Successful K-12 STEM Education Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Three Types of Criteria to Identify Successful STEM Schools
Three Types of Criteria to Identify Successful STEM Schools
Pages 6-24
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From page 6... ...
We examined criteria related to STEM-focused schools because those schools are often viewed as the most effective route to improving STEM education. We explored STEM-related practices because practices are foundational elements of schools, and research is available to connect what happens in schools and classrooms to the desired outcomes.
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From page 7... ...
This specific attention to STEM frequently manifests itself in a rigorous curriculum that deepens STEM learning over time, more instructional time devoted to STEM, more resources available to teach STEM, and teachers who are more prepared to teach in the STEM disciplines. The committee identified three broad categories of STEM-focused schools that have the potential to meet the overarching goals for U.S.
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From page 8... ...
Although those studies are in varying states of com pleteness and have limitations, we present some findings here, along with a description of the school type to which they apply. SELECTIvE STEM SCHOOLS Selective schools are organized around one or more of the STEM disciplines and have selective admissions criteria.
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From page 9... ...
One such study was under way at the time of this report.27 Preliminary results from that study presented at the workshop show that when compared with national samples of high school graduates with ability and interest in STEM subjects, the experiences of students who graduate from selective schools appear to be associated with their choice to pursue and complete a STEM major.28 In particular, students who had research experiences in high school, who undertook an apprenticed mentorship or internship, and whose teachers connected the content across different STEM courses were more likely to complete a STEM major than their peers who did not report these experiences.
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From page 10... ...
It was established by the limited to 680 residential students. In 2010 state's General Assembly in 1978, and in 2011, the residential student population 2007 it become a part of the University had the following racial/ethnic makeup: of North Carolina system.
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From page 11... ...
The schools in the Texas study are new -- having opened in 2006-2007 or later -- and they have been able to achieve these gains within their first 3 years of operation. Factors that appear to have helped the schools include a STEM school blueprint that helps to guide school planning and implementation, a college preparatory curriculum and explicit focus on college readiness for all students, strong academic supports, small school size, and strong support from their district or charter management organization.31 The Texas study has carefully identified a set of comparison schools that were equivalent to the inclusive STEM schools on a wide range of school characteristics, such as student demographics and prior achievement and teacher characteristics.32 However, this approach does not eliminate the possibility that the apparent benefits of inclusive schools reflect the students who choose to attend them.
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From page 12... ...
Academies of the three other courses selected from integrat Texas High School Project. The school ed physics and chemistry, environmental prepares students in grades 9-12 to excel science, chemistry, and physics.
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From page 13... ...
More broadly, the limited research base on the three school types hampered the committee's ability to compare their effectiveness relative to each other and for different student populations or to identify the value these schools add over and above non-STEM focused schools. However, the available studies suggest some potentially promising -- if preliminary and qualified -- findings associated for each school type.
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From page 14... ...
The student population school's 4-year program prepares students had the following racial/ethnic makeup: for health-related careers and has a strong emphasis on mathematics and science. • White, 29 percent • Black, 15 percent Academic Characteristics: Students are • Hispanic, 35 percent required to take a minimum of four math • Asian/Pacific Islander, 17 percent ematics and four science courses and a • Not reporting, 3 percent minimum of 2 years of foreign language.
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From page 15... ...
Much of the available research knowledge of effective practices comes from comprehensive schools, which educate the vast majority of the nation's students -- including many talented and aspiring scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who might not have access to selective or inclusive STEM-focused schools. The STEM education goals of comprehensive schools vary widely and can include helping to prepare the next generation of scientists and innovators, expanding the number of capable students for the STEM workforce, increasing science literacy for all, and generally preparing students for postsecondary success.
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From page 16... ...
class and Rutgers University have recognized es, English as second language classes, the school for its efforts in closing the Reading Recovery instruction, Project Raise achievement gap between white and services, inclusion and transitional special minority students, and in 2010 INTEL education classes, bilingual education, the selected P.S. 28 as a "School of Distinction" Response to Intervention (RTI)
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From page 17... ...
