Career Awards for Science and Mathematics Teachers

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the State Board of Education recognizes that improving science and mathematics education in North Carolina will require systemic reform of K-12 instruction. An essential component of improving students’ abilities to understand science and mathematics subjects is to produce and reward a cadre of well-prepared teachers who have both content knowledge and the pedagogical skills to serve as change agents for the state and make a difference in the lives of their students by awakening their passion for these subjects.  The largest hurdle in accomplishing this goal has been a disproportionately severe shortage of teachers in science and mathematics (even beyond North Carolina’s ongoing teacher shortage). Just 12 percent of the University of North Carolina system’s 4,003 newly-prepared teachers in recent years were certified in science and mathematics.