The UTeach Institute has committed to doubling the numbers of universities implementing The University of Texas at Austin’s UTeach teacher preparation program nationally from 25 to 50, and students enrolled nationwide, from 5,000 to 10,000, by 2017.
They are doing so as a partner of 100Kin10, a new national movement to recruit, prepare and retain 100,000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers during the next 10 years.
100Kin10 joins more than 100 partners making measurable commitments to improve STEM education nationwide. Thirty of the partners, including the UTeach Institute, were announced last week after a rigorous vetting process by the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute.
“We are pleased to be part of this national collaboration to strengthen STEM education,” said Kimberly Hughes, director of the UTeach Institute. “We look forward to working with the 100Kin10 movement to leverage and expand our work preparing secondary math and science teachers nationwide.”
The UTeach Institute started in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin in 2006 and is dedicated to supporting replication of the UTeach STEM teacher preparation program that began as a collaboration between natural sciences and the College of Education in 1997.
As of fall 2011, 5,568 students were enrolled in 22 UTeach programs across 12 states. At least seven more universities will begin recruiting students by fall 2012. The UTeach Institute estimates that alumni of current UTeach programs will teach more than four million secondary STEM students by 2018.
Launched in June 2011 at the Clinton Global Initiative by Carnegie Corporation of New York and Opportunity Equation in response to a national imperative by President Barack Obama, 100Kin10 seeks to stimulate the nation’s supply of STEM teachers, facilitate improvement of their teaching practices and retain them in classrooms. An initial pledge will raise $20 million to support the creative and strategic efforts of partner organizations to expand the nation’s STEM teaching force.
