Core principles of KSTF commitment to teachers

Each year, KSTF awards Teaching Fellowships to exceptional young men and women committed to teaching science and mathematics in United States high schools. We believe the commitment to teaching merits the deepest respect and support. Our Teaching Fellowship is designed explicitly to meet the needs of teachers from the time they begin working on a teaching credential through the early years of their career.

We recognize that learning to teach is a life-long process, with critical benchmarks and challenges along the way. The first few years of teaching are particularly difficult. Faced with a sense of professional isolation, lack of support and mentoring, and the perception that teaching is a second-rate profession, approximately half of all secondary teachers in the United States leave the profession within five years.

Retention

From the Fellowship’s inception, our mission has focused on reversing the trend of new teacher attrition. Our program was developed with the input of visionary leaders in education, mathematics and science and grounded in research on how to best ensure that highly qualified individuals remain in the teaching profession to become leaders in education.

Financial support

The result of this approach is one of the most comprehensive fellowship programs in the United States. KSTF Teaching Fellowships combine extensive financial and professional support. The total award for each Fellow is valued at nearly $150,000 over the course of the five-year Fellowship. Fellows receive tuition assistance while participating in a teacher credentialing program, monthly stipends, and grants for professional development and teaching materials.