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Health & Fitness

D-15 To Launch STEM Program In Fall

In its ongoing effort to emphasize the development of 21st century skills, District 15 is preparing to launch STEM programs in its four junior highs next year.

In its ongoing effort to emphasize the development of 21st century skills, Community Consolidated School District 15 is preparing to launch STEM programs in its four junior highs next year.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and employment in these fields remains on the rise while the number of students graduating with degrees in these areas is projected to remain flat. Beginning with the 2012-13 school year, District 15’s junior high students will be able to enroll in semester-long enrichment courses that will strengthen their skills in these academic areas.

“The District decided to launch the Gateway to Technology STEM program despite some of the difficult financial decisions it is facing because it must continue to improve its instructional program by offering a world-class curriculum to its students,” said Deputy Superintendent Jim Garwood, who has led the program’s development.

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The curriculum for these courses will come from Gateway to Technology, a middle school STEM program offered by Project Lead the Way, a nationally-recognized provider of free STEM curriculum. The Gateway to Technology program will prepare District 15’s graduates for participation in Project Lead the Way programs offered in Township High School Districts 211 and 214.

Classes within the STEM program will be offered among the junior highs’ rotation of elective enrichment courses. Consequently, the District estimates that 60 percent of its junior high students will take them. In fact, due to the number of elective enrichment courses offered at the junior high level, the only students who will not take the new STEM courses are those who choose to take two yearlong electives such as a foreign language and a musical offering like band or orchestra.

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One course—Design & Modeling—will be offered through the STEM program in its first year. A second course—Automation & Robotics—will be added to the program in 2013-14. Any of six other course offerings could be added in subsequent years.

The program will replace the Math/Science Tech enrichment class currently offered at the junior high level, and it will be staffed by those teachers. They will receive the training required to offer the new courses during summer breaks.

Creating the new STEM program will cost approximately $100,000 next year, and about $75,000 the year after, but recurring annual costs would be slightly less than the Math/Science Tech class it will replace.

The District is also applying for Project Lead the Way implementation grants that would combine to cover $80,000 of those start-up costs ($20,000 per school, $15,000 of which would be applied to the first year). It is also targeting other grants that will be opening up soon—specifically, a grant from Northrop Grumman that allocates funds for schools to implement STEM programs.

-Information Submitted by Community Consolidated School District 15

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