The STEM Teacher Corps is a bold initiative to advance STEM teaching and learning across the United States by recognizing the nation's top K-12 STEM teachers. In order to attract and retain the best STEM teachers, we must significantly reward excellence in STEM teaching, elevate the status of the profession, and create paths within the profession to which all STEM teachers can aspire. We also have an opportunity to create a cadre of the nation's most accomplished teachers who will broadly advance education and education policy.

The need for such a Corps was outlined in a September 2010 report to President Obama from his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The President announced his Administration's plans to launch a Teacher Corps in July 2012. A national STEM Teacher Corps would recognize a larger percentage of teachers than any existing recognition program, create an interactive professional community of teachers empowered to make broad improvements to STEM education, and provide significant stipends to reward teachers and their schools. It would also provide a growth trajectory for teachers to develop within the profession and avenues for them to engage in improving STEM teaching and learning beyond their classrooms. The Corps is a coherent cadre of teachers with national visibility, and with linked national, regional, state, and local networks of teachers who help improve each other's practice and professionalize STEM teaching.