Press About UTeach

Alabama STEM Council to Strengthen Teacher Preparation Across the State Through UTeach

The Alabama STEM Council will direct an initial $4.5 million legislative appropriation to launch four new UTeach STEM teacher preparation programs at fully accredited public Alabama colleges and universities and to further expand the UABTeach program at the University of Alabama Birmingham. The STEM Council is partnering with the UTeach Institute at The University of Texas at Austin and the Alabama Commission on Higher Education to manage a competitive call for proposal process and provide program implementation support to selected higher education partners. Qualified institutions will be eligible to receive up to $3 million in funding over five years to recruit and prepare secondary STEM teachers.

UTeach STEM Educators: 2020-21 School Year Strategies and Equitable Learning Lessons

UTeach partner universities, K-12 educators, and many others participated in this summer’s UTeach STEM Educators Virtual Summit. Each session provided reflections and learnings from educators across the country. We’ve compiled highlights from the Summit so readers may gain insights from these intelligent, thoughtful voices.

National Math and Science Initiative, July 12, 2020

NMSI and UNCF to Launch STEM Teacher Preparation Program with HBCUs in Six States and the District of Columbia

The National Math and Science Initiative has received a planning grant from the Fund II Foundation to design UTeach STEM teacher preparation programs at up to 15 historically black colleges and universities in six states and the District of Columbia. 

PR Newswire, February 10, 2020

A Talent for Teaching: UTeach reveals a pathway for STEM majors

UTeach has emerged as a leader in connecting science and math undergrads to teaching careers. The educational model is turning the tide in the ongoing STEM teacher shortage.

Working Nation, December 17, 2018

UT Austin Is the Heart of Inclusive CS Education in Texas (PDF 4.7MB)

The University of Texas at Austin is leading several statewide efforts to prepare teachers, engage policy makers, and make the Texas computing landscape accessible and inclusive for all students.

National Science Foundation Computer & Information Science & Engineering, December 7, 2018

Want to Keep Students Engaged? Ask, Don't Tell

Hands-on learning emphasizes the students’ central role in education and sets them up to drive their own development through exploration of real-world challenges and problems.

Forbes, October 23, 2018

CalTeach Alumnus Anthony Chan Reflects Upon the Benefits from his CalTeach Training

Anthony Chan received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and his Single Subject Credential through UCI's CalTeach Science and Math 4-Year Program in 2013. Upon graduation, he was hired to teach math at South Pasadena High School. Since joining South Pasadena, Anthony has discovered multiple opportunities for using the training he received through the CalTeach Program.

UCI School of Education, July 2, 2018

Want to Produce Good STEM Teachers? This Program Is Getting Results.

Texas science and math teachers who are trained in the UTeach preparation program are substantially better at raising student test scores than other teachers in the state, a new study shows.

Education Week, June 6, 2018

A teacher prep program that really works? This one is successfully minting math and science educators.

New peer-reviewed research shows that UTeach teachers performed substantially better in the classroom than other teachers in Texas, as measured by student test scores.

Chalkbeat, June 4, 2018

Opinion: The U.S. Doesn't Have Enough STEM Teachers to Prepare Students for Our High-Tech Economy. 4 Steps Toward Addressing that Shortage.

Now more than ever, a high-quality STEM education matters. 

The 74, April 11, 2018

Solutions to the STEM Teacher Shortage

A variety of organizations and programs are introducing or expanding different ways to attract, train and retain STEM educators.

Cisco's The Network, March 19, 2018

What Can Science Teachers Do to Engage Students Better?

Science education experts at UTeach say the skills students need go beyond focusing on things such as content mastery.

UT News, September 12, 2017

Hughes: A model for preparing STEM teachers

The shortage of high-quality STEM teachers has long been a problem in national efforts to improve K-12 STEM education. This has colleges and universities looking to explore innovative approaches to strengthen the preparation of STEM teachers and to recruit STEM majors into teacher preparation programs.

Education Week, June 8, 2017

Dodson: How teacher preparation programs impact student STEM achievement 

Teacher preparation programs, and differences among programs, play a significant role in producing effective STEM teachers.

Education Week, June 5, 2017

Marder: College readiness drops back ten years in Texas

College readiness of Texas high school graduates has plummeted. This does not mean quite what it seems: students are not necessarily less ready to go to college. But it will have a real effect on their opportunities.

TribTalk: Perspectives on Texas, June 5, 2017

How do UTeach? Celebrating STEM teachers this May and year-round

Who inspired you to try hard and think bigger? Often we forget to credit the people who deserve it most: our teachers. 

Energy Factor by ExxonMobil, May 23, 2017

Marder: We need more STEM teachers; Higher ed. can help

Four recommendations for sending more STEM majors into teaching.

Education Week, May 16, 2017

The art of teaching

UTeach has been preparing America's teachers for 20 years. 

Alcalde, May/June 2017

For those who want to teach: UTeach

Looking for an effective math teacher? What about a skilled science instructor? Need both? UTeach programs have you covered.

National Council on Teacher Quality, March 2017

Can UTeach? Assessing the Relative Effectiveness of STEM Teachers

Using administrative data from the state of Texas, we measure UTeach impacts on student test scores in math and science in middle schools and high schools. We find that students taught by UTeach teachers perform significantly better on end-of-grade tests in math and end-of-course tests in math and science by 5% to 12% of a standard deviation on the test, depending on grade and subject.