STEM education. study for each AP discipline.37 For each discipline, the redesign has focused on a developing a well-defined set of learning objectives that support teaching for deeper understanding, aligning the AP exams with these learning objectives, and providing AP instructors with the tools and professional development opportunities that support teaching, learning, and success on the AP exams.38 Advanced Placement and International baccalaureate: Examples of Programs of Advanced Study in Science and Mathematics39 The IB program was developed in the late 1960s to provide an international stan dard of secondary education for children of diplomats and others stationed outside their countries.
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From page 18... ...
Several recent NRC reports on effective programs and practices in science and mathematics and other select syntheses informed the committee's deliberations. Drawing on this evidence, we focused on two key aspects of practice that are likely to be found in successful schools: instruction that captures students' interest and involves them in STEM practices and school conditions that support effective STEM instruction.40 EFFECTIvE STEM INSTRUCTION Research in STEM learning and teaching over the past two decades allows the committee to char acterize effective STEM education.41 Briefly, effective instruction capitalizes on students' early interest and experiences, identifies and builds on what they know, and provides them with experiences to engage them in the practices of science and sustain their interest.
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From page 19... ...
Inclusive STEM schools aim to provide this same kind of experience. Students in these schools have opportunities to learn science, mathematics, and engineering by addressing problems that have real-world applications.43 The same is true in some comprehensive schools.44 For its part, career and technical education is predicated on the idea of making learning relevant and connecting the content with its applications.45 CTE schools and programs commonly use engineering as a mechanism for making content relevant, and they rely heavily on technology as a tool for engaging in scientific practices.
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From page 20... ...
For example, in both middle and high schools, unacceptably high percentages of teachers who teach science and mathematics courses are not certified in the subjects they teach and did not major in a related field in college.53 Estimates of the number of out-of-field science and mathematics teachers in secondary school are between 10 and 20 percent.54 A recent survey of university teacher preparation programs found that future elementary teachers were required to take, on average, only two mathematics courses.55 The lack of preparation is reflected in a lack of comfort by teachers in teaching the required content: using the criterion of whether at least 75 percent of teachers reported feeling comfortable teaching the major topics in the middle school curriculum, one survey found that no topic met that criterion.56 Weak initial teacher preparation heightens the importance of continuing professional develop ment, but the available research suggests that professional development in STEM, when available, 20
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From page 21... ...
Moreover, professional development alone is not a solution to current limitations on teachers' capacities.61 Instead, it is more productive to consider teacher development as a continuum that ranges from initial preparation to induction into the practice of teaching and then to systematic, needs-based professional development, including on-site professional support that allows for interaction and collaboration with colleagues. Key element: A supportive system of assessment and accountability.
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From page 22... ...
In contrast, 45 percent of districts reported increasing instructional time for mathematics in elementary schools, with an average increase of 89 minutes per week.67 A 2007 study of science education in California paints a starker picture. That survey of nine coun ties in the San Francisco Bay Area found: "80 percent of K-5th grade multiple-subject teachers who are responsible for teaching science in their classrooms reported spending 60 minutes or less per week on science, with 16 percent of teachers spending no time at all on science."68 Those research ers estimate that their results actually overstate the amount of science instruction in the Bay Area because "teachers who took the time to respond to the survey are more likely to be engaged in sci ence education than those who did not."69 Overall, the decrease in time for science education is a concern because some research suggests that interest in science careers may develop in the elementary school years.70 22
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From page 23... ...
For instance, when detracking fails to provide challenging learning opportunities for all students, low-income and minority students may have the most to lose because they often lack academic support outside school that could compensate for weak instruction in school.75 However, cases of successful detracking do exist, and they suggest that supplemental instruction for low-achieving students (such as through tutoring or extra class sessions) makes it possible to offer challenging instruction to all students in mixed-ability settings.76 SCHOOL CONDITIONS AND CULTURES THAT SUPPORT LEARNING Strong teachers and focused, rigorous, and coherent curricula are certainly important factors to improve student learning in STEM.
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From page 24... ...
located in severely disadvantaged communities. The elementary schools that improved student learning in math ematics and reading shared five common elements:80 1.
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