Improvement makes straight roads: but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.

William Blake

We believe in evaluating activities for the effectiveness of STEM Implementation for accountability and sustainability. SPARK creates quarterly STEM reports showcasing what we are doing to enhance STEM education. We use MAP data to monitor progress with our program. The Math Map scores indicate the students are growing due to our program. We will use the data to make adjustments to our programming.

Through the use of rubrics and summative assessments, we are able to track and review for understanding the effectiveness of STEM learning through our students. In addition, we have spent time analyzing and breaking down all of our math assessments to evaluate their effectiveness. In science, we are beginning to transition our paper and pencil assessments to being more than a “test” but incorporated performance-based assessments as means of truly checking for our students' understanding

Instructional walkthroughs provide us with the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of our program and look for ways to strengthen it. By compiling observations from multiple people we are able to look through the program through different lenses and consider changes to strengthen it.

As we continue to monitor data, we are able to reflect on our data trends. We were able to maintain high test scores during a pandemic. We performed consistently higher on the Georgia Milestones in all subjects last year than the rest of the district and state. In math and science in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade we had over 90% of our students tested in the developing learners or above. Link to Data. We equate this to our high-quality teaching, embedding inquiry and problem-solving in the curriculum. The teachers did this by using many resources to have the students producers of technology. They sent home STEM kits made by our staff and parents. They allowed the students to not just consume information but also to be producers. They utilized digital tools such as Google slides, Flipgrid, Breakout Edu, Kahoot, and quizzes to not only teach students but allow the students to demonstrate knowledge in a creative way.

Before the pandemic, we saw a need to integrate STEM based on our STEM data. We wanted to ensure equity and improve our subgroups. Pre-Pandemic Data

Based on our MAP data, we are performing lower than we were pre-pandemic, but we are making progress moving students by integrating research-based STE(A)M strategies.