{"id":18474,"date":"2020-03-16T19:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=18474&post_type=story"},"modified":"2025-04-18T03:53:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T03:53:30","slug":"helping-public-school-teachers-earn-free-masters-degree","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/helping-public-school-teachers-earn-free-masters-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Public School Teachers Earn Free Master’s Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring 2020 | By Jalen Bass<\/em><\/p>\n

Elementary school teacher Kimberly Rougeux \u201901 \u201919MEd<\/strong>\u00a0had always wanted to earn a master\u2019s degree. But as a\u00a0full-time teacher and a busy parent, she struggled to\u00a0find the time and resources. That all changed when the\u00a0Lockheed Martin\/UCF Academy allowed Rougeux, along\u00a0with 97 other local public teachers, to earn her master\u2019s\u00a0degree<\/a> for free.<\/p>\n

The Lockheed Martin\/UCF Academy developed the\u00a0Master of Education in K\u20138 Mathematics and Science<\/a>\u00a0program, which is focused on bolstering STEM education\u00a0and retaining current teachers while building the talent\u00a0pipeline.<\/p>\n

Last December, 20 Orange County Public School\u00a0teachers became the first class to graduate with all costs\u00a0covered<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n[photo id=”18902″ title=”PegSpring2020-InFocus-Lockheed-Graduation” alt=”A graduate shakes someone’s hand as she crosses the stage.” position=”center” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n

Kimberly Rougeux \u201901 ’19MEd was one of 20 OCPS teachers who graduated in December with a free Master\u2019s in Education\u00a0in K-8 Mathematics and Science from UCF.

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\u201cLockheed Martin invests in master\u2019s degrees for\u00a0educators because we believe in the power of teachers to\u00a0inspire the next generation of students who will become\u00a0tomorrow\u2019s engineers, scientists and technologists that\u2019ll\u00a0shape the future of our world for decades,\u201d says Tom\u00a0Mirek, vice president of engineering and technology at\u00a0Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n

The program aims to facilitate Florida\u2019s goal of\u00a0increasing student math scores, a move that should\u00a0prepare students for what is projected to be a 10 percent\u00a0growth in STEM jobs nationally between 2018 and 2028.<\/p>\n

As for Rougeux, a 17-year teaching veteran, she\u2019s already\u00a0seen an impact in how she teaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of what I learned 20 years ago is not relevant,\u201d\u00a0says Rougeux, who\u2019s teaching her students to understand\u00a0math rather than just memorize it. \u201cThere\u2019s that aha!\u00a0moment when they realize they understand the concept.\u00a0I tell my students I don\u2019t want you to have that moment\u00a0in college. I want you to have that now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n[photo id=”18903″ title=”PegSpring2020-InFocus-Lockheed-Group” alt=”A group of students in white coats pose for a picture.” position=”center” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n

To be eligible for the program, teachers must teach in an elementary school or teach math or science in a middle school. Priority is given to those in Title I schools, which have high concentrations of students in need, and who will commit to continue teaching for at least three years after earning their master\u2019s degree.

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[blockquote source=”Barbara Jenkins \u201983 \u201986MEd \u201996EdD<\/strong>, superintendent for\u00a0Orange County Public Schools” cite=”” color=”” css_class=””]\u201cTraining high-quality math and\u00a0science teachers is an investment\u00a0in our instructors as well as [our]\u00a0students for years to come.\u201d[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":18900,"template":"","categories":[979],"tags":[1433],"class_list":["post-18474","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-lockheed-martin-ucf-academy","issues-1462","issues-spring-2020"],"yoast_head":"\nLockheed Martin\/UCF Academy Helps Teachers Earn Free Master's<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Lockheed Martin\/UCF Academy developed a program to focus on bolstering STEM education\u00a0and retaining current teachers while building the talent\u00a0pipeline.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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