping all students realize their full potential—opened Ellen’s eyes to a world of opportunities. Ellen has never lost sight of how an inspired teacher has the potential to change a student’s life.
After beginning her career as a bilingual classroom teacher, Ellen spent 15 years directing the teacher education program at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). She was dismayed to watch new teachers—intelligent, energetic, enthused—quickly become disillusioned as they began their teaching careers. Many quit after their first year. She knew there had to be a better way to induct teachers into a rewarding profession and provide students with teachers qualified to make a difference in their lives.
In response, Moir developed a robust instructional mentoring program and launched the New Teacher Center (NTC) in 1998. The program has been refined and expanded to include school leaders, research, and policy—all with a focus on accelerating teacher effectiveness and improving student achievement. In 2002, recognizing the special challenges of STEM education, Moir and her team introduced eMSS to provide cost-effective, online mentoring for new STEM teachers. NTC works across the country, moving the concept of mentoring teachers to a comprehensive, multi-faceted program that builds long-term human capital development of individual teachers and the science program.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured
Since its introduction in 2002, eMSS has provided online mentoring and professional development for STEM middle and high school teachers across the United States, supporting over 2,000 new teachers in all 50 states, training over 600 content-focused mentors and facilitators, and influencing the education of over 250,000 students. Because of its online delivery, eMSS is easily scalable into new districts or to support individual new teachers within a district.
An annual pre- and post-survey is administered to gauge changes in teacher and mentor effectiveness. A continuous feedback cycle helps program staff best meet the needs of teachers, mentors and facilitators. Surveys gather information on:
• New teachers' attitudes, interests, prior skills, knowledge,pedagogy, experience and learning styles
• The value of specific content and sequence of information
• Success of a broad range of instructional strategies
• The degree to which the technologies used advance comprehension
• Quantifying content learned, the integration of new skills and content, and participant satisfaction
• Commitment to remain in the field
Independent, third-party research has found that eMSS enhanced the ability of new STEM teachers to teach subject-specific content; improved their willingness to experiment; and increased teacher satisfaction and plans to stay in the profession.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
More than 10,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
More than 10,000
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
The current version of eMSS enjoys high levels of satisfaction from users, clients, and partners. Two major areas of enhancements are planned: 1) Support for multiple communications channels, include remote observation of teachers in their classrooms, and 2) creating a “freemium” version that makes key resources available to a wide audience of beginning STEM teachers.
Classroom observation is a key component of in-person mentoring that has, so far, been missing from the online program. With the enhanced program, mentors will be able to observe both a teacher within her classroom and classroom facilities. NTC will define a tiered pricing model expected to provide free resources and build demand for the full product.
Sustainability
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
The biggest risk to eMSS is not moving forward quickly enough with the planned technological enhancements. A number of organizations have recently launched online communities. Unlike eMSS, these new entrants do not offer differentiated professional development or uphold research-based best practices. In order to produce results for teachers and their students, professional development for teachers must translate directly into accelerated classroom performance or users may reject online professional development categorically. NTC has recently received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will support technological enhancements.
District budget cuts restrict their ability to support new teachers. eMSS offers a cost-effective solution to in-person mentoring, particularly in content-rich STEM areas. The tiered, no-cost portal under development, will introduce eMSS to individual users. NTC continues to seek new private funding.
Other risks for eMSS include:
• Quality and activity levels of the mentors. To mitigate this risk, eMSS has implemented a rigorous process of mentor selection coupled with ongoing tracking and observation of mentor activity throughout the year by eMSS staff.
• Addressing school technology and student permission issues related to virtual observations.
• Finding the correct technology partners / solutions within timelines.
Tell us about your partnerships
eMSS partnerships fall into in 4 major categories:
1) Philanthropic support for product development, enhancement, and market research. NSF and Goldman Sachs initially funded the program. In June, NTC received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will support the described enhancements.
2) Corporate and private foundations who sponsor new STEM teachers. Support of a new teacher is approximately $1200 annually. Current funders in this category include: Texas Instruments, Agilent, SanDisk, NSTA. These partners often promote eMSS through their own channels.
3) States and districts that contract with NTC to provide eMSS for new STEM teachers. NTC currently partners with the following states and school districts: Chicago Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, Hawaii DoE, Louisiana, DOE, Ball State University.
4) Strategic partnerships with university science and math teachers who provide cutting-edge content. Examples include: Montana State University – Drs. Irene Grimber, Astrophysicist; Frankie Jackson, Palaeontologist; Erik Lenhoff, Environmental Scientist. Portland State University -- Dr. Gwen Shusterman, Chemistry; Aims Community College -- Dr Shelly Parsons, Mathematician. Each scientist or mathematician supports new teachers through content, Q&A, and sharing ideas on how to implement challenging content into the classroom. In addition, each shares research and information on their particular area/field of interest. For example, Dr. Jackson often shares photos and data from her dinosaur digs in China and South America.
