DURING CUBE’S 2023 VISIT TO DOLTON WEST 148, FRANK HENDERSON, AN NSBA PAST PRESIDENT, OBSERVES A STUDENT DURING A STEAM IMMERSION LESSON.

Sonya Whitaker remembers when she realized how important it would be for Illinois’ Dolton West School District 148 to launch a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program. She was watching a television news interview with a group of Black college students about how they had come to pursue STEM-related college degrees and careers, even though Black professionals and others of color are notably underrepresented in the STEM workforce and their visibility is limited. 

The students’ responses—that their interest took shape years ago when they were exposed to the possibilities at the elementary school level—“shook me to my core,” says Whitaker, deputy superintendent of Dolton West 148, a preK-8 school district in the south suburbs of Chicago.

“With all of the other amazing things that we had going on (in the school district), I became more cognizant than ever before that there are students at the elementary level who were not being exposed” to STEM.

With the support of the district’s school board and academic leadership, that exposure is increasing for all 2,100 students in the school system with the implementation of its STEAM Equity Initiative. Like many school districts, Dolton West decided to infuse its STEM programming with the arts—the “A” in STEAM—to help students see how science intersects with other fields and interests and to present opportunities for self-expression.

Most important, however, was ensuring that the district’s primarily Black and Latino student body was exposed to “culturally relevant STEAM-related content” as part of their integration into the STEAM pipeline and avoidance of the school-to-prison pipeline, Whitaker says.

STEM-related job opportunities are “the present and the future,” says Larry Lawrence, Dolton West 148 school board president. Exposure to science-based learning and problem-solving “will determine the value of jobs for young people coming out of school. It will be important for them to be prepared, whether they go to college or work in the trades.” The STEAM Equity Initiative also fits squarely into the district’s five-year strategic plan, with its focus on achieving equity in education for all by expanding access, Lawrence says.

The STEM Workforce

According to the most recent employment projections by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the health care and social assistance sector are expected to see the fastest employment growth between 2022 and 2032, with jobs in the computer and mathematical sector projected to experience the second-fastest growth of the 22 occupations analyzed.

And yet, according to a 2023 report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), Hispanic workers represented just 15% of the nation’s total STEM workforce in 2021. Asian and Black workers were 10% and 9%, respectively. American Indians and Alaska Natives together made up less than 1% of the STEM workforce. Women comprise 51% of the total U.S. population and only 35% of those employed in STEM occupations. The NCSES report noted that diversity in the STEM workforce provides the potential for innovation in a robust STEM environment by leveraging different backgrounds, experiences, and points of view. 

For STEM and STEAM education to meet its full potential, K-12 programs must show how a diversity of people reflecting a range of “thought, background, race, gender, and ability” can impact and enrich the scientific and technological fields, says Ebony McGee, an electrical engineer by training and professor of innovation and inclusive STEM education at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education in Baltimore. 

For too long, “we have been conceited and restrictive about who can enter the STEM landscape and who cannot,” and the result has been a costly “lack of innovation and a lack of culturally and racially conscious innovation,” says McGee, author of Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation.

Consider, for example, the automatic bathroom soap dispenser that fails to detect the hands of dark-skinned users or the pulse oximeter (used to measure oxygen in the blood), which may make inaccurate readings based on skin tone and melanin. According to a 2022 study published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the inaccuracies may contribute to disparities in care.

“STEM education is so important, but it can’t be neutral,” says McGee, who advocates for a more “conscious STEM education” so that beginning in K-12, students are supported and encouraged to see their role in designing better, safer, more socially just innovations.

FERGUSON-FLORISSANT SCHOOL DISTRICT STEAM HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS CONDUCT A SCIENCE PROJECT.

 

‘Look, we are here’

Missouri’s Ferguson-Florissant School District is among a number of urban school districts that have turned to STEM/STEAM to transform schools and help deliver high-quality teaching and learning. The district’s STEAM Academy Middle School and STEAM Academy at MCCLUER SOUTH-BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL are highly ranked statewide and nationally.

Christine Ries, founding principal of the middle school, which is now in its seventh year, notes that community support led to the creation of the school, with voters approving a bond issue in 2015. There was a desire to give students opportunities that they otherwise might not get and set the stage for careers in STEM that they might not imagine for themselves, Ries says. The data and research were compelling about the low participation of women and people of color in these professions. “We wanted to change that for our students so they could say, ‘Look, we are here. We can represent our community in these STEM-type careers,’” she says.

Half of the school’s roughly 250 sixth-to-eighth graders are admitted by meeting state and district gifted education requirements; the other half apply for admission. After eighth grade, about 95% of students typically move on to STEAM Academy High School.

