Standard 4

Leaders engage a diverse network of community partners and stakeholders in order to support and sustain STEM programs and initiatives.

Paine Elementary partners with stakeholders to ensure we are providing a high quality STEM education for all students. We partner with parents through our PTO and through engagement and involvement in school/community events such as STREAM Night, Grade Level Cross-Curricular Music Programs, Student Assemblies to highlight good character and academic growth, Fall Festival, district parent advisory council, etc. Our school has partnered with businesses and professionals to speak with our students as part of our STEM Education process including local power company, local meteorologist, news anchors, etc.

Paine Elementary has several partnerships that support STEM teaching and learning in our school:

  • ABC 3340 - James Spann

  • Alabama Power

  • Serra Toyota

  • STEM Experts

  • Scratch Educational Collaborative (SEC)

Community partners


At Paine, we have access to a variety of community partners that benefit our STEM program. These partners enhance STEM learning for our students by providing support in different STEM disciplines as well as financial support to fund STEM programs.


ABC 3340 - James Spann

Local weatherman James Spann partners with our kindergarten classes to meet the kindergarten state science standards relating to weather. During COVID, these visits were conducted through Zoom so that students did not miss out on this learning opportunity. Learning about weather from a professional (and local celebrity) enhances student learning and engagement.


Alabama Power

Each year we look forward to having Alabama Power come work with our fourth graders on electricity. Through the program Safe-T-Opolis, we invite employees to come discuss electrical safety and demonstrate an engaging activity that meets 4th grade state science standards relating to electricity and circuits. In the past, we have had the privilege of having some of our own students' parents be the visiting presenters. The program was adapted during COVID and has since remained virtual.


Serra Toyota

Another ongoing partnership we have at Paine Elementary is with Serra Toyota, a local car dealership. Serra Toyota reached out to our school during the summer of 2020 to see how they could support teachers and students at Paine. After deliberation amongst teachers, we decided that more support for science and STEM activities would fill a need. Serra Toyota offered to provide funding for Generation Genius, a website that provides engaging science and math lessons for K-8 students to support our science and math teachers. These lessons begin with engaging questions to activate prior knowledge, then provides a standards-based, content-specific video. Finally, they offer a hands-on activity with follow-up questions. Teachers utilize Generation Genius as an aid to science and math curriculum and have seen students grow in engagement and knowledge through this program. After seeing the benefit of Generation Genius, we have continued our partnership for Serra Toyota to provide school accounts for the last 3 years. This partnership has improved our science and STEM instruction, and we are beyond grateful for Serra Toyota's financial support.


STEM Experts

Paine Elementary is currently working with our PTO to create a partnership called STEM Experts. Principals and teachers met during a PTO board meeting in the summer of 2022 to begin planning for this program. Our PTO has started discussing how to compile a database of STEM-related skill sets in the community that could enhance our students' learning in STEM disciplines. It is a work in progress, but something that we are very excited about. We look forward to having STEM Experts in our community partner with our students during EnRICh sessions. For example, we anticipate having STEM Experts who have experience in sports or analytics partner with our Sports Analytics EnRICh groups. Another EnRICh group that has a math focus would benefit from STEM Experts who could show how math connects to their jobs. Our PTO and school leaders are beginning to survey our parents to learn their different areas of expertise through work and hobbies. From there, we plan to integrate parents into our EnRICh groups and create student experiences to help expose them to different STEM jobs and hobby opportunities in their classrooms. We are eager to see the ways the PTO and STEM Experts grow and improve our STEM education and student learning.


Scratch Educational Collaborative (SEC)
Recently we have entered into a relationship with the Scratch Educational Collaborative. This international organization supports cohorts of individuals and groups who aim to encourage the innovative use of Scratch for learning and play. Our cohort is a 2 year commitment, and we meet monthly via Zoom for PD to explore ways to use Scratch with students and other learners. The SEC is supporting our district and our schools by offering a $15,000 grant to create a learning experience for teachers that incorporates the use of Scratch coding. Our submission will include a kit that provides Makey-Makeys, conductive materials, and related tools to assist teachers in learning how to lead students in the creation of Scratch games for learners with different abilities. If selected, we will provide a PD for Paine and other TCS and community teachers to take part in the learning and receive a kit to implement their learning with students. The SEC will meet with us continually over the next 2 years to provide support, ideas, and direction as we implement our project. We are looking forward to seeing the impact this project has on our students.


