1 STEM Action Center Annual Report to the Education Interim Committee
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STEM Action Center Annual Report to the Education Interim Committee October 17, 2016 The following report is being submitted to the Education Interim Committee by the STEM Action Center. The report contains the following requested information: (1) The Board shall report the progress of the STEM Action Center, including the information described in Subsection (2), to the following groups once each year: (2) The report described in Subsection (1) shall include information that demonstrates the effectiveness of the program, including: (a) the number of educators receiving high quality professional development; (b) the number of students receiving services from the STEM Action Center; (c) a list of the providers selected pursuant to this part; (d) a report on the STEM Action Center's fulfillment of its duties described in Subsection 63M-1-3204; and (e) student performance of students participating in a STEM Action Center program as collected in Subsection 63M-1-3204(4). 1 1. The number of educators receiving high quality professional development: Two projects support high quality professional development: (1) the professional learning platform that is video-based and online and the (2) elementary STEM endorsement. A total of 17,346 licenses were distributed to educators for the video-based, online platform. There are 332 elementary educators enrolled in the first cohort of the STEM endorsement. A total of 85 educators received professional development for either Exploring Computer Science (a secondary course) or Computer Science Fundamentals (an elementary program). The funding for this was a combination of the code.org grant discussed later in this report and a corporate match. Thirty teachers participating in the 7th and 8th grade Applied Science project received additional professional development. 2. The number of students receiving services from the STEM AC The numbers of students that accessed resources from the STEM AC are as follows: ● Fairs, Camps and Competitions: 1,113 ● Classroom grants: over 9,883 ● STEM Certification pathway grants: 6,919 ● K-12 math technologies: 180,707 ● STEMFest: over 17,000 ● Organization grants: 4,519 ● Sponsorship: 62,500 . 3. A list of providers selected pursuant to this bill: See Appendix A. 4. A report of the STEM AC fulfillment of its duties described in subsection 63M-1-3204 STEM Action Center (STEM AC) Staff and Roles (63M-1-3204; 1(a), (c)i) The STEM Action Center (STEM AC) consists of the Executive Advisory Board, an Executive Director (Tami Goetz), Program Director (Sue Redington), Program Coordinator (Jackie Moynihan), Outreach and Engagement Specialists (Kellie Yates and Clarence Ames) and a Marketing and Communication Specialist (Kaitlin Felsted). The STEM Action Center also works collaboratively with several other state agencies to support STEM education and workforce and economic development. These collaborations result in two additional shared staff members: the Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS; Lynn Purdin) and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED; Vatsala Kaul). Kellie Yates also serves as a liaison with the Utah State Board of Education. A part time Director for the newly formed STEM AC foundation was added this fiscal year. The STEM AC received several grants that provided for staff to implement and oversee the projects and these include three new team members for the Mobile STEM Classroom (Lola Beatlebrox, Bradley Hunsaker and Abby Dowd) and a part-time team member for the STEM for Life project (Yeganeh Lari). Finally, the STEM AC is fortunate to have a full time volunteer that helps with various projects, Ann Barnia. 2 Private entity engagement (63M-1-3204; 1(d); 2 (e)) MEDIA CAMPAIGN Private entity support impacts the STEM AC both directly and indirectly. Companies impact the STEM AC indirectly via the Investors Coalition. This is an industry-driven coalition, led by Comcast, which has been deploying a media campaign for the past several years. The media campaign has consisted primarily of a series of television commercials that showcase Utah companies that support STEM education. Comcast has been the creative lead on these commercials and provides the broadcast outlet for the commercials. The Investors Coalition has worked with the Utah Technology Council and its private foundation (this is NOT the recently created Utah STEM Foundation that is aligned with the STEM AC) to accept funds to support the creation of the commercials. The STEM AC leverages the support of the companies with the commercials by featuring them on our website and using them at various outreach events. Private support from companies that is provided directly to the STEM AC is described in other sections. It is important to note that several of the grants that the STEM AC has received are due to the media exposure that has resulted from the work of the Investors Coalition. The STEM AC is working with Comcast, Adobe