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Improvement in teaching practices is achieved through a process of professional development, STEM coaching cycles, and classroom observations. The STEM coordinator, math coach, and tech coach work in both informal and formal capacities to establish best practices aligned with STEM philosophy and teaching methodology. On the informal level, they are thought partners, collaborators for instructional planning, and experts in vetting current research, tools, and technology. On a more formal level, they serve as a built-in accountability measure; wherein, they monitor the application of previously coached skills and the theory-to-practice process. Through classroom observations and debriefing sessions, the coaching team is able to evaluate teacher attainment of STEM concepts, adjust instructional techniques, and determine appropriate levels of additional support. To analyze the impact on student learning, WFES’ STEM Coordinator also works with teachers to design planning templates, rubrics, and performance-based assessments.
When the leadership team meets, we ask ourselves what is working and how do we know it is working. We look to a variety of metrics and, at times, nontraditional data points to help us in this determination. However, as an elementary school, the data points we are asked to collect that evaluate the effectiveness of our overall school program are focused on foundational math and reading skills. Our teachers are skilled in collecting, analyzing, and adjusting based on these results. In light of this, finding STEM data points that are objective and empirical in nature can be a challenge. As our STEM program evolves, we are learning to become more reflective in discerning ways to measure our success internally and soliciting outside feedback from our stakeholders that will help us sustain and grow our STEM program.
Tier Transition Report, Gr 1 05.06.22 (1).pdfMeasuring Success
Measuring Success
We are a data-driven school. Data informs all of our decision making processes, guides our instructional plans and helps us monitor our implementation efforts. Being data-driven, and data informed, is especially important for our STEM initiatives due to the interdisciplinary nature of the practices and processes involved. At a foundational level we analyze teacher, student and parent attitudes about STEM teaching and learning through surveys and feedback sessions. