In February, Case Grande Union High School hosted a community SciTech Festival as part of statewide Arizona SciTech Festival activities. It featured classroom projects, hands-on activities, demonstrations, and a digital showcase of STEM careers.
for the Sierra Vista Unified School District, and a participant in the meeting. “This collaboration is leading our district to answer that call by creating STEM pathways for students as early as seventh grade that can lead to dual-enrollment, college-level engineering courses by their junior year.� In response to the meeting and efforts surrounding the collaborations underway, the Benson News-Sun published an editorial praising the work already being done in Cochise County and underscoring the need to further equip local students – “tomorrow’s workforce� – with STEM skills and knowledge for successful future employment with large corporations in the region such as Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon and others that support Fort Huachuca, the nearby military installation recognized for its role in the high-tech field of cyber-defense. In April, Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz) and Helios Education Foundation announced the winning school sites selected for the Helios STEM School Pilot program. The initiative is part of a strategic partnership and investment by Helios and SFAz to help the Arizona STEM Network develop a coordinated and effective STEM education system that provides the infrastructure, resources and metrics needed to improve educational outcomes and achieve collective impact for Arizona students. Seven sites will receive a total of $1.85 million in financial and technical support to implement STEM programs and activities during the next three years. Helios
16 ASBA Journal I Spring 2013
and the Arizona STEM Network, led by SFAz, released a competitive request for proposals in September 2012. This competition was open to all public and public charter schools in Arizona. The Helios STEM School Pilot sites were selected from a statewide pool of 57 applicants. The selected pilot sites represent districts and schools in Maricopa, Coconino, Yavapai, Pima and Yuma counties and will include: s !LHAMBRA %LEMENTARY 3CHOOL $ISTRICT s !LTAR 6ALLEY %LEMENTARY 3CHOOL $ISTRICT s "AGDAD 5NIFIED 3CHOOL $ISTRICT s #ONGRESS %LEMENTARY 3CHOOL s 3 ALT 2IVER %LEMENTARY 3CHOOL + 3ALT 2IVER Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Scottsdale) s 7 & +ILLIP %LEMENTARY 3CHOOL PRE + &LAGSTAFF s 9UMA %LEMENTARY 3CHOOL + 9UMA Funding and support will assist sites with the integration of STEM programs aligned with Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards and will equip teachers with the knowledge, resources and skills they will need to provide students access to quality STEM learning experiences. Partners hope the STEM School Pilot program will identify models of effective implementation of STEM education teaching and learning that can be sustained, measured and replicated throughout Arizona in the future. (For all Arizona schools, the Arizona STEM Network has developed an online STEM Immersion Guide to assist schools with their own STEM implementation and help educators clearly articulate their goals and strategies for integrating STEM education into their schools and classrooms, even at the earliest grade levels. See page 21 for more on the STEM Immersion Matrix.)
Realizing the collective vision Business leaders realize that the challenge to further embed STEM in Arizona public schools is a multifaceted undertaking. “Government needs to provide adequate education funding for K-12 and university programs, the private sector needs to be clear about its employee needs, and education must deliver the skilled workers the U.S. economy demands, for manufacturing and all other economic sectors,� asserts Dobbins. It is, he says, “an all-hands-on-deck challenge.�
Don Harris is a Phoenix-based freelance writer and editor. He covers state education, school finance, legislative and policy issues for the ASBA Journal and other statewide publications.