Could ESSA Plans Invigorate State STEM Intentions?

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/03/17

Could states use their ESSA plans to formulate innovative ways to advance STEM in their schools? That's the hope of an organization that recently examined the Every Student Succeeds Act plans developed by states for submission to the U.S. Department of Education. The analysis looked at the 17 plans that have already been submitted as well as eight other draft plans. The work was undertaken by education consultancy Education First on behalf of Overdeck Family Foundation, a family non-profit that supports programs for developing children's love of education and especially the STEM subjects.

Researchers Anand Vaishnav and Jacob Waters identified four "high-impact policies" that surfaced throughout many of the plans, three that involved inclusion in state accountability systems:

• State science assessment progress, referenced in 17 plans;
• Career- and technical-education (CTE) indicators, mentioned in 17 plans; and
• Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate indicators, included by 19 states.

A fourth policy referenced in the plans of 10 states was to require or encourage STEM elements in 21st Century Community Learning Center grants. As an example, New Jersey's plan references STEM as one of four themes that its learning centers may choose to focus on.

The researchers found fewer similarities among plans in how states intend to use Title II or Title IV dollars for STEM.

For Title II, the funding intentions largely cover improvement of skills and recruitment. For example, the plan submitted by Louisiana stated, "... teacher preparation providers will be rewarded for placing yearlong teaching residents in rural and high-need schools, and in high-need subject areas." The researchers presume that the high-need subject areas include STEM.

Title IV, Part A addressed STEM instruction and professional learning. Michigan, as one example, included these in its ESSA plan: "Professional development for STEM, including coding and game design"; "Professional development on how to embed STEM (engineering design principles, computational thinking, app design) in other content areas"; and "Providing programming to improve instruction and student engagement in STEM, including computer science, and increasing access to these subjects for underrepresented groups."

The findings called out three states — Iowa, New Mexico and Washington — for plans containing "STEM proposals that are worth watching." For instance, New Mexico's plan promises creation of a "new STEM readiness indicator in accountability that includes not just performance on science assessments, but student engagement in STEM." Washington intends to expand its CTE opportunities through partnerships with companies that have a large presence in the state, including Microsoft and Boeing. Iowa has a "STEM Advisory Council" that is working to identify "high-quality STEM professional development."

The researchers encouraged states as well as districts and STEM advocates to "think creatively in using ESSA dollars to support STEM."

The full report in slide format is available on the Education First website here.