American Institutes for Research, December 2016

Marder: Is STEM education in permanent crisis?

Our country's single biggest obstacle is a perpetual STEM teacher shortage. In surveys of school districts, openings in physics, chemistry, and math are regularly near the top of the list of positions hardest to fill. As a result, a large percentage of high school STEM teachers have neither a college major nor minor in their main assignment, or they lack full certification. Forty percent of math teachers fall into one of these categories. In physics, chemistry, and earth science, the number is over 60 percent.

Education Week, October 25, 2016

Investing in future innovation: This visionary program gets students hooked on STEM

Bored and intimidated by math and science, American teenagers are disengaged from the classes that prepare them for today’s tech-driven labor force — making UTeach needed now more than ever. 

NationSwell, May 26, 2016

Fletcher and Hughes: STEM education is the root of Texas' future prosperity

With science, technology, engineering and math driving long-term growth, Texas is primed for a bright economic future. Over the past decades, the state has leaped ahead in STEM fields. But if we're to fully realize the state's potential, we have to ensure our economy has access to the one precious resource it can't do without: bright, young minds equipped with a quality STEM education. 

Houston Chronicle, May 11, 2016

Texas teachers learn coding at UTD, hoping to bring lessons to their classrooms

This is the first time a computer science workshop has been offered through UTD's UTeach Dallas program. The program started in 2008 and focuses on recruiting, developing and retaining a new generation of math, science and computer science teachers at UTD [...].

Dallas Morning News, July 14, 2016

Fact Sheet: President Obama announces Computer Science For All Initiative

Our economy is rapidly shifting, and educators and business leaders are increasingly recognizing that CS is a “new basic” skill necessary for economic opportunity and social mobility. By some estimates, just one quarter of all the K-12 schools in the United States offer CS with programming and coding, and only 28 states allow CS courses to count towards high-school graduation, even as other advanced economies are making CS available for all of their students.

The White House, January 30, 2016

Clinically oriented teacher preparatiom (PDF 3.1MB)

An era of unprecedented change is underway in both K–12 and teacher education across the United States. As states focus their attention on preparing students to be college and career ready, teacher education programs are also in a time of renewal—exploring the question of how to prepare teacher candidates for the demands of teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Research Report: June 2015

UTeach STEM teacher prep program expands with $22.5 million grant

National Math and Science Initiative has expanded the UTeach secondary science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teacher preparation program to five more universities and will expand again to another five universities in the fall of 2015, bringing the total number of universities implementing the program to 45.

THE Journal, February 5, 2014

Teaching the teachers

STEM jobs, those that rely on expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, comprise a growing and increasingly important economic sector in Texas. There are 2.5 STEM jobs available for every unemployed person in Texas. In contrast, there are 3.3 unemployed people for every non-STEM job available in Texas. Productivity and further economic growth in Texas increasingly depends on an educated STEM workforce.

Texas CEO Magazine, May 31, 2014

A dozen universities share $12 million to bolster the UTeach program

North Texas universities will produce about 800 math and science teachers over the next five years through the program, providing a needed infusion of expertise in math and science for area schools and affecting nearly a half a million students.

The Dallas Morning News, April 2013 

Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education 5-year strategic plan (PDF 1.1MB)

A report on the committee on STEM education. 

National Science and Technology Council, May 31, 2013

Education nation: UTeach gets Latino STEM teachers into classrooms

Twenty-nine percent of UTeach students come from Latino and African-American populations. That’s a significant number, given the disproportionately low national rate of Hispanics earning STEM certificates and degrees.

NBC News, September 25, 2012

Luring next-generation engineers, math whizzes into the classroom

Traditionally, education colleges have trained math and science teachers, in contrast to the partnership between the math, science and education faculties in the UTeach program. The curriculum is intense, but also relatively condensed, mainly because UTeach students spend more time teaching rather than observing.

NBC News, September 27, 2012

Rooting for STEM

In 14 years, UTeach has created a unique educational model for preparing science, technology, engineering, and math teachers, and the nation is following its lead.

Alcalde, May 1, 2011

Engineering a better workforce

If we are truly intent on re-chartering the course of education in this country, there is another group that needs our focus just as much as our youth: teachers.  Teacher preparation is an extremely important element of developing a talented high-tech workforce. We are very fortunate here in Texas to have the UTeach program, started in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas. UTeach prepares math, science, and engineering majors to also be certified high school teachers without extending the amount of time needed to attain their bachelor’s degree.

Texas CEO Magazine, May 29, 2011

Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for America's Future (PDF 1.6MB)

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology discusses UTeach as a model teacher-preparation program that marries intensive pedagogical instruction with rigorous majors in STEM disciplines. 

Report to the President, September 2010

UTeach Named Top 50 in Innovation in American Government

UTeach Natural Sciences was named one of the Top 50 Innovations in American Government today by Harvard’s Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

News: College of Natural Sciences, March 31, 2009

Grounded in content

The University of Texas at Austin has built a teacher education model that presents courses through the lens of math and science.

Education Week, November 5, 2007

Rising above the gathering storm: Energizing and employing America for a brighter economic future 

In a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas

National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine