Executive Summary

Medora Community Schools is located in the small, rural town of Medora, Indiana. The Medora community consists of approximately 684 residents and the economy is a mixture of agriculture and small business. Medora Community Schools consists of Medora Junior-Senior High School and Medora Elementary. Grades pre-kindergarten through twelve are all housed in one building. This arrangement facilitates the coordination of curriculum, efficient assignment of staff, and fluid transition of students from elementary to high school. Medora Elementary School houses approximately 89 students in grades pre-kindergarten through sixth, with the student population almost evenly split among genders. The MES population has an ethnic diversity of 11.2%. Free or reduced lunches are received by 84.3% of the MES population. The special needs population accounts for 18% of all MES students.

MES began the journey of STEM certification during the 2017-2018 school year as part of a School Improvement Grant from the IDOE. MES administration knew that in order to truly impact and improve student learning, there needed to be a cultural shift in the way teachers taught and students learned. After much consideration, the implementation of a school-wide STEM program was determined to be the best avenue to meet the goals of the school. STEM fosters critical thinking, engages students in their learning, and helps students develop and maintain a growth mindset, all crucial components of effective teaching and learning. What began as a goal of creating a STEM framework eventually would turn in to Medora Elementary being a STEM school.

The first year of the grant, the planning year, consisted of creating timelines, assessing current programs, and forming the foundation for a strong leadership team. During this period, teachers and administrators received STEM targeted professional development, as well as the introduction of STEM framework and the Engineering and Design Process to students. From the very first moment of STEM implementation, Medora students took to the hands-on, learner-centered approach. Teachers became excited and took ownership of STEM because their students were doing the same. The STEM processes is a natural way of learning to elementary-aged students, which led to increased student engagement in the classroom.

During the 2018-2019 school year, teachers and administrators adjusted programs and practices to move the school further down the pathway to becoming a STEM certified school. The school hired a full-time STEM coordinator to help teachers develop and implement engaging STEM lessons into their curriculum. A STEM template was developed to ensure career exploration, the engineering and design process, and employability standards were embedded in each STEM unit. MES formed a STEM Leadership Team to guide and provide support for staff through the certification process. Jackie Hill, Workforce Developer at Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation, joined the STEM Leadership as a liaison to connect the school with a variety of community partners. One to one Chromebooks were introduced to provide students opportunities to cultivate and shape their own learning. The implementation of Chromebooks also allowed for teachers to fully implement the Computer Science standards through the use of programs like Code.org.

During this year, STEM became ingrained in everything we did at MES. Family engagement nights focused on STEM. Celebrations, such as Dr. Seuss’ birthday became an opportunity to incorporate STEM. After-school opportunities, such as a Robotics team and Girls Who Code club, were implemented to provide extended learning opportunities for students. STEM became the routine, rather than the requirement. Undoubtedly, our teachers have been our greatest strength from the beginning, as they have embraced STEM from the start and went above and beyond the expectations of administration during this first year of implementation.

The 2019-2020 school year is off to a great start and has brought even more STEM learning opportunities for our students. The biggest change to the STEM curriculum was the inclusion of Project Lead the Way for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Every student at MES participates in PLTW integrated STEM instruction. A new special called STEMbrary was implemented for students in grades K-5. Students attend STEMbrary once a week for one semester and twice a week for the other semester. During STEMbrary, students work on STEM projects that coincide with the PLTW units they are doing in class. They also complete their Code.org work during this time. MES also held their first annual National STEM Day Celebration on November 8, 2019. Students from schools around Jackson County attended to “Celebrate Our Community” through STEM. Several community partners participated in the event and it was an amazing day for staff, students and partners.

Moving forward, staff and administrators will continue to collect and analyze data to revise STEM curriculum as needed. One goal for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year is to have more career exploration available for students. A STEM Career Fair will be held in the Spring of 2020 with representatives in career fields chosen based on student career inventories. Another goal is to provide pre-kindergarten students with more STEM based curriculum. Next school year, PLTW curriculum will be implemented in the pre-K classroom to engage students in cross-curricular STEM learning from an early age.

The implementation of STEM has caused a major mindset shift not only at MES, but throughout the entire Medora community. Parents and community members are familiar with STEM and consider it a valuable part of their students’ learning. STEM helps students gain the skills required to be successful in the twenty-first century. It is integrated into our daily curriculum across grade levels through the use of teacher-created and PLTW units. The traditional disciplines of science and math are brought to life with real-world connections that incorporate the engineering design process and technology. Concepts are taught through project-based, hands-on learning opportunities. The transformation to a STEM school has been a welcomed cultural change at MES. We don’t have a STEM program; we are a STEM school! Our students will be the creative and innovative thinkers and problem solvers of the future who understand the importance of collaborative teamwork and communication. Everyone at MES is living our school vision of creating a community of learners who think critically, solve problems, and work together to be productive and engaged citizens.