SMTI Member Benefits and Criteria

Join the Science and Mathematics Teaching Imperative!

If your institution or system is a member of APLU, we invite you to join the universities and systems that have already committed to the Science and Mathematics Teaching Imperative (SMTI). If you would like to join SMTI or would like further information, please email Kacy Redd, director of science & mathematics education policy at APLU.

Benefits of Joining SMTI

Contribute to our national visibility by galvanizing university leadership to make mathematics and science teacher preparation a higher institutional priority.

Learn from experiences in teacher preparation across major funded initiatives at peer institutions during annual meetings.

Hear from major funding sources on their initiatives and plans for teacher preparation programs and compare policies across states.

Develop and Use tools for (1) comparing attributes of teacher preparation programs; (2) determining state needs for science and math teachers; and (3) communicating and sharing among institutions.

Engage with the SMTI Executive Committee to guide the direction of the national SMTI.

Receive collective visibility of progress by participating institutions, tracking of aggregate metrics, and examples of programs that are achieving their goals and creating effective state or regional partnerships.

Enhance and further stimulate national and state partnerships with other educational institutions and organizations, state and federal governments, corporations, and foundations. This will be particularly important as budgets become more constrained.

Criteria for Joining SMTI

The President/Chancellor or Provost makes the SMTI Commitment to:

• Substantially increase the number and diversity of high quality mathematics and science teachers prepared by their institutions.
• Identify the need – both immediate and longer term – for science and math teachers in their states (and particular regions), working with appropriate state agencies and other universities.
• Build partnerships with other universities and community colleges, school systems, state government and others to collectively address their state needs on a sustained basis.

The President/Chancellor or Provost designates the SMTI Liaison, the institutional contact person, preferably a senior official with university-wide responsibilities for science and mathematics teacher education. This SMTI Liaison will be the primary person of contact between APLU/SMTI and your institution (though we encourage adding as many faculty and administrators as you would like to our database for growing SMTI communications).

The SMTI Liaison reports annually to APLU/SMTI the number of science and mathematics teachers prepared by your campus. These data will be shared with SMTI institutions and be posted on the SMTI website to demonstrate our progress.

The SMTI Liaison reports the institutional targets for increasing the number of STEM teachers prepared and timeframe for achievement.