The University of Tennessee and Middle Tennessee State University will attempt to replicate the “UTeach” model for training math and science teachers on their campuses.
The two universities are merely the latest additions to a nationwide effort to spawn UTeach-style programs at higher education institutions. The initial effort to replicate the program has been led by the National Math and Science Initiative, a Dallas-based nonprofit working with millions of dollars from ExxonMobil’s foundation and other philanthropies. But this one is being funded by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and the Tennessee Department of Education. UTeach has been replicated on several campuses nationwide. Here’s another teacher-training program launched in the UTeach prototype at the University of Kansas.
For those who don’t know, UTeach is a teacher-training program at the University of Texas at Austin that places a heavy emphasis on recruitment of math and science majors, partnerships between colleges of arts and science and colleges of education on curriculum, and early exposure to classroom teaching.
WHOOPS: I’ve corrected this item to say the Tennessee effort is being funded by the THEC and the TDOE, not the National Math and Science Initiative, which has financially backed other UTeach models.