Center for Mathematics and Science Education, CSU, Chico
Northstate STIR
(Supporting Teachers to Improve Retention)
A program for single-subject math teachers within their first five years of teaching
- Join an EXCITING new program
- Participate in intensive professional development
- Recieve a stipend for your participation
- Develop tools to enable your students to be successful
Northstate STIR is a five-year program implemented by the Chico Math Project under funding from the California Math Project, the goal of which is to improve the retention of new teachers (teachers within their first five years of teaching) throughout the state of California. By providing intensive professional development (PD) and systematic and sustained support (SSS), the Chico Math Project seeks to achieve this goal by creating a collaborative community of confident, reflective, and knowledgeable mathematics teacher leaders.
- What is the time commitment?
Northstate STIR consists of an initial three-year program comprised of two-week residential summer professional development institutes at Chico State, followed by 40 hours of follow-up during the school year. In addition, Northstate STIR will also provide 40 hours of systematic and sustained support throughout the year, within which teachers across the region can share ideas, lesson plans, and classroom experiences. All hours are designed to fit into your busy life. The time demand on participants is significantly less in years four and five, during which these teacher leaders will be encouraged to take part in local programs to support teachers as they see fit.
- Who can apply?
Chico Math Project invites all single-subject mathematics teachers in the northstate who are within their first five years of teaching to apply to Northstate STIR. We especially welcome BTSA participants and the CSU, Chico Credentialing Program.
- I’m already busy with BTSA/my intern program. Why should I apply?
Chico Math Project is collaborating with BTSA and the CSU, Chico Credentialing Program to significantly reduce the impact on such participants’ already busy schedules. For example, BTSA hours will count for the 40 hours of systematic and sustained support; in addition, BTSA may count some portion of the 40 hours of professional development towards BTSA requirement hours. A similar time agreement has been made with the CSU, Chico Intern Program to lessen the impact of STIR on your schedule.
- When and where are the PD and SSS held?
The two-week residential summer institutes, to take place each of the first three years, will be held at Chico State during the last two weeks of June. In addition, 16 hours of the PD will consist of two Saturdays during the school year, again held at Chico State. The rest of the PD and much of the SSS (for non-BTSA participants) will be Web-based, to be administered on Chico State’s WebCT Vista networking program. Vista is a campuswide Web-based program (accessible from any computer) that supports file sharing, chat rooms, message boards, and more. The SSS will be tailored to individual school and district needs.
- What happens after the first three years?
In years four and five of the project, the time demands of the participants will be reduced dramatically. The aim in these years is to encourage our teachers to take on leadership roles. This allows them to contribute to their own teaching and learning communities, and to support new teachers. - What’s in it for me?
Participants will receive a $2000 stipend for each of the first three years of the project, and a reduced stipend for years four and five based on the activities they get involved in. Besides the yearly stipend and the significant amount of professional development to improve their own teaching, Northstate STIR participants will have the opportunity to become part of a network of teacher-leaders who are dedicated to their profession and to their students.
We still have room for a few more teachers, please download the application below and send/fax it to us ASAP.
For a copy of the flyer, please click here.
Download the application (PDF, 42Kb).