Current annual budget of project, in US dollars
More than $1 million
Explain your selections
NTC generates income from fee-for-service contracts from district partners and via gifts and grants from private individuals, foundations, and corporate funders. Because of this dual revenue stream, NTC feels confident of our ability to sustain our work long term. Philanthropic support allows NTC to expand impact, develop innovative products and services, enter new markets, and build organization infrastructure.
eMSS follows the same model and is currently self-sustaining: our fee-for-service model covers the program expenses while philanthropy is used for program innovation and expansion.
How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?
There are 3 phases in which NTC plans to strengthen the eMSS program.
1) A grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will focus on the following program enhancements over the next 2 years:
• More engaging, robust user interface
• Mix of communications tools
• Enhanced professional networking with veteran teachers, university scientists and mathematicians
• Web-based formative and summative teacher assessments that will help mentors provide tailored support to new teachers
• Virtual observations and real-time coaching..
• Potential to engage pre-service teachers as well as individual teachers
• New platform that supports personalized entry points depending on beginning teacher needs and interests.
2) Development of a freemium model in which all new STEM teachers across the U.S. have access to some mentoring support. This free web portal will also offer opportunities for new teachers to participate in STEM-specific professional development, have access to vetted resources, and to engage in an online community of practice.
3) eMSS uses a participant management system for applications and matching of mentors and mentees. This system will need enhancements to support the continual scaling of eMSS for both the fee and premium versions.
With updated, scalable technology, NTC will have the power to transform the early teaching years for beginning STEM teachers throughout the country.
Partnerships and Accountability
Please tell us more about how your partnership was formed and how it functions. What specific role does each partner play? What unique resources does each partner bring to the initiative?
NTC partners with NSTA--and others--to provide professional development for new teachers as part of their NSTA Academy. NSTA select new teachers as Fellows based on a competitive application process. This on-going partnership evolved out of the original NSF grant for eMSS.
How are you building in accountability for students' successful STEM learning outcomes? Please provide a summary and examples.
eMSS uses “Inquiries” – or conversation guides -- to help new teachers enhance their effectiveness with students. Teachers, mentors, and expert facilitators work together on an inquiry over a period of eight weeks. Three inquiry sessions are offered each year with a choice of topics so that teachers can select the topics that best meet their needs. It is a challenge to measure impact on students using a true experimental design as the program serves teachers nationwide, but by strategically including assessment within the inquiry, eMSS can begin to gauge impact on student achievement.
Below find student outcomes from two teachers following an inquiry on student engagement:
• During my inquiry I made a decision to switch instructional techniques. A large part of my decision to make this transition stemmed from a brief quiz I gave students. The quiz, in my mind, asked general questions regarding the various atomic models. Much to my dismay, most students scored below 70%. It was clear they had yet to fully understand the basics. I am happy to report that after trying a Socratic dialogue, only 2 of 22 students scored below an 80% on the next quiz -- an assessment that was much more difficult and probing than my previous.
• My 4th period kids have average grades, yet this class out-scored my other two 9th grade classes by 12% and 15%. Wow!!! 4th period was more engaged and committed to doing the daily review and test question generation. When I asked what made them so much more successful on the exam this time around, they said they actually did the review and used their class study time to STUDY. Amazing what students will do when their teacher gives them tools to succeed! Engagement = higher test scores!
Needs
Investment, Marketing/Media, Research/Information.
Please use this space to elaborate on your selection above and/or to add needs that may not be listed.
eMSS, like NTC, is poised to scale to a national audience. The program infrastructure is in place, especially with the planned enhancements, to support rapid growth.
Building program awareness remains a critical need. This includes creating compelling marketing materials that clearly articulate the advantages of online mentoring for STEM. Marketing programs should address various stakeholders including teachers, school districts--especially rural districts that often lack access to science labs and activities -- funders, and STEM experts.
Offers
Collaboration/Networking, Mentorship.
Please use this space to elaborate on your selection above and/or to add offers that may not be listed.
NTC experience in managing partnerships between various stakeholders is a factor in the organization’s success. The organization is interested in collaborating with others – particularly new STEM funders, content providers, and other STEM-related organizations.
 | 91 weeks ago Delilah Baumgarten Krasch said: I am so happy to say that I have been a part of the expansion of eMSS to special education. As a special educator, I can tell you that ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 92 weeks ago Carrie Meadows said: Over the past years I have worked with approximately 15-20 mentees in the eMSS program. As others have said this is a fantastic ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 92 weeks ago Caroline Umbrianna Goode said: I have mentored with the eMSS program since 2005, and believe that all participants (mentees and mentors) are challenged to grow ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 92 weeks ago Mary Dunn said: To say that eMSS has changed the professional lives of many middle and high school math and science teachers and their students would be ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 92 weeks ago Stephanie Mihalic said: I've worked with e-Mentoring for Student Success since 2005 and have seen them branch out and evolve...always looking for new ways to ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 93 weeks ago Karen Ackland updated this Competition Entry. |
| 93 weeks ago Karen Ackland updated this Competition Entry. |
| 94 weeks ago Karen Ackland updated this Competition Entry. |
| 96 weeks ago Karen Ackland submitted this idea. |
