The National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices, Innovate + Educate, has designated Massachusetts as the national model for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education initiatives. Massachusetts STEM Council will work with Innovate + Educate on best practices for STEM education initiatives nationwide.
Last summer, Massachusetts started working with NASA as part of a grant program designed by NASA to foster innovation and outreach for students in communities that are underserved or are underperforming in STEM education. Since then, the state has also worked to create partnerships with the local business community to implement STEM education relevant to today’s workforce needs. In September, Governor Patrick released a strategic plan based on these partnerships that will tie economic development to educational enhancement in the STEM fields. Part of this plan includes a $50,000 investment from Innovate + Educate, to serve as a broker of industry investments across STEM education.
Massachusetts has five core STEM initiatives in place that will be the starting point for creating the national playbook. The initiatives include increasing student interest in STEM education, increasing the percent of students scoring proficient and higher on statewide exams in STEM, increasing the percent of students who demonstrate readiness for college-level work in STEM, doubling the number of bachelor degrees in STEM majors earned by Massachusetts high school students and increasing the number of STEM educators with deep content knowledge and brimming passion for the fields.
In addition to the partnership between Innovate + Educate and Massachusetts, the NGA Center for Best Practices will work with the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council to convene a range of stakeholders from across leading STEM states to engage in cross pollination of effective practices.
“Our ability to build and maintain a strong economy is directly linked to our ability to educate our students and employing powerful partnerships is critical to that work,” said Governor Deval Patrick of the partnership, in a statement yesterday.
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