The UTeach teacher certification program is a collaborative effort on the part of the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin. It was created in 1997 to address both the shortage of qualified secondary mathematics, science, and computer science teachers as well as the quality of those entering the field.
The program has been well-received, cited by the National Academy of Sciences as a model program addressing the need for more highly qualified mathematics and science teachers. The program has expanded within the University of Texas at Austin College of Education to focus on diverse students in urban settings through English and social studies education with UTeach Urban Teachers program.
UTeach has been a model for other innovative mathematics and science education programs at other institutions; expanded to involve an additional forty-four universities in twenty-one states by 2019.