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Oregon Teacher Scholars Program

The Oregon Teacher Scholars Program focuses on strengthening K-12 science and math education by providing teachers with professional development opportunities to improve their ability to meet the needs of diverse classrooms of learners and to provide leadership in schools working towards continuous improvement.

There are four pathways for teachers to be involved as an Oregon Teacher Scholar:

  • Developing and implementing science or math education research projects
  • Pursuing an additional secondary level science endorsement
  • Pursuing a Masters in Science Teaching through the Center for Science Education
  • Pursuing an Educational Doctorate degree through the Graduate School of Education

The cornerstone of this professional development model includes an emphasis on science and education research examining aspects of their own practice as teachers (reflective inquiry). Working in teams with pre-service teachers from the PSU Robert Noyce Scholarship program, teachers from Hillsboro and Beaverton School Districts will receive guidance and support coordinated by the Director of Research, Dr. Debby Barany. Teachers will work within a professional community of mentored "affinity groups" to develop a research proposal, implement student-centered research projects, analyze, synthesize and disseminate their findings. For those working towards a Masters degree, the final product of this research will be defended as a Masters project. For those applying this work towards their EdD.degree, this project may serve as a portion of the doctoral dissertation.

The Oregon Teacher Scholars program will offer elective courses and workshops specifically designed to meet the needs of the participants including a Methods of Science Education Research and graduate level science content courses that will include discussion on how to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of English language learners, talented and gifted learners and other students with special needs. Drawing on a wealth of community resources, this program coordinates the involvement of industry partners such as Vernier Systems and Technology and Intel Corporation, volunteers included retired statisticians and scientists and professors who are leading the way in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math otherwise known as the STEM disciplines.

Two Hundred and Sixty-three teachers are currently participating in the Oregon Teacher Scholars Program. Thirty teachers per year participate in secondary level science content workshops. Twenty-six teachers from the Beaverton and Hillsboro School Districts are participating in the teacher as researcher program. An additional 190 elementary level teachers from Portland Public Schools and the Hillsboro and Beaverton School districts are involved in an elementary science teaching program called Connect2Science. Seventeen teachers throughout the state of Oregon are participating in a program designed to support teachers who are new to the science fair system to get their students involved in the Intel NW Science Fair system.

In addition to those teachers that are involved in programs that involve a professional development course or workshop, approximately 30 middle school through college level educators are attending the our Cosmic Context lecture series that is free and available to students and teachers. For more information on this lecture series including helpful web links to curriculum, the lecture PowerPoint slides and other resources go to: http://oregonteacherscholars.pbwiki.com/Our%20Cosmic%20History

Program Faculty and Staff:

William Becker, PhD. - Lead Principal Investigator, CSE Department Chair

Dean Randy Hitz - Co Principal Investigator, Dean of the Graduate School of Education

Chris Steiner - Hillsboro School District Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) program liaison

Carol Biskupic-Knight - CSE Teacher Professional Development Coordinator, Beaverton School District Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) program liaison

Nancy Lapotin - Portland Public School Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) program liaison

Stephen Scannell - Gresham Barlow School District (TOSA) program liaison

Emily Saxton, M.S.T. - Director of Research

Cary Sneider, PhD. - Research Associate

Linda Mantel, PhD. - Associate Research Professor and Project Coordinator for the Student Research for Secondary Education program

This Department of Education funded program is a partnership between Portland State University, the Hillsboro and Beaverton School Districts, Pacific University and the National Science Foundation funded Robert Noyce Scholarship Program.