Missouri University of Science and Technology is the state’s education leader in Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a national organization that develops K-12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum and trains teachers in an interdisciplinary, project-based method. And now Missouri S&T is a national PLTW leader as one of two colleges in the country to offer pre-service teacher training that will incorporate the program’s concepts and certification.
“We look to be a national model,” says Dr. Jana Neiss, director of Missouri S&T’s Teacher Education Program (TEP).
And that’s just what Project Lead The Way president and chief executive officer Vince Bertram sees, too, calling the initiative at Missouri S&T and the University of South Carolina a pilot program for the nation.
“We’re very confident in the leadership and reach of Missouri S&T,” Bertram says. “It’s been held up as a model, a national model. Missouri S&T is a great PLTW partner. We have tremendous confidence in the leaders to implement the program.”
Pre-service teachers are all of the students enrolled in Missouri S&T’s Teacher Education Program, Neiss says. They are called “pre-service” during training and “in-service” after they are certified and employed as classroom teachers.
Reviewed 2015-06-16