When the school year begins, 14 Orange County Public Schools teachers with newly minted doctoral degrees will return to the classroom prepared to continue serving as leaders in their schools.

These K-8 STEM educators, who comprise the Robert Noyce Master Teaching Fellowship program cohort, are each graduating with a doctorate in curriculum and instruction with a specialization in K-8 mathematics education. However, their program doesn’t just end here. They are also serving as teacher leaders advocating for evidence-based instructional practices and transforming the ways in which mathematics education is approached.

The state of Florida has not only faced challenges posed by a shortage of teachers, but also by struggles in retaining highly qualified educators. These needs are often exacerbated in Title I schools, in which many of the Noyce program fellows work. Housed in the College of Community Innovation and Education’s School of Teacher Education and funded by a U.S. National Science Foundation grant, the five-year program directly addresses the issue of teacher retention through investing in quality educators by increasing their leadership capacity and mathematics expertise. It is led by Sarah Bush, principal investigator, as well as co-principal investigators Lisa Brooks ’92 ’06MEd ’14EdD, Juli Dixon and Brian Moore.

“Leadership capacity entails a combination of knowledge, experience, confidence, passion and opportunity,” Brooks says. “Our fellows are all natural leaders, and they are thriving because they harness the tools given to them and capitalize on every opportunity to follow their passion for ensuring that all students are provided with positive mathematics learning experiences.”

For Shane Wiggan, a Noyce fellow and eighth-grade teacher at Liberty Middle School, being prepared with the knowledge and strategies for effective mathematics instruction has not only helped him support his students’ learning gains but also in encouraging a love of learning.

“This program has equipped me with the tools to encourage students to harness their innate curiosity to solve math problems,” Wiggan says. “Instead of solely aiming to ‘get the correct answer,’ we now approach math tasks by thoroughly comprehending the problem and utilizing our existing knowledge. As a result of this change, I have noticed my students become more confident and enthusiastic.”

Although summer commencement marks the end of the Noyce Fellows’ academic journey, they’ll continue honing their leadership skills through the UCF-Orange County Public Schools Noyce Teacher Leader Academy over the next two years. The academy provides mentorship opportunities — including supervising UCF teacher education interns — that allow the fellows to share their expertise and positively impact both current and future teachers while continuing to teach in their own classrooms.

They’ll also continue an ongoing partnership with nonprofit City Year Orlando, an organization that provides support and resources for high-needs schools through their members taking on roles as volunteer student success coaches. Fellows serve as mentors to these volunteers, some of whom are interested in becoming teachers themselves.

“As I grow in my leadership capacity through the Teacher Leader Academy, I am looking forward to mentoring and supporting underrepresented STEM education professionals,” says Nisha Phillip-Malahoo ’21MEd, a Noyce Fellow and third-grade teacher at Pinewood Elementary. “I’m excited to work with these individuals to create opportunities for our students to explore STEM learning by utilizing this professional network to share and gain valuable insights, fostering a culture of continuous improvement within our schools.”

However, their leadership capacity transcends the classroom. Many of the fellows serve on boards and standing committees for national professional organizations, lead districtwide initiatives, present at mathematics education conferences and are publishing their research.

“Our work through the Teacher Leader Academy has always been centered on being responsive to the needs of the fellows and positioning them as leaders,” Brooks says. “We also focus on meeting the needs of Orange County Public Schools and City Year Orlando. Our project has regular online and in-person meetings where we provide ongoing professional learning, mentoring and support to fellows as they continue to serve as leaders, mentors, teachers and advocates.”

For Abigail Ruiz ’16 ’21MEd, another Noyce Fellow and fourth-grade teacher at Hidden Oaks Elementary School, her passion for sparking joy in mathematics with her students is rooted in her own academic journey. Growing up, she had a teacher who inspired her to not only persevere despite finding math difficult, but also to study education at UCF. It was while working toward her master’s degree that Ruiz learned to love math and science education.

“I never experienced the joy in a classroom until then,” Ruiz told a group of fellow teachers at a recent conference for NCSM, a mathematics education leadership organization for which she also sits on the board. “My mission is to help students experience this type of joy much sooner than I did because this type of revelation should not be confined to post-graduate education. Every learner deserves access to the wonder, joy and beauty of mathematics.”

Wiggan adds that teachers can sometimes become accustomed to affecting a finite space, such as a classroom or campus, in which they feel they can make a difference. However, he’s since learned his impact can extend far beyond.

“Overall, the Teacher Leader Academy has helped me realize that the only thing stopping me from making a more significant impact has been myself,” Wiggan says.