Seattle University

Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world. We will be the premier independent university of the Northwest in academic quality, Jesuit Catholic inspiration, and service to society. We put the good of students first, we value excellence in learning with great teachers who are active scholars, we celebrate educational excellence through diversity, we treasure or Jesuit Catholic ethos and the enrichment from many faiths of our university community, we foster a concern for justice and the competence to promote it, and we seek to develop responsible leaders committed to the common good.

NextGen STEM implementation at Seattle University works most closely with the Diversity Working Group (to learn best practices for recruiting and supporting under-represented students and integrating Critical Race Theory into pre-service teacher training); Clinical Practice Working Group (to learn best practices for establishing robust partnerships); Education for Sustainability and Engineering Working Groups (for curricular resources).

Metrics of successful implementation of NextGen STEM Teacher Preparation include:

By 2020:

  • We have identified a school partner, created a timeline, established roles and responsibilities within partnership; fleshed out curriculum; and recruited our first cohort

By 2025:

  • We have increased school partners;
  • We have a fully-developed, stable and successful program that is
    • using innovative pedagogies and an integrated, practice-based approach
    • co-created by university and school partners
    • creating highly prepared teachers is an exemplar for STEM teacher training
    • serves pre-service teachers in various STEM disciplines
    • serves diverse pre-service teachers
  • We have broadened inclusion in the College of Science and Engineering
  • We have begun a partnership with Seattle Central College for transfer students

Barriers and Strengths: Creating something new is a challenge and an opportunity; finding adequate resources is a challenge; partnerships are vulnerable to factors beyond our control. We have strong collaborative culture and institutional and administrative support for this work. There is a strong STEM orientation in the Seattle area. We have an innovative, research-based approach that meets student needs.