Arkansas Noyce Scholar and future teacher Michael "Shane" Carey (Class of 2009, center) works with undergraduates Stephen Brinson and Mark Blanko in an introductory physics class.
A high-need school is defined very broadly for the PhysTEC Noyce Scholarship program. A high-need school is any school in a district that has at least one school with a high fraction of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, a high teacher attrition rate, or a high rate of out-of-field teachers. In general we will use the definitions used by the NSF in the past, which are that a school must have 50% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, a 15% teacher attrition rate over the past three years, or a 34% out-of-field teaching rate. However, exceptions can be made to these benchmarks on a case-by-case basis, by petition.
The following table shows some high-need districts in the vicinity of the six PhysTEC Noyce sites. For other examples of eligible districts, please speak with your local contact person.
| Site | High-need Districts | |||
| Arkansas | Fayetteville | Sprindale | Rogers | Fort Smith |
| Ball State | Muncie Community | Marion Community | Richmond Community | Indianapolis |
| Cornell | Rochester | Utica | Syracuse | Romulus |
| North Carolina | Charlotte-Mecklenburg | Wake County | Asheville | |
| Seattle Pacific | Seattle | Tacoma | Bellevue | |
| Western Michigan | Kalamazoo | Battle Creek | Benton Harbor | |