Along with core academic subjects, STEAM Middle students have electives in design modeling, app creation, automation and robotics, and medical investigations through Project Lead the Way, as well as computer science, broadcasting, world theater, acting, and art. The curriculum emphasizes solving real-world problems through project-based learning (PBL).

PBL training for all teachers and staff has been essential to complementing the STEAM program, Ries says. “It is the best way to enhance and deepen the learning. It allows students to make connections.” When the Missouri Department of Transportation announced plans for a major road construction project near the school, Ries contacted the agency about a possible collaboration with her students. Ultimately, eighth-grade students collected real-time data on pedestrian and automobile activity near the road, analyzed statistics, and presented their findings to agency staff. In the process, they also learned about various engineering specialties that support this work.

Array of STEAM initiatives

In California’s Compton Unified School District, a focus on STEAM and innovation permeates the entire Los Angeles district, says Michele Dawson, senior director of instructional tech and innovation. Essential to the district’s work, Dawson notes, has been balancing students’ skills, abilities, and interests in consuming technology with the opportunity to be creators and producers of technology.

MEMBERS OF COMPTON USD’S DAVIS MIDDLE SCHOOL DISPLAY THEIR AWARD-WINNING STEM-INSPIRED SUSTAINABLE HOUSING MODEL DURING THE DISTRICT'S 2023 STEAM FESTIVAL 

 

The consumer aspect helps “differentiate, individualize, and personalize the learning for students” but, she says, it is equally important that they understand how the technology works and are exposed to career opportunities in the lucrative technology job market. The 22,000-student preK-12 district is almost 80% Latino/Hispanic and 19% Black. Nearly all of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Promoting equity in STEAM begins early in the district, with exposure and access for all students starting in prekindergarten, where they are introduced to coding, computational thinking, and robotics.

Compton USD is notable for its extensive array of districtwide STEAM initiatives and curriculum programs, including aerospace engineering, civil engineering & architecture, computer animation, and biomedical technology, along with programs throughout the district focused on coding, robotics, esports, and drones, and partnerships with companies including Apple, Verizon, Boeing, and Raytheon, among others.

A part of the Verizon Innovative Learning Program, the district has seven Verizon Innovative Learning Labs—state-of-the-art STEAM labs featuring technology for such activities as augmented and virtual reality navigation, 3D printing, and app and game design.

“We took that concept and replicated those labs as close as we could for every single school in the district because we did not want one student who didn’t have that experience,” Dawson says. “When you think about equity, we don’t want just one school exposed to these technologies; we want it for every student.”

COMPTON USD LEVERAGES STUDENT EXCITEMENT FOR ESPORTS TO BUILD SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT, TEAM PARTICIPATION, AND AWARENESS OF CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, INCLUDING GAME DESIGN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND COMPUTER SCIENCE, SAYS STEAM ADMINISTRATOR ALVARO BRITO. 

 

“We are very intentional in how we organize our different initiatives, ensuring that kids see people who represent their culture within our teaching staff, within our partnerships, and within the actual curriculum,” Dawson says.

Flying Classroom

Intentionality is also a driving force in the burgeoning STEAM program underway in Illinois’ Dolton West 148. After two years of research and planning, it began introducing its STEAM-related content during the summer school program in 2023 and then as a classroom program during the 2023-24 academic year.

Recognizing a significant content-area teacher shortage, the district partnered with the Flying Classroom digital curriculum to support its STEAM integration. The curriculum is based on the global expeditions of pilot and educator Barrington Irving. Named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2012, Irving is the first and only African American to fly solo around the globe; in fact, he built his plane himself.

The district also has partnered with nationally known spoken word artist Trey Baker to support its STEAM arts component and with nearby Northern Illinois University to provide teacher training in effectively delivering STEAM instruction.

There is an energy in Dolton West surrounding its STEAM initiative. That energy was on display when dozens of attendees at NSBA’s CUBE Conference visited the district in October and later that month when parents were introduced to the initiative, complete with a Flying Classroom lesson taught in person by Irving.

“We had the highest turnout of any parent meeting,” recalls Board President Lawrence. “People were totally engaged for the entire meeting.” And Lawrence is optimistic that the engagement will continue in the months and years ahead.

Whitaker couldn’t have been more excited. “Our goal is to not only improve the academic experiences of our students by exposing them to STEM, it’s also to change the trajectory of the lives of those students and the parents they go home to,” she says.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DOLTON WEST 148, FERGUSON-FLORISSANT SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND COMPTON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTICT.