Shelly R. Rodriguez, University of Texas at Austin, Awarded High Honor by NARST, a worldwide organization for improving science teaching and learning through research,

This year, Shelly R. Rodriguez, University of Texas at Austin, was selected for award recognition for the 2012 NARST Outstanding Paper Award for the paper titled: ‘Enhancing Teacher Knowledge and Pedagogical Reasoning: A case study of cooperating science teachers that mentor preservice teachers’. This honor indicates that her paper has received the highest ratings from colleagues in the Selection Committee from among all papers nominated for the award and presented at the 2011 NARST International Annual Conference.

Since 1928, NARST has promoted research in science education and the communication of knowledge generated by the research. The ultimate goal of NARST is to help all learners achieve science literacy. NARST promotes this goal by: 1) encouraging and supporting the application of diverse research methods and theoretical perspectives from multiple disciplines to the investigation of teaching and learning in science; 2) communicating science education research findings to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers; and 3) cooperating with other educational and scientific societies to influence educational policies. -- Click here to download the full press release.

The beauty of the UTeach program is that it draws bright students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math -- who are already steeped in math and science -- to become classroom teachers. Enrollment has tripled in UTeach in the last three years. A record 5,500 university students at 29 campuses across the country are now studying to become math and science teachers, which could transform classroom culture for many years to come. -- Read the full article by Mary Ann Rankin on the Huffington Post website

We need to follow the lead of other countries and recruit teachers from the top of universities' graduating classes. We might start by converting all schools of education to programs like UTeach in Texas, a program designed to turn content experts into teachers, letting potential teachers study subject matter they will be teaching rather than the mind numbing theory of how to teach. -- Read the entire article on the NMSI website

There has been a great deal written on this by scholars (including this post I published last year). A new voice on the subject is that of Michael Marder, a professor at the University of Texas in the Physics Department and co-director of the UTeach program, which trains secondary school math and science teachers.
He has been looking at school data in Texas and has concluded that teacher quality is not, in fact, the most significant factor affecting student achievement. -- Read the full story on the Washington Post website

During his State of the Union address in January 2011, President Obama "announced an initiative to train 100,000 new teachers in mathematics, science, technology, and engineering, or STEM subjects. He plans to expand 'promising and effective teacher preparation models' for STEM teachers." -- Read the full story on the Edweek Website.