STEM Community Engagement

STEM K12 3: School/program engages diverse STEM community to support and sustain STEM programs and initiatives.

Impact Narrative:

We are a Professional Learning Community of self-reported and evident-based, lifelong learners. The willingness to support all things STEM at Frank Lebby Stanton Elementary School is a professional habit of stakeholders.

Despite the myriad of expected and unexpected challenges associated with not having a consistent STEM Program Specialist, as a STEM Committee with a leader assigned to lead, monitor, facilitate, and advance the STEM Vision, Mission, and plan altogether,  students have not experienced a lapse in STEM-based instruction or activities.

Also, thanks to our district’s STEM Coordinator for providing “as needed” consultation and professional advice and guidance, WE, the Frank Lebby Stanton Elementary School Community and Partners, have ensured and will continue to ensure, that students have total exposure to hands-on learning opportunities from experts in the field of STEM.

Ultimately, we provide students with rigorous learning opportunities accompanied by in-person or virtual field experiences or consultative visits from STEM Professionals who facilitated hands-on coding sessions throughout the year with CODE Elephant and Electrical, Chemical, and Structural Engineering Information Sharing/Work sessions via  Atlanta Watershed, Georgia Tech Institute of Technology, Barnes and Noble STEM Outreach, ZEP Industries, and Camp Jenny Year-round STEM Activities partnerships.

Frank Lebby Stanton Elementary School Partners are vested in supporting the school’s STEM Initiatives to include quality learning experiences for students, expert advice, on Problem--based Learning Projects and resources where applicable, and Professional Learning Consultancy with staffers and stakeholders.

Areas of Strength:

The collaboration between community partners and the school has proven mutually rewarding. It has strengthened the engagement of students, families, and the community in STEM-based activities; supported the recruitment and retention of teachers with an aptitude for and interest in STEM, increased the distribution of leadership opportunities for aspiring leaders, and, most importantly, supported the academic, social and emotional learning, and physical needs of scholars and their families through the ongoing exposure of STEM-related careers to support a strong College and Career Foundation for every student.

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Areas of Opportunity:

Two critical areas of improvement with school community partners are maintaining and recruiting partners to support multi-year strategic goals while improving the instructional quality of PBL Units by serving as consultative experts in STEM-related fields.  

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Initiatives/Actions:

• STEM Specialist/teachers/partners collaborated to create PBL Units

• Community partners engaged with students throughout the year