As a former teacher, administrator, superintendent, and now the Executive Director for the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, a national organization, let me share with you one of the top three areas that keep me up at night: preparing our youth for a tomorrow that doesn’t yet exist and what to do for the students who are in need of skillsets for the careers and professions of today. Why do we need STEM programs? Read on and find discover why.
Where My Career Began
My career began in private industry. You might, for all intents and purposes, consider me a late bloomer to education. I did not enter the education system by traditional means. What I learned while working alongside most teachers is that they typically went to college. And, for many reasons, they graduated college and immediately became teachers.
I worked in the electronics field for nearly a dozen years before becoming a teacher. It was that experience of “adapting or seeking other employment” that helped me understand the importance of research and development and the funding that allows industries to stay nimble, innovative, and profitable. This experience also made it second nature for me to see the science, technology, engineering, and math within the curriculum standards. It was fun for me to have students learn about science, tech, engineering, and math (STEM) without having to say, “Today, at this hour, we will be learning math.” Instead, I was able to braid STEM subject matters into each day by utilizing everything at my avail. This “connected the dots” for students to understand the concepts and skills within the teaching and learning.
The Current Educational Structure
Our education system is structured in a way that is segmented by the bell, the clock, and/or the subject. We have made attempts to integrate the subject matter. However, it is still a challenge to do so in most of America’s schools. We intentionally teach children how to read. Although we may use a variety of strategies, the end result is to have students gain sight words, form sentences, and eventually read paragraphs and chapters in order to have the comprehensive skill of reading an entire book.
The same is true, for the most part, with science. We often teach chemistry without integrating biology or the life sciences. More often than not, we teach technology for technology’s sake as a separate elective class. Now, with the onset of tablets or laptops for all students so that online learning can take place, we claim that technology is a met standard.
Let me be very clear: for too long, we equated technology with the simple use of a computer. In fact, technology is defined as the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences.
What Does”Applied” Mean?
Let’s take a deeper look at the word applied. There is a segmented understanding of theory and practice. However, think of a time when theory was absent of practice and practice absent of theory. One example includes academic settings where subjects were constructed for the sole purpose of theorizing, and other courses were constructed for the purpose of practicing. In other words, the practice of “applying” a skill, such as in mathematics and science. We use terms such as experiment and replication.
Applied mathematics and applied science courses were often designed and provided for struggling students and historically marginalized students. This was an attempt to keep the abstract teaching and tracking of certain students in preparation for direct entrance into college or university post-secondary work. It is necessary to understand STEM when describing it, as in some circles, this, too, can be misconstrued as a way to engage historically marginalized and/or students of color. The irony of this notion is that education is the preparation for beyond schooling. When we provide theory and practice simultaneously, learning becomes past, present, and future. Innovation motivates the learner as well as the practitioner of applied science, otherwise known as the workforce.
Economic Statistics
Currently, in the United States, the economic statistics are a somber reminder of the current state of education and the preparedness of our youth. There are 10.4 million unfilled jobs. 300,000 jobs are outsourced annually, and 36 percent of workers in the United States are part of the gig economy. Global outsourcing in 2019 was a $92 billion market. In addition, by 2025, IT outsourcing is expected to meet the $395 billion mark.
How do we begin to fill these unfilled professions with the citizenry of today and tomorrow? How do we communicate to parents, students, educators, and businesses the importance of discussions about robotic process automation, 5G plus, augmented reality, and cyber security? We cannot have these discussions without the inclusion of the Mars mission(s). These technologies are here and growing.
However, these discussions are longstanding, and we are seeing the results of well-intentioned advocates creating programs as best they can with what they have. We should be intentional about the need to educate youth within a system steeped in STEM to provide a more congruent methodology that will prepare students beyond the classroom.
Where Does STEM Stem From?
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) was first conceived and coined by Charles Vela, a Latino, somewhere between 1988–1991 at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the Mitre Corporation in the Modernization of Federal Telecommunication Systems.
6 STEM Principles
Vela affirmed six STEM principles:
1. The importance of deep and broad knowledge and an open mind.
2. The importance of an interdisciplinary approach and teamwork to tackle complex problems.
3. Most complex problems appear at the intersection (boundary and interface) of disciplines or components of a discipline and thus require an interdisciplinary approach.
4. The solution to complex problems is inspired by different bodies of knowledge, disciplines, and technologies.
5. The importance of differentiating between the essence of a problem (its complexity) and its appearance; its complexity from its complications.
6. The importance of knowledge appropriation as the fundamental road to successful discovery and innovation.
The Notion of STEM
Although there are internet sources that cite Judith Ramaly, an assistant director of education who came up with the SMET acronym and changed it to STEM between 2001 and 2004 while working for the National Science Foundation, I encourage you to do your own research regarding who coined and conceived the notion of STEM. I tend to believe Dr. Vela has the honor.
It is, however, important to note that there are a variety of attempts made to align STEM with that of the Morrill Act of 1862 to the response of Sputnik and the Nation at Risk report. It is safe to say there have been many renditions and attempts to address the need for education to focus on preparing students for the careers of today and tomorrow.
The above information is significant in that only 11 percent of the science and engineering jobs were held by “Black, Latinx and Native American workers.”2 Regardless of which side of the debate you stand as to whether education is meant to prepare students how to think and not what to think or about careers and not about specific careers, the argument stand moot when we continue to see the historical perspective and contrast between programs for learning and STEM as a systemic means to educate our youth.
Policy, Practice, and Promise
Federal grants to implement policies and impact state and local education have come in the shape of Perkins funds and supplemental funding opportunities. In addition, partnerships with the National Science Foundation and other non-profit and for-profit organizations have engaged in national, state, and local efforts. Why, then, are we still at the programmatic levels of sustainability with lasting results? Practice, practice, practice. We often misstep in the systems and structure for embedding STEM as a way of practice in education. Rather, we move quickly toward implementing a program. The result can vary from state to state, district to district, and school to school, and it is often spawned and championed by an individual teacher.
The Concept of Programs
Our current educational system is not structured for nimble pivotal adjustments. Instead, we create “programs.” Programs should be inserted perhaps before or after a school day, which few students are able to experience. Or if there are pathways in which students are able to secure a specific course throughout the four years of high school, they too are often a marginalized few. Therefore, perhaps policies at the local level may have a greater impact if there was intentionality at the outset of a child’s educational journey that provided the experience of a systematic approach for all rather than some. Allocation of priority spending may take on a whole new direction in educating our youth.
The Concept of Integration
However, that is just one of the components of creating a systems view or approach to an integrated STEM education. The implementation factor is that of will and belief. There are plenty of ways to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics along with the Arts (STEAM), and they take time, planning, and, most importantly, knowledge. As superintendents, we have the responsibility to provide our staff with the necessary tools to do the job they need to do. Simple, right? Not really. Many teachers get into teaching because they majored in the sciences, mathematics, literacy, or kinesiology. The point is that we must do a better job using every means necessary throughout our environment to reach students and connect them to the world in which we all live. This is a shift in fundamental philosophy and, more importantly, in practice.
The Power of Collaborations
Priority spending goals perhaps could be a collaborative process between PreK and Higher Ed. This could possibly be a way to address staffing needs, staffing development for continued growth, and, more importantly, a collective vision for what the 21st-century student will need to impact us economically, environmentally, politically, medically, and technologically for the security and success of our nation and the globe. Many bright minds have the space and capacity to create networks and hubs of diverse thinking to solve current and future issues as long as we strive to construct better systems.
Practices of promise exist throughout our world. We are STEM and STEM advocates, and it behooves us to work with other leaders, decision-makers, and partners outside of the education realm. The opportunity to craft a STEM education system is founded on data, results, and, most importantly, a belief that all students are capable of mathematics and science. As leaders of education systems, STEM is not a “nice to have.” It is a “must-have” for all students, especially for our Black, Latinx, and Native American students who have been marginalized for too long. The practice of promise today is a promise kept for tomorrow!
About the Author
DR. MARIA ARMSTRONG
Dr. Maria Armstrong started a second career in education as a teacher of eleven years, counselor, AP, and principal and advanced through administrative positions as a director of English Language Learners, assistant superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, a California superintendent, and an educational consultant for the Puerto Rico Department of Education Hurricane Maria Recovery e orts. She is now the Executive Director for the National Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents in DC.
Dr. Armstrong champions equitable actions that provide students with a brighter tomorrow. Based on her previous experience in the biotech industry, she is committed to ensuring that students are both college and career-ready. Dr. Armstrong is a proud alumna of Azusa Pacific University, where she earned her master’s in education with an emphasis on Counseling, and she is a recipient of the Influence Award: Honoring an alumnus whose investment of his or her profession and time has made a lasting influence on the character, development, or behavior of their students.
She also holds a bachelor’s in business and a doctorate in organizational leadership and received the Inspiration Award from the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with its Latina Estrella Awards.
Most recently, Dr. Armstrong received the Top 20 Female Leaders of the Education Industry from the American Consortium for Equity in Education.
Dr. Armstrong deeply believes that leadership and vision matter, but the life of an educated child matters more.
“What I love about kids is their pure honesty. They know when you’re a champion for them or not. My goal is to provide hope, inspiration, and encouragement to genuinely care for and educate our children.”
“What I am most proud of are my own children and grandchildren. My children saved my life, and education was my saving grace, for me and my family.”
