Attracting qualified teachers (teachers with subject matter credentials for their
assigned teaching positions) to teach in high poverty schools is difficult due to the
lack of funding, support and resources available. It additionally has been reported
that low income students have only a 10% chance of having a good teacher in their
overall K-12 education (Chenowith 2011 ).
30.5 TheteachHOUSTON Programme and Its Evolution
As previously explained, thefirst iteration of the nationally recognized UTeach
program, theteachHOUSTONprogramme at the University of Houston, began in
2007 as a collaboration between the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics,
the College of Education, and two local school districts,^2 and has since expanded to
eleven local school districts.^3 The program’s central aim is to address the shortage
of qualified math and science teachers in the U.S.teachHOUSTONis directly
aligned with the national goal of the Prepare and Inspirereport (President’s
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology 2010 ) to train 100,000 new quality
STEM middle school and high school teachers in the U.S. The programme
emphasizes early and ongoingfield-based teaching experiences while students are
concurrently working to obtain a degree in math or science. The program provides
secondary teacher certification for those completing a Natural Sciences and
Mathematics degree. From the beginning to the end of their teacher education
programme and beyond,teachHOUSTONgraduates are charged with changing the
face of public education.
The following percentages characterizeteachHOUSTONgraduates: 95% of the
program’s graduates are teaching in the Greater Houston area; 75% of the graduates
Fig. 30.2 Percentage of high
school math teachers assigned
out-of-field in Texas from
1999 to 2008 by student
poverty (Fuller 2009 )
(^2) Fort Bend and Spring Branch Independent School Districts.
(^3) Aldine, Alief, Aldine, Cypress-Fairbanks, Deer Park, Fort Bend, Galena Park, Houston, Katy,
Pasadena, and Spring Branch Independent School Districts.
460 C.J. Craig et al.