AACTE Participates in STEM Roundtable with Department of Education
AACTE is a member of The STEM Education Coalition whose mission is to raise awareness among policymakers about the critical role STEM education plays in enabling the United States to remain the economic and technological leader of the global marketplace of the 21st century. The Coalition recently participated in a roundtable discussion with Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten and Assistant Secretary of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development Roberto Rodriguez on how best to advance STEM education for all students. Meredith Kier, associate professor of science education at the College of William and Mary, represented AACTE at the round table.
Below is a summary of the discussion:
Twenty individuals were invited across the nation to participate in providing initial recommendations to the deputy secretary and assistant secretary on priorities for advancing STEM for all students across the K-20 STEM pipeline. The participants consisted of individuals from science and mathematics education who were integral to the development of national standards, scholars and non-profit organization directors that promote school-community partnerships, scholars from Minority serving institutions, affinity group organizational leaders who direct and advance diversity in STEM (e.g. Society of Women in Engineering, National Society of Black Engineers), directors of schools that promote innovative opportunities for K-12 students in STEM, and grant office representatives who focus on advancing equity across the STEM educational pipeline. All participants read the recent draft of the DOE’s Final Priorities and Definitions— Secretary’s Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grants Programs to frame ideas for recommendations.
The deputy secretary and assistant secretary welcomed the participants and shared opening remarks that demonstrated a commitment to providing every student the opportunity to gain necessary content and skills in STEM, with a specific focus on computer science. The [deputy] secretary highlighted her commitment to supporting teachers and prioritizing opportunities that support Black and Brown students and those from marginalized communities to see themselves in STEM. In this initial meeting, each stakeholder submitted a template of their initial recommendations. This is the template that I submitted:
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2022 Org. Priorities |
The William & Mary Noyce program seeks to recruit diverse STEM majors and prepare them to teach in “high-need” schools. Through coursework and curriculum that is rich with diverse perspectives, we provide a social-justice lens to science and mathematics teaching, and practical experiences for teacher candidates to learn how to teach in high-need contexts. Our 2022 priorities include: a) centering prospective STEM teachers and STEM teacher candidates as participatory action researchers who study issues in STEM curriculum and teaching in high-needs contexts to then design curriculum and instruction; b) promoting key experiences for STEM teacher candidates to become advocates for families and communities through informal science and mathematics teaching experiences; and, c) recruiting/advising community college students to more seamlessly transfer into our teacher preparation programs. |
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Recommendations for the Dept. of Ed |
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The deputy secretary and assistant secretary made clear that this was the beginning of an ongoing series of roundtable discussions that are integral to guiding the DOE’s equitable actions in STEM education.
Tags: content areas, events, federal issues, STEM, technology
