Supporting a Diverse, Well-Prepared, and High-Quality Teaching Workforce
The last STEM Ecosystems convening I attended was 3 years ago in Washington DC. It was incredible to meet like-minded partners committed to rigorous STEM programming that maximizes local results and creates a shared narrative around the importance of STEM education for everyone. For those of you who aren't familiar with the STEM Ecosystems initiative - it was founded in 2015 with 27 ecosystems. At the time of my last convening, the initiative had grown to 56 communities dedicated to a national community of practice comprised of cross-sector collaborations. Today the initiative has burgeoned impressively to include 94 ecosystems within the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice (SLECoP).
In January of 2021, SLECoP put forth a series of recommendations for the Biden-Harris administration. I was therefore curious to see the new report entitled, "Restoring American’s Position as a World Leader by Investing in STEM". In the report, SLECoP provided these top 5 recommendations:
Foster collaboration to engage, leverage and link all relevant community resources - adoption of the STEM Learning Ecosystems model.
Introduce a collaboratively-designed performance-based system to ensure quality and alignment with strong post-secondary and/or STEM careers.
Support a diverse, well-prepared, and high-quality teaching workforce, and ensure their involvement and leadership with students, administrators and higher education faculty.
Encourage long-term student participation in STEM by increasing its visibility, relevance, connections to the real-world and community and global challenges.
Build a strong early learning system.
Of the recommendations, I was especially heartened to see the focus on a diverse, well-prepared, and high-quality teaching workforce. The report states that the U.S. is in crisis regarding teacher recruitment and retention especially in STEM-related subjects. We agree. STEM programs have long been stagnated by focusing solely on student programming without ensuring that teachers have the confidence and competence to champion and lead the efforts.
That's why Couragion teamed up MindSpark Learning to develop STEMpath in 2018. It's a 24-credit graduate-level STEM certificate program that combines industry-driven coursework, work-based learning through externships, and professional learning for educators at all grade-levels and disciplines. 100% of graduates agree that as a result of their time with STEMpath, they have the critical thinking skills necessary to promote an equitable environment in STEM. Learn more about STEMpath.
Read the full report for more STEM insights: Restoring America's Position as a World Leader by Reinvesting in STEM - STEM Ecosystems