Leading the Way in Culture and Curriculum

At University Place Elementary School the mission is “Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today.” Our students are provided daily opportunities to develop both academically and socially. This is done through a project-based curriculum and a leadership-based culture.

In our STEM program students learn by doing and applying. This project-based curriculum is founded on the idea of educating students in five specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics — with an integrated approach. Content areas are combined and taught through the lenses of real-world problems and authentic, culturally responsive experiences to provide students with a holistic learning environment. Interdisciplinary STEM activities help them develop legitimate 21^st century college and career-ready skills such as collaboration, problem solving, and critical thinking. Our students know that there are multiple ways to find solutions and multiple methods to demonstrate their understanding. We also believe that elementary age education should be hands-on whenever possible, so that whether it’s in our Lego lab, school garden, or computer class, students are actively engaged in their own learning.

With our Leader in Me process, students learn the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to develop life skills that will allow them to successfully navigate a complex, ever-changing society and reach their full potential. Our students set goals, develop personal action plans and self-monitor their progress. They hold school-wide leadership positions and engage in community service projects. Through our school clubs students learn to combine their 7 Habits leadership sensibilities with their STEM skills to pursue their individual talents and interests in fields such as marketing, computer science, cosmetology, cooking or robotics.

Our innovative and dedicated faculty and staff includes National Board Certified Teachers, PHD’s and Educational Specialists, all of whom ascribe to the “every child, every day” mindset. UPES also houses the autism units for Tuscaloosa City Schools, imbuing our campus with a palpable sense of inclusion, differentiated instruction, and collaboration.

Our Story (Narrative)

University Place Elementary School administrators faced many problems, but also a unique opportunity in the aftermath of the 2011 tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa and destroyed the school. They now had a chance to start anew, rebuild both physically and philosophically. A team was formed to investigate and vet current educational research and trends, with a guiding focus of finding a program that was dynamic, innovative, and above all student-centered in its approach to expanding young minds. Thus, the STEAM program was adopted by UPES in 2012 on a trial basis. As the entire faculty, including administration, went through a professional development process, the rest of our "makeover" took form as the physical school was rebuilt to support our new direction, replete with a Lego lab, garden greenhouse, and enhanced computer facilities.

We chose STEAM over other programs because it provides the type of hands-on, engaging, and future-oriented curriculum choices not normally afforded to our students. UPES is a Title I school, with a population that is predominantly African-American and on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder. This is a demographic that typically arrives on campus with academic deficits and is historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines. STEAM is instructional enrichment for all students, and provides a framework that emphasizes conceptual rather than procedural thinking, a paradigm shift that is necessary to meet the challenges of Common Core and the intellectual rigor of national and state assessments. It also promotes interaction between our students and potential role models, such as career-minded professionals, college and community volunteers, and local business members.

We hired a full-time STEAM Coordinator in 2013, believing that our burgeoning program needed a staff member solely dedicated to supporting teachers as they transitioned from traditional instructional practices to interdisciplinary activities and thematic units. The coordinator position was created in lieu of hiring a reading and math interventionist because we understood that the "intervention" our students needed was in making the connections and applications of their classroom work to the real world. The coordinator acts as a co-teaching resource, liaison for weekly collaboration and planning meetings, and provider of in-house professional development opportunities for our entire faculty and other Tuscaloosa City Schools personnel. To that end, UPES has also hosted a summer STEM Academy for local and state educators (through Discovery Education) and holds a yearly STEM Night for parents and stakeholders.

STEM has given UPES a chance to energize and invigorate our students and staff and reach out into the community to connect at unprecedented levels. We currently have more than thirty partnerships to help us enhance our curriculum and broaden student horizons. The University of Alabama has been particularly significant in the development and success of UPES' STEM program. Professors and students from the Engineering, Art, Science and Psychology Departments participate in STEM related activities, field trips, and projects. The interest level in the student outreach program at UA became so great that in 2014 a University "STEM Team" was formed to create specific engineering lessons and provide a continual, sustainable level of volunteer support. Students at UPES have come to appreciate (and expect) that their instruction will often take place alongside aspiring STEM professionals and will be applied, hands-on to real life scenarios, just as it is done in college. Community partners and businesses also contribute and volunteer on a regular basis, providing an additional level of expertise for our teachers and a sense of locality and relevancy that our students can both benefit from and relate to.

Six years removed from the tornado we have risen from the ruins, but are admittedly still a work in progress. Much like the professional fields it is based on, our STEM program constantly grows, changes, and evolves. We continue to develop and refine our instructional practices, trying to find a balance between providing the foundational skills our students currently need and the 21st century skills that they will need. 2018 will provide even greater challenges as we embark on the Advanced Ed STEM certification process and begin planning on how to best maximize the benefits of our pending school expansion. Next year we will have a true science (wet) lab, additional computer classrooms, and a full kitchen, as well as a large influx of students as Tuscaloosa City Schools employs a STEM “lottery” so that non-zoned students in the System can apply for enrollment in the program.