Six Districts Receive Grant to Advance Equity in STEM Education

A consortium of six Westchester County school districts and Mercy College have received a five-year grant to train 250 educators as STEM leaders and expand student access and equity in science, technology, engineering and math.

The Ossining School District and the Mercy College Center for STEM Education are partnering with the Elmsford, New Rochelle, Port Chester, Tarrytown and White Plains school districts to offer teachers, teaching assistants and library/media/tech specialists professional development in STEM subjects. The grant is $250,000 per year for five years. It is part of the NYS Smart Start initiative.

“We are very excited to take the lead on this project, and we look forward to learning from and with our partner districts. This is such important work,” said Dr. Brian Alm, director of secondary teaching and learning for the Ossining School District, which is leading the consortium.

The K-8 STEM Ambassadors Program will provide educators with the resources, tools and content confidence they need to develop new models and best practices for teaching STEM. They will share their knowledge and curriculum plans with their fellow educators and school districts across New York.

“We are thrilled to embark on this important program. Improving computer science and STEM education at the K-8 level is critical for advancing educational equity for all learners,” said Dr. Meghan E. Marrero, co-director of the Mercy College Center for STEM Education. “By supporting 250 teachers, this work will transform STEM teaching and learning in all six school districts."

While skills in the STEM fields continue to be in high demand in the workforce, Americans lag behind other countries in basic STEM skills. Standardized ACT score data show that just 20% of high school graduates are prepared for college-level STEM curriculum.

The knowledge gap is even more pronounced when factoring in racial and ethnic diversity, gender, students with disabilities and English language learners. In the six districts that are part of the consortium, up to 70% of students are non-white; 52-74% are economically disadvantaged; 12-15% have learning disabilities; and 10-29% are English language learners.
Providing younger and diverse students with foundational skills and innovative curriculum will lead to greater access and equity in STEM at the high school level, and ultimately better access and representation in STEM fields.

Education leaders in all six districts have identified a need to help teachers develop a deep understanding of how to integrate engineering, computer science and technology across the curriculum in meaningful ways. The Mercy College Center for STEM Education will develop and provide 30 hours of training during the school year in STEM curriculum, as well as leadership skills, which will facilitate their roles as teacher leaders.

Teachers must apply to take part in the program. Participants will receive a stipend and will have the opportunity to apply for a mini grant to fund materials like robotics, computer science supports and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) supplies.

Teachers from all six districts will work in Vertical Professional Learning Communities. Each district will strive to include educators from diverse classrooms, such as a kindergarten general educator, a third-grade special education teacher, an elementary library media specialist and a seventh-grade bilingual math teacher.

"The Mercy College Center for STEM Education values our strong partnerships with local districts, and we are excited for this new project,” said Dr. Amanda M. Gunning, co-director of the center and chair of secondary education at Mercy. “The wonderful thing is that the teachers want to keep learning and growing to provide the best experiences for their students. It is so inspiring to work with them and support STEM education in Westchester."