Current STEM Education Projects

"En•gi•neer•ing” [en-juh-neer-ing] –noun
1. The art or science of making practical application of the knowledge of pure sciences…"
- From Dictionary.com

The Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES) designs and engineers statewide systems of innovative STEM education networks focused on project-based learning in the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Partnering with communities, industry, business, K-12 and higher education, TIES creates a network-based infrastructure that connects innovative STEM schools where students excel and communities prosper.

TIES works nationally with the U.S. Department of Education as well as around the country with numerous city and state education officials and districts. This cross collaboration ensures that TIES delivers the best practices in the emerging science of STEM curriculum design to educators and administrators as well as to the public officials tasked with improving our country's complex educational framework.

Our current STEM programs offer extensive opportunities for engagement. For more information on how to get involved in STEM in your community or to initiate a new STEM program contact TIES by sending us an email.

National:

100Kin10: Answering the Nation's STEM Challenge: TIES will launch the "Lead STEM Practitioner" (LSP) prototype, a model that seeks to recognize the nation's finest STEM teachers as top STEM educators, coaches, and content-experts inside of their schools, their districts, and regions.

2012 STEM Summit: TIES will serve as one of the co-chairs when U.S. News & World Report together with Innovate + Educate, STEMconnector™, and over 40 key organizations representing industry and education, hold the 2012 STEM Summit to focus policymakers and the public on the critical shortage of STEM skills in the American workforce.

Change the Equation: As a founding member of Change the Equation, Jan Morrison, President, TIES, provides technical support to the network of more than 100 CEOs as the new organization pledges to create widespread literacy in science, technology, engineering and math.

Department of Education: Race to the Top Fund: Awards in Race to the Top went to the States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform. TIES design teams work with states to create and build the finest STEM education programs to improve and advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics teaching for students regardless of grade level. Along with the Race to the Top winners TIES will help trail-blaze effective reforms and provide examples for state and local school districts throughout the country to follow.

Learn and Earn Design Challenge: TIES provides technical assistance to state STEM networks, National Labs, National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Centers to coordinate major STEM investments in industry sectors and disciplines to leverage common education and career components. By supporting states, coordinating efforts across states and facilitating collaboration among disciplines and industry sectors, TIES is developing a student-centered network that creates an intentional academic and career pathway for working low-income young adults pursuing a postsecondary credential at a community college.

Learn and Earn Systems Engineering: The work of TIES includes a coordinated reach into the K12 sector to help build the structures and points of connection with the college system and with industry to provide students with a navigable ecosystem, rather than separate siloes.

National Governor's Association: Innovation America: TIES works closely with the NGA with their efforts to strengthen Math and Science proficiency by modernizing the teacher force and creating new models for math and science education. The NGA, along with TIES and other partners, is helping to implement statewide strategies to enhance innovation.

National Student STEM Symposium™: In 1999, TIES created a format for a conference where teams of students from STEM schools present projects from their yearlong work in STEM. Students who undertake research projects understand the importance of inquiry; they learn to pose relevant questions, formulate hypotheses, test those hypotheses, and offer valid conclusions without settling for pre-ordained answers. The Student STEM Symposium™ provides an opportunity for STEM students to further refine their communication and presentation skills with a less familiar yet friendly audience.

PBS Kids: Sid the Science Kid: TIES will be advising the writers of Jim Henson's PBS show, Sid the Science Kid, as Sid, an inquisitive child, uses comedy to tackle questions kids have about basic scientific principles and why things work the way they do.

STEMConnectors: STEM Connector is a one-stop holistic resource web site that documents initiatives of over 2600 STEM-related resources, including corporations, educational institutions at all levels, foundations, professional and trade associations, government, states, national laboratories and technology centers, women, diversity and global initiatives. It includes state efforts in a major way with profiles, statistics and report cards.

STEMtech Conferences: TIES and the Post-Secondary team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is proud to partner with the League for Innovation in the Community College to provide educators a forum to discuss increasing student access to STEM careers. At STEMtech, we will join efforts with colleagues from community colleges and the business sectors to develop an agenda that supports a student through the entire PK – 20 system and then through career progression.


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Schools:

Cairo, Egypt: STEM School Design Technical Assistance: TIES in partnership with World Learning and 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education is providing technical assistance to support science and mathematics model schools for students in Egypt.

