Look for the formal launch of the Indiana Department of Education’s new strategic plan for STEM education to take place at an event at the Indiana Statehouse on Friday, November 9.
The six-year plan (2019-2025) prioritizes three goals: 1) All Indiana students in grades K-12 will access STEM curriculum every day in the classroom by 2025; 2) All Indiana teachers will be trained in problem-/project-/inquiry-based approaches to STEM instruction by 2025; and 3) All Indiana schools will collaborate with a STEM partner in their community to provide opportunities for students to gain exposure to STEM careers, participate in STEM-related work-based learning activities, and complete STEM-focused graduation pathways.
The Indiana Department of Education developed the plan over the past year with the input and approval of a STEM Advisory Council that included teachers and many of the state’s largest employers, including Cummins, Duke Energy, and Eli Lilly. The Department also worked closely with the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.
IDOE and the STEM Council recommend $10 million in each year of the next biennial state budget to support the implementation of the strategic plan: $6 million for professional development; $1 million for competitive STEM acceleration grants for school districts; $1 million to expand after-school and out-of-school STEM programming; $1.75 million for the Governor’s Next Level Computer Science Grant Program to support providers of teacher professional development and school districts in the implementation of computer science curriculum; and $300,000 to evaluate STEM program results.
This article was published in Indiana Education Insight on September 24, 2018.
You can read the November 9 press release from the Indiana Department of Education here.