Classroom to Coast: How a Custom Master’s Program is Keeping Science Teachers in Pitt County

As the salty wind blew through their hair, a group of nine teachers scaled the sandy dunes of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, learning from local naturalists, residents, and experts about the unique coastal environment. In addition to being teachers, the group also wore the hat of students for the trip; this place-based experience came as part of their Masters in Science Education, which they received this May from The College of Education at East Carolina University (ECU) (The Rural Education Institute at ECU anchors RSC’s Southeast Regional Hub). 

While ECU’s traditional Masters in Science Education program is entirely online, the cohort experiencing North Carolina’s Outer Banks was part of a novel and unique program developed in partnership with Pitt County, which encompasses Greenville and the surrounding communities. The 10-course program was developed by ECU’s Bonnie Glass, Master Teaching Instructor and Science Education Program Liaison, and Dr. Tammy Lee, Professor of Science Education, and was part of a teacher retention program created by Pitt County School District’s Dr. Jennifer Stalls. 

Pitt County School District paid for the full degree for all nine participants, making a valuable professional development opportunity available and accessible to middle school science teachers, a demographic particularly vulnerable to attrition. To participate, teachers had to have at least six years of experience in the classroom, and would commit to teaching at least three more years in Pitt County middle schools after completion of the program. Teachers were drawn from schools all across the county. 

Due to the unique nature of the cohort, Tammy and Bonnie worked with Jennifer and Pitt County School District staff to craft a version of the Masters program tailored to district needs. Tammy shares that “before we started the cohort, we had several meetings with Jen about what were the needs of these teachers, what are incentives that Pitt county is already working on to incentivize within the coursework, and new science standards in the state of North Carolina.” One of the main focuses was learning new science and engineering practices, and taking those and putting them in the classroom.

Another key addition was creating face-to-face touchpoints throughout the program, with an aim towards fostering a cohort atmosphere and modeling place-based learning. “We were able to customize the coursework for them. Our normal program is totally online, but we had some touchpoints for them where they came to campus and meet face to face, and that helped to create that community of learners… They were able to really create this network within themselves,” recalls Tammy. 

Advocacy emerged as a central theme that Bonnie and Tammy emphasized throughout the program. As the teachers were learning new methodologies for educating students, giving them the confidence to implement those practices became paramount: “A lot of the focus of the coursework was about advocacy– for them and their students. These are great and effective teaching practices. How do we make sure that we are communicating that with our district, with parents, that ‘this is the way that we should be teaching. And if we teach this way, they will do better on tests.’” 

The defining moment of the program was a three-day field experience, which centered around applying earth science principles to real issues impacting local communities. Bonnie and Tammy rented vans, secured lodging, and took the cohort east to the Outer Banks, primarily investigating the island of Ocracoke. Tammy describes that pulling off a trip like this relied upon support from both sides of the partnership: “The College of Education provided funding for us to do a study-away to take them to Ocracoke as part of their culminating learning experience in the Earth Science class. Pitt County paid for them to have subs– it was a mutual decision [between ECU and Pitt County] to say ‘this is important for these teachers to give them time off’ to engage in this experience.”

Bonnie shares that she used an investigation of the issues surrounding the eroding Outer Banks and highway 12 to offer an opportunity to model the types of learning experiences that they hope teachers can craft for their students. “We chose that as our course focus to model this idea of a complex issue with earth science ties, and then they were supposed to identify a topic and a local issue or place-based asset to figure out how they could have their students use that as a springboard to investigate the challenges and assets in their local community. And we modeled the steps as they go along: who are the stakeholders, where can they get information to learn more about the area or issue… and then they planned out a way to have students experience something locally that would be important for them to know about their community.”

In addition to looking at local assets and crafting curriculum around those, participating teachers also spent their final year engaging in an action-research project within their own classroom, all with an eye towards empowering them to be teacher-leaders. “Many of them chose to do things that really used the effective techniques and methods that we emphasized for teaching in the classroom, and implementing certain technologies in the classroom, utilizing field-based and project-based learning, and really things that they had learned all the way through [their program].”

The program culminated with an in-person celebration put on by the district, attended by the superintendent, principals, and ECU College of Education and departmental leadership. Teachers presented their action research projects, what they learned throughout the program, and reflected upon what the experience meant to them. One teacher, Shaquanda Williams, shared that “being part of this cohort has been a truly transformative experience, and I am deeply grateful for the support, collaboration, and shared growth we experienced together. This journey pushed me to reflect, adapt, and strengthen my practice. Through it, I have become a more confident and intentional science educator.”

For Bonnie and Tammy, their lasting takeaway is that programs like this offer a model of improving science education in rural classrooms while also serving as a key retention effort, built upon a strong partnership between districts and regional higher education. While their work with Pitt County School District was unique, and crafted specifically to eastern North Carolina, they see programs like this as adaptable in any context: “This is a model– a retention model to work with districts. The cohort part of that community building is really important, and having those in-person touchpoints and the culminating time at the very end was really essential.” 

Rural Schools Collaborative is deeply grateful to our partners at East Carolina University for sharing their work with our network, and offers special gratitude to Bonnie Glass and Tammy Lee for always developing innovative programs that support teaching and learning in eastern North Carolina and beyond.