Decatur County, Georgia STEM School Design: TIES' consultants will work with Decatur County Schools to co-design and implement a STEM Design Blueprint - a research-based, strategic and integrated approach to STEM teaching and learning. The Blueprint serves as a roadmap for the creation, implementation and assessment of STEM strategies at the district and school levels.

Design Lab Early College High School in Cleveland, Ohio: The Design Lab OSLN early college public High School focuses on Art and Industrial Design.

Hughes STEM High School in Cincinnati, Ohio: Hughes STEM High School, an OSLN school, offers innovative programs and promotes economic progress by providing students with the knowledge and skills they need to pursue postsecondary opportunities and more specialized STEM careers.

Linden-McKinley Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics High School in Columbus, Ohio: As part of the OSLN, Linden-McKinley STEM Academy academic program paves the way for students to pass achievements tests and enter a two or four year college.

MC² STEM Hub: WIth the vision embedded in the TIES philosophy, MC²STEM High School has become a national model for STEM education. It embeds each grade level into a different STEM industry partner. Students are engaged by a dynamic, rigorous curriculum and project-based learning environment that prepares them for the 21st century global economy.

National Inventors Hall of Fame School . . . Center for STEM Learning in Akron, Ohio: The National Inventors Hall of Fame School ... Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Learning is designed to be a unique and comprehensive STEM middle school that promotes problem-based formal and informal learning. The school is just one of many in the OSLN network.

North Carolina New Schools Project: Created in 2003 by the Office of the Governor and the Education Cabinet with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and with the direction of Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM, NCNSP and school districts and educators have started more than 100 innovative high schools.

The Dayton Regional STEM Center: One of public STEM schools being created across Ohio, the Dayton Regional STEM School offers students a relevant, real world educational experience which will prepare them for college and opportunities in the work world – in essence, a springboard for developing and maintaining the Dayton region’s talent base.


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States:

Arizona STEM Initiative: Science Foundation Arizona launched the STEM Education Initiative in 2008 with the goal of supporting education that builds a highly skilled Arizona work-force as the foundation for the 21st century knowledge-based economy.

California STEM Innovation Network: The goal of the California STEM Innovation Network (CSINet) is to promote scientific, technical and quantitative literacies to strengthen K-14 STEM college and career pathways for students in order to create the workforce needed to compete globally in the 21st century and to create a STEM savvy culture within California.

Innovate-Educate New Mexico: TIES has partnered with Innovate-Educate NM to develop and coordinate new, innovative efforts to inspire and engage education professionals and students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Together the organizations recognize the critical need for private-sector leadership in STEM education as an “All Hands on Deck” approach that serves as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of P-20 education in the United States.

Maryland Statewide STEM Initiative: With the assistance of the TIES consulting team, Maryland created the STEM Task Force as part of their P-20 Council to help guide statewide efforts on STEM education.

Minnesota STEM Initiative: MN-STEM is a statewide campaign promoting the importance of high school achievement, the value of rigorous courses and the need for post-secondary and career training.

NC STEM Community Collaborative: With the direction of Jan Morrison and her team, NC STEM Community Collaborative was formed to align communities’ strengths with state and national needs. STEM education gives everyone a chance to succeed in North Carolina

New York - The Empire State STEM Learning Network: Under the direction of Margaret Ashida, with the assistance of TIES, The Empire State STEM Education Initiative, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will identify ways to advance education in STEM disciplines across New York State, and throughout all aspects of the New York State education enterprise.

North Dakota STEM Network: TIES is supporting North Dakota to create a statewide STEM network. Jan Morrison, President, TIES, speaks to the network and its goals in a North Dakota Youtube

North Dakota Valley City STEM Center: TIES provides support to North Dakota to design state STEM Network.

: TIES is delighted to be a part of the founding design team for the OSLN. TIES functions as the Management for the Core Management Team for Research and Development and External Services for the OSLN.

Washington Partnership for Learning STEM Initiative: The Washington STEM Initiative seeks to improve student achievement and opportunity in areas critical to our state’s economic prosperity: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).


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STEM Learning Tours:

Please contact TIES to arrange for a tour of innovative STEM schools.

National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Centers and Fab Lab Learning Tours: TIES hosted a Lorain County Community College Fab Lab and Weld-Ed ATE Learning Tour. Please contact TIES to schedule a similar opportunity for your group.


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