Chapter 2: Implementing and Sustaining Uteach Programs: Lessons Learned from National Expansion

Over the course of a decade, 43 U.S. universities across 21 states and the District of Columbia adopted the UTeach secondary STEM teacher preparation program model in order to strengthen their production of STEM teachers. During this time, the UTeach Institute carefully monitored and documented the implementation of UTeach across the country. In this chapter we argue that multiple years of data on program implementation; graduate production; and graduate entry into, and retention, in teaching indicate that UTeach programs are making important contributions in STEM education by increasing the number and the quality of teachers produced, leveraging the critical role of universities in the preparation of STEM teachers, making significant contributions to the field of STEM education, and, in doing so, improving and innovating the UTeach program model overall. Twelve years into national expansion, the majority of UTeach programs are well-established, are producing teachers, and remain closely aligned with the UTeach program model’s core elements. Accordingly, we consider the national UTeach expansion effort a success. What started as an effort to replicate a successful teacher preparation program created at The University of Texas at Austin has developed into a vibrant, national networked improvement community made up of more than 700 STEM and STEM education faculty all contributing their expertise to the ongoing development of what has become a national UTeach model for secondary STEM teacher preparation.