MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A teaching program at WVU that is really in its infancy is picking up steam and funding.
Two years ago the university received a $1.45 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative to start training science and math teachers at the secondary level through WVUTeach. This month, WVU announced a new $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation for WVUTeach.
“What this program’s approach tries to be is one other approach to start to attract some of the folks that would just be getting just a math degree, or just a degree in the sciences or in engineering,” explained Matthew Campbell, WVU assistant professor of math education.
WVUTeach will create a partnership with the Doddridge and Marion County school districts to support several new high school teachers over the next four years.
“So the ability to work with some local educators, whether at the district or school level, is a real opportunity, not because we can make a claim that they need help. They certainly want resources and want opportunities to engage with us. But, we have a lot to learn from them,” noted Campbell.
WVUTeach has already partnered with five school districts in the state.
The most recent grant funds scholarships for students who may face financial challenges keeping them from completing a degree.
WVUTeach will be “able to fund, over the next five years, at least 25 prospective math and science teachers in the final two years of their program,” Campbell explained.
Part of the push behind WVUTeach is to create the teachers who will then help build “a workforce capable of the performing the technology-laden jobs of the future” according to the university.
WVUTeach is adapted from the national UTeach program that allows students to earn a degree in a STEM field and a high school teaching certification in four years.