STEM Educator Initiative Blog
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Practical Strategies and Insights from Highly Effective Educators
Learn what’s working in today's classrooms from highly effective STEM educators. These posts offer practical, effective strategies that others can apply right away to support student learning and improve their outcomes.
In Their Words: Student Reflections On What Matters Most
Students and recent graduates share honest, heartfelt stories about the teachers, moments, and environments that shaped their learning. Their voices highlight what truly makes or has made a difference in their learning and academic growth, one experience at a time.
CTE Leadership: Tough Issues and Answers From the Field
Experts from the field confront difficult truths faced by today's CTE educators as they navigate the shared complex challenges. These reflections tackle the tough topics with honesty, clarity, and practical advice.
Beyond the STEM/CTE Classroom: Access, Policy, and Mindset
Dives into the underlying systems, beliefs, and structures that shape educational decisions. This gives us space to explore broader themes that influence long held educational assumptions and impact student outcomes.
Workforce Voices : What Today's Employers Want You to Know (Coming soon!)
Business and industry professionals share what they’re seeing in today's workforce related to STEM skills shortages, human-centric competencies, and the challenging transition between school and career entry for students. What does it mean to be "job ready" and how has that phrase changed over time? How can educators better collaborate to ensure students, businesses, and communities thrive? Effective programs and practices are shared.
The Principal Exodus: One District's Secret to Keeping Leaders
The Impact of Administrative Turnover in CTC Programs
Perkins V Funding at Risk: How Cutting Career & Technical Education Threatens America's Workforce
The Changing Role of CTE and the Nontraditional Indicator: Part Two
In 2024, the “nontraditional” indicator continues to measure access to programs historically designated by gender. As societal perceptions of traditional roles have evolved, so too has the approach to improving access to CTE courses and programs. Today’s focus is on comprehensive data analysis and disaggregation by various demographics to address systemic inequities. This ensures all students, including those traditionally underrepresented, have equitable opportunities in diverse career pathways. By recognizing the multifaceted identities of students, educational institutions can foster inclusive environments that empower every student to pursue their passions and aspirations.
The Changing Role of CTE and the Nontraditional Indicator: Part One
Career and Technical Education (CTE) has undergone a transformative journey since its inception in 1749 at the Academy and College of Philadelphia. Departing from the traditional European educational model, which predominantly focused on classical studies tailored to the sons of affluent landowners, this institution provided a pragmatic curriculum aimed at equipping individuals with tangible skills essential for success in the New World.
Cosmetology and Boys: Recruitment and Retention Success Stories
Cosmetology has long been a program in Career and Technology Education (CTE) across the country that predominantly attracts and enrolls “females”. The social construct of gender is so fluid now, especially among the younger generations, that the dichotomy of male versus female has expanded.
Prepping for your CLNA 2023
Some tips for preparing for your upcoming meeting with stakeholders to conduct a Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA),
Better Assessing the Whole Child to Achieve Higher Academic Outcomes
The long-held convention of focusing on academic assessments without understanding or assessing students’ social and emotional development is a missed opportunity and has left us unable to see, understand, and appreciate the whole child.
Data Literacy as a Tool for Program Improvement
Trying to understand how to improve student academic interest and performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and specifically career and technical education (CTE) courses, programs, and careers is not easy because of the exhaustive number of variables involved. Students and their experiences, culture, caregivers, adolescent development, prior education (or access), language development, socioeconomic factors, employment options, class, gender, race, community life (and more) all add data to the education equation we are trying to solve.
Equity in CTE at a Time of Racial Justice
Career and Technical Education (CTE) is another example of how our history has created cultural biases that still linger today. Changing bias connected to old blue-collar professions is not as easy as simply educating people with one presentation, website, or brochure. Waiting until high school to talk to parents is too late. STEM Equity Initiative’s mindful and intentional focus on eliminating biases can help you combat these biases and create an equitable learning environment
Questions from the field: How do we continue to increase numbers of male and female students in educational programs that are nontraditional for them?
I’m often asked the questions, “How can we affect changes in student selection decisions for career and technical education (CTE) programs of study?” and “How can I convince a girl entering high school to consider a program in manufacturing or building trades or a boy entering high school to consider a nursing program?” Because so many potential factors influence student course and program choices (e.g., parents, peers, prior learning, cultural bias, hormones, and more), how can educators ensure the all students have full access to any and all of the CTE programs? Equally important, how can educators ensure that progress toward increasing enrollment for traditionally underrepresented students continue over time?
Questions from the field: the Elephant in the Room
Use this blog post to ask anonymous questions about race, gender, and equity broadly, or comments and suggestions to open the discussion.