and Dell EMC to launch the next phase of the media campaign which is now intended to move from a high level message of “changing hearts and minds” to an action-oriented campaign that will focus on mentoring. The statewide launch of STEM Mentor Exchange (STEM MX) is scheduled to occur in the spring of 2017. STEM MX is a mobile app for teachers, counselors, and parents to find resources, particularly from industry partners. These resources can be varied but the overall goal is to allow teachers, counselors, and parents to learn more about careers, Utah companies, and what it takes for their students to make informed decisions for their academic and career choices. STEM MX will also allow teachers, counselors, and parents to more effectively find supplies, equipment, speakers, internships, summer camps, and organize site visits and other out of school activities. Additionally, STEM courses and programs at our educational institutions will be identified. The STEM MX project is supported through a combination of a grant from Boeing (the grant was awarded to the Davis Education Foundation but was written collaboratively with the STEM AC) and a match of donated technical design services from Dell EMC and Adobe. Comcast has been donating professional marketing services and will continue to contribute to disseminating STEM MX. These in-kind donations are described in greater detail in Appendix B. The STEM AC will work collaboratively with Utah DWS and the USBE to align STEM MX with UtahFutures. The DWS partners are very excited to take advantage of the mobile app platform and we will work as partners to join them for statewide teacher training events. The STEM MX app is now in the beta testing phase and we are soliciting submission of profiles from teachers, counselors, parents, and industry partners. The online profile submission can be found at http://www.stempartner.com UTAH STEM FOUNDATION As directed by the Utah Legislature, the STEM Action Center officially filed for the creation of the Utah STEM Foundation on May 2, 2016. The Utah STEM Foundation’s main priority is to help enhance the efforts of the STEM AC, whose mission is to support STEM education and align 3 education efforts with talent needs. The Utah STEM Foundation will accomplish this by leveraging community partners, creating engagement and industry alignment, and soliciting monetary and in-kind donations. The Utah STEM Foundation, in alignment with the STEM AC, recognizes that the ability to fund STEM classrooms is an ongoing challenge for most states, school districts, and schools. The cost of equipment and supplies can be prohibitive, access to devices can be limited and the ability to dedicate full-time facilities is not possible. Rural school districts, or schools in communities out of a metropolitan area, are impacted even more due to a lack of the critical mass needed to justify this expenditure and a lack of STEM expertise due to a limited educator talent pool. One of the first donations to the Utah STEM Foundation was a grant from the Tesoro Corporation. The Tesoro Corporation has granted the Utah STEM Foundation $1.5 Million dollars to initiate a STEM mobile classroom environment for the students in the State of Utah. We look forward to engaging local corporations and individuals to help support this effort to ensure ample exposure to STEM and workforce possibilities for our students. The Foundation is in the process of reviewing the draft of its strategic plan with Board Members. Organizations that have joined forces to help support the Utah STEM Foundation include: Tesoro (as mentioned) Larry H. Miller Boeing Adobe IM Flash UTA STEM SCHOOL ASSEMBLY The STEM AC receives regular requests to provide STEM assemblies to students in both elementary and middle school. Assemblies are a challenge due to the large number of students; it is challenging to engage the students and provide a fun and meaningful experience. The STEM AC has been working with Paul Brewer, a local magician to create an innovative version of a magic show that incorporates STEM themes with a high tech format for delivery. The pilot program is being supported by a $10,000 grant from CenturyLink and over 60 schools have signed up for the assembly. The beta launch for the first STEM assembly will be October 6, 2016 at Rosamond Elementary School located in the Jordan School District. The Utah STEM Foundation is working to secure additional funds in anticipation of high demand. NORTHERN UTAH STEM EXPO The Davis, Weber, Ogden and Morgan school districts hosted the Northern Utah STEM College and Career Exposition on November 9, 2015 at the Davis Conference Center. The event was divided into two sessions; a high school session and a community STEM Family Night. 800 high school students, 60 teachers, 16 companies presenting, and 60 companies participating as exhibitors attended during our high school session. A Family STEM Exposition ran from 5:00 – 9:00 PM and was open to parents, junior high students and elementary students of Davis, Weber, Morgan and 4 Ogden school districts.