Heritage Academy provides high quality STEM implementation by first focusing on planning. The school budget includes funds for a staff member to organize and ensure that STEM is embedded in our school's culture. The master schedule was created to provide weekly collaboration and professional development focused on STEM implementation. Heritage Academy ensures that STEM courses and curriculum are aligned to the standards by starting with a curriculum map to target the standards that will be integrated into the PBLs. Educators review the standards and plan a PBL that encompasses the standards needed by creating a Driving Question and the ending product or task that is evident that the students have mastered the standards.

PBL units are reviewed for standard alignment by the grade level teams, instructional coaches, and STEM Specialist. Atlanta Public Schools' Science Units of Study are utilized to ensure that the standards are covered during any given school year. The Units of Study have learning targets for the standards and possible activities that can be used during the PBL. Heritage Academy educators embed the learning targets within the Engineering Design Process of their PBL plan. This assures that all of the targets and that the standard is fully covered.

Student work is posted throughout the implementation of PBLs. Along with the work, we also post a task description, standards covered through the task, and the task rubric which enables anyone observing the student work to determine the effectiveness of implementation.

After the units are taught, educators review the tasks and the overall learning to revamp the PBLs to possibly be used for the next school year. On a quarterly basis, we invite central office personnel to evaluate the displays, offer feedback and suggest actions steps that can improve our implementation of STEM.