STEM.LD is an $8 million federal research grant administered by the Niswonger Foundation that is intended to increase student participation in STEM courses and improve student outcomes in STEM.  STEM.LD consists of three components:

1. Engaging and effective professional learning experiences for STEM teachers

2. Out-of-School Time (OST) activities for students

3. Rigorous, advanced coursework opportunities for students (AP, DE, DC).

Each cohort of participating middle schools will be divided into two groups: the treatment group, which will begin participation in the grant immediately (2021 for Cohort 1 and 2022 for Cohort 2), and the control group, which will join two years after the treatment group (2023 for Cohort 1 and 2024 for Cohort 2). High schools that sign up will begin participation immediately as their comparison group will be matched with high schools across the state.

Because of the research design, it is important for all STEM teachers in a participating school to engage in orientation training. We encourage 80% or more STEM teachers to participate in deep-dive content training in the subsequent years. It will be beneficial if districts and schools permit these trainings to count for required PD for these teachers during the school’s participation in the grant. We may also ask you to provide minimal data for the project and to encourage students to participate in OST activities as well as provide space for these activities.

All teachers, teacher leaders, and administrators that teach or support math, science, or CTE courses. If you are in Cohort 1 (joined STEM.LD in 2021) - any new STEM teachers or administrators who joined your staff after the orientation sessions last year need to participate. 

• All STEM teachers and administrators should complete the Opportunity Myth (Session 1) training and the modules that align to the course(s) that they teach- math, science, and/or CTE. (sessions 2 & 3)

• Principals will participate in all the teacher asynchronous orientation training sessions, and in-person instructional training. Assistant principals, instructional coaches, teacher leaders should participate in the orientation modules that align with the courses that they support. 

The trainings can be found on the STEM.LD webpage.  Orientation Part I trainings 

The orientation sessions should be completed by the end of August. 

Because the training is flexible, we can discuss what might work best for your school and your teachers.

Expect to spend approximately an hour on each module. However, that can vary depending on the level of individual engagement with the content. 

Yes. Sessions can be watched individually or as a content team. Watching as a team can support deeper engagement, conversation, and understanding of the content. Ideally, it may be helpful if an upcoming professional development day can be reserved for participants. (if you watch as a team, make sure that each individual fills out the QR code to capture their participation)

At the end of each session you will be asked to complete a survey. Once you complete the survey, you will receive a certificate of participation. 

There will be opportunities to engage with deep-dive partners now through Summer 2024. Participants can drop or add partners each year. 

The full slate of training opportunities is not finalized; however, the following are opportunities that are currently available or currently in development:

• Deep dive standards-based science training for middle school teachers

• Deep dive standards-based math training for middle school teachers

• Cybersecurity - University of Alabama, Huntsville

• Synthetic Biology - Bio Builders (MIT)

• Applied Measurement (Construction Focus) - If I Had A Hammer

• Epidemiology - ETSU

• Computational Statistics Using R - ETSU

• Global Information Systems - ETSU

• Technology and Design Thinking (Pre-Engineering) - Purdue

• Aerospace and Aerospace Engineering - Civil Air Patrol

The Deep Dive Partner(s) should be selected as a STEM. LD team- a collaboration of STEM teachers, teacher leaders, and/or administrators that support STEM instruction. 

Yes! You may select partners that meet the needs of your STEM teachers to tailor an experience that is unique to the needs of your staff and students. 

Districts and schools are encouraged to permit STEM.LD Orientation and Deep Dive PD to count as required PD during the school’s participation in the grant. The project anticipates limited use of stipends for some extra levels of participation.

No. While an important goal of the grant is to increase access to Algebra I for eighth-graders throughout the region, there is no requirement that middle schools offer Algebra I at 8th grade. For schools that desire to offer Algebra I for 8th graders, the grant will provide training, funding for teachers to become certified and financial support for implementation. There is also a virtual Algebra 1 option for students via Niswonger Online

The focus of STEM.LD is on extending new opportunities within the OST space, so we can support existing clubs/programs if the supported activities are new (e.g., new projects, competitions, teams) and consistent with project goals. We cannot simply fund existing projects (under the concept of “supplement, not supplant). We will make decisions on OST support for existing groups on a case-by-case basis.

Yes. Every student has access to an OST even if their school is not partnered with that program.

If a STEM.LD school is interested in enrolling students, please contact Jillian Davis at Jdavis@niswongerfoundation.org   We will be offering the following courses to participating schools:

• Chemistry

• Physics

• Algebra l

• Algebra ll

• Geometry

• Computer Science Foundations

• Coding l

• Coding ll

• Computer Systems

• Networking

• Health Science Education

• Medical Therapeutics 

• Anatomy and Physiology 

• Medical Terminology 

If you are participating in the STEM.LD grant, both teachers and students will be asked to fill out a survey that is distributed by Anlar- a third-party evaluator. The purpose of this survey is to measure STEM culture across the region. 

• This survey is intended to be completed by all students in grades 6-12 at your school.

• Choose a day between March 15 and May 1 to have students complete the survey. Let students know in advance that they will be taking a survey on this day. Not all students or classes in the school need to take the survey on the same day.

• If a student is absent on the day the survey is administered, please ask the student to complete it on another day.

• Administer the survey during homeroom (or another class such as math where all students can be reached). It will take approximately 20 minutes for students to complete.

• Students will need access to computers/tablets/phones with internet access to complete the survey.

• The survey is voluntary. If a student decides not to take the survey, please have the student read a book quietly.

• When students arrive, share the survey using one of the following methods:

  • Share this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2024stem 

The teacher survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and we would like all math, science, STEM, and CTE teachers and administrators to complete it. If you need the link to the survey, please email Ayaka Okawa at aokawa@anlar.com

Breshay Helton at Niswonger Foundation bhelton@niswongerfoundation.org