What is the NSF/Robert Noyce
Claremont Colleges Collaborative?
The Claremont Colleges Robert Noyce Collaborative is a federally funded project designed to attract academically distinguished mathematics and science graduates into teaching.

CGU is a graduate only institution that offers a combined teacher credentialing program with a Master’s degree in Education. The Teacher Education Internship Program (TEIP) has a long history of educating some of the finest teachers in Southern California, specializing in preparing teachers for poor urban schools. The program is also extremely diverse. Statistics for the 2004/2005 student body show that 69% of the students come from underrepresented groups and 81% of the students speak at least one language other than English. Collaborating colleges are among the most prestigious in the country and include: Harvey Mudd (ranked 184h in 2007 US News and World Report of best liberal arts colleges and the number 2 engineering school in the country); Claremont McKenna College (12th); Pomona College (7th); Scripps College (26th); and Pitzer College (51st).

The six goals of this collaborative partnership are to:

1. Institutionalize a central Claremont Colleges Mathematics and Science Collaborative to promote teaching as an exciting valuable career for
exceptional STEM graduates.

2. Recruit and enroll qualified and diverse students from STEM disciplines.

3. Develop and put in place structured, successful opportunities for high
quality undergraduates to work in mathematics and science with public
school students in poor urban school districts.

4. Provide core competencies in mathematics and science instruction that merge the ideas of social justice and accountability, utilizing research-proven pedagogies and focusing on standards-based instruction.

5. Integrate effective pedagogical methods and strategies so that interns are highly skilled in creating and delivering exciting and innovative curricula that will engage a diverse student body.

6. Provide optimum support for beginning mathematics and science teachers through a proven, highly effective internship model.

Recruitment
The proposed project will develop a recruitment plan to attract top math and science students to the teaching profession through a combined effort of 1) distributing information regarding opportunities in teaching; 2) teaching undergraduate courses that give students opportunities to explore teaching as a potential career; 3) targeting specific students who have shown interest in community outreach and service learning; and 4) providing resource packages to make such a choice affordable and attractive. Students will have the opportunity to begin their teacher preparation courses toward the end of their undergraduate program to save education costs and time. Additionally, with the TEIP being an internship program, candidates will have the opportunity to work full-time as teachers, while completing their credential; reducing educational costs and making the program all the more attractive.

Current Resources Available

• $7,500 scholarship for your senior year and $10,000 for 1 year of graduate study in teacher education
  
• Undergraduate courses that will allow you to explore the possibility of teaching as a career
  
• The opportunity to take graduate courses during your undergraduate education to save time and money
  
• State and federal loan repayment programs for teachers (up to $36,500)
  
• Individual counseling and mentoring to assist you in becoming the finest
  teacher possible
  

Retention
CGU focuses on three key components that we believe affect teacher retention

• First, you must select the best people. To that end, the project provides multiple undergraduate courses and service learning opportunities so interested students can be exposed to and try out their interest in public school education. Selection processes then include careful examination of the applicants’ experiences and attitudes, in addition to third party assessment of their work with students and public schools.
  
• Second, new teachers must be provided with the tools they need to teach well. Research shows that teachers are drawn into teaching because of their desire to make a difference in the lives of the students they teach. Frustration and burn out are a result of complex feelings of dissatisfaction that arise when teachers do not feel they make a difference.
  
• This brings us to our third focus — teacher attitudes. At CGU, we show the interns that what they do matters, and that the attitudes they bring to their classroom will affect student results. By selecting people who have had enough experience to know they are called to teach, providing them with research based strategies for solid teaching, and imbuing in them the attitudes necessary to diligently pursue student achievement and results, CGU graduates teachers who significantly outpace the state average for teacher retention.