STEM K12 16: School/program conducts evaluative activities to ensure the effectiveness of STEM implementation.

Impact Narrative:

At Kelly Mill, we strive to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of our programs as it dramatically impacts the quality of learning we provide our students. We pride ourselves on being a data-driven school where we adapt our teaching styles to meet individual needs and instruct our students to collect and evaluate data throughout the STEM process.

Every year, our certified staff use the Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES), which allows them to set goals and have their effectiveness in the classroom measured. With particular focus on Standards One: Professional Knowledge, Standard Four: Differentiated Instruction, and Standard Eight: Academically Challenging Environment TKES evaluations provide necessary feedback on what methods work well and what areas need improvement to ensure our organization offers the best possible learning and growth environment for our students.

Kelly Mill Staff send out surveys to parents, staff, and students to evaluate STEM on many levels. Students take growth mindset math surveys, parents submit math night suggestions, and staff share their comfort level in STEM. This data helps create action plans for how events, lessons, and activities are effectively implemented and what changes need to be made to make our program more successful.

To maintain and improve STEM practices at Kelly Mill, we will continue to use surveys to gain an understanding of the knowledge and skills most effectively used in our classrooms and with all stakeholders. Moving forward, a way to improve our effectiveness in implementing STEM practices in our school is to participate in continuous learning through STEM-centered professional development sessions provided by our district. These sessions give us a way to collaborate effectively with other schools in our community and bring back knowledge to share with our peers which will help our school have a more comprehensive understanding of STEM learning in the classroom. We continue to focus on common vocabulary within any process as a basic level of understanding across student, staff, and parent stakeholders. Finally, we plan to work toward a comprehensive system for documenting our STEM work so that our reflective practices enhance further evaluative efforts.

Initiatives/Actions/Artifacts:

• STEM PLC Feedback Data

• TKES

• TAPS Performance Indicators

• Math survey

• Growth Mindset Survey

• STEAM questionnaire