Overall, we have seen the importance of our partnerships and their impact on student learning. Paine Elementary performs in the ACAP State Assessment each year, which tests second through fifth grade students in reading and math, and fourth grade students in science. The ACAP science data confirms that our fourth graders who participate in hands on activities and lessons grow which is why we look forward to continuing our partnerships with Serra Toyota, Alabama Power, and James Spann. Additionally, we are encouraged to see what all is to come with our partnership with PTO by beginning STEM Experts and their engagement in our school as well as what we hope to see come with our relationship with SEC.

Trussville City Schools Foundation


Paine Elementary School leaders engage with the Trussville City Schools Foundation (TCSF) which consists of a diverse network of community partners that makes up their Board. Board members bring their knowledge as parents and/or community members from a variety of fields such as attorney, registered dietitian, corporate events director, business strategist, research associate, realtor, nurse, controller, and more. Their mission is to mobilize community support for Trussville City Schools and secure resources from individuals, corporations, and foundations for the support of the school system that will stimulate each student to reach his or her fullest potential.

In the fall of 2016, the Foundation announced the creation of the MUSH (Motivational, Unique, Strategic, and Helpful) grant program that is available for any educator in Trussville City Schools to apply for up to $1,500 to support their ideas for improving the learning experience. Funds for the grant program are raised through community events such as Join the Pack, Pause for a Cause Gala, Campus Naming Opportunities, Corn Hole Tournaments, monthly donations, and more. The grant opens in November and is awarded in December/January of each year.


Since 2016, Paine Elementary School teachers have been awarded 24 grants for:

  • Alternative and flexible seating

  • iPads to Use with Robotics

  • Sphero Robots

  • iPod Touch…The World in One Hand for ELL students to translate books and more

  • iPads to Improve Singing Accuracy

  • I am a Student, Hear Me Roar! to increase communication opportunities for special education students

  • Learning is evolving…get on the ball with spheros

  • Expanding computer science with robots

  • Moving Forward with STEM using Lego WeDo robots

  • Chords and Coordination in music

  • Kindergarten STREAM Dreams

  • To Bee or Not to Bee-Bot

  • Mobile STEM Lab Pre K-5th Grade

  • Reading/Writing/Rhythm

  • Engineering Design Process (EDP) for PES with 3D printing

  • Spectrums of Sound

  • Play that Makes Sense. Do you wanna play with me? Creating inclusive pathways and “play-ways'' for language learning opportunities, and more.

  • Building Creative Brains

  • See a sample of grant descriptions here.


Educators receiving the grant include classroom teachers, the school librarian, art teachers, STEM teachers, music teachers, and the gifted teacher. Because of the variety of educators involved, all students benefit from many of the grants. MUSH grant materials and supplies have been used for EnRich, a time set aside for students in grades 2-5 to immerse themselves in learning based on their choice. Classroom leaders integrate their selected grant items daily in their classrooms. STEM teachers adapt lessons for each student in their classroom to incorporate their grant materials, kits, and supplies. As you can see, many of the grants were designed to consistently improve STEM teaching and learning.


Through the application process, teachers set forth anticipated student outcomes and evaluation of success. For an example, Janet Benson wrote in her grant Moving Forward with STEM.


Expected Student Outcomes

WeDo 2.0 strengthens students’ understanding of the eight science and engineering practices, including asking questions and solving problems, modeling, prototyping, investigating, analyzing and interpreting data, computational thinking, creating evidence based arguments, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

Evaluation of Success

The WeDo 2.0 Core Set, Software and Project gives teachers access to basic assessment rubrics and an integrated documentation tool where students can:

  • Take pictures of important steps of their prototype or their final models.

  • Take pictures of the team working on something important.

  • Record a video explaining a problem they are facing.

  • Record a video explaining their investigation.

  • Write critical information within the Documentation tool.

  • Find supporting pictures on the Internet.

  • Take a screen capture of their program.

  • Write, draw, or sketch on paper and take a photo of it.

Teachers who receive grants are able to pilot new strategies and resources in their classroom and/or grade. The planning, implementation, and reflection is shared with others in their grade during collaboration available each week during school or during after school PD on Thursdays. Teachers share the resources with others who are interested even if they were not part of the grant. The school has even purchased additional sets of resources because of the grants that have been awarded such as additional robotic resources and other building equipment that is now available for use in the STREAM lab and/or check out from the library. By increasing the resources available, students are able to develop mastery in processes and tools to add to their toolbox of skills as they move through the grade levels.


The TCSF has made a commitment to continue to offer the MUSH grant in the future and has said it is the most rewarding use of their funds. They especially enjoy visiting the classrooms to make the awards announcement and hearing from students, parents, teachers, and leaders about the impact they see because of the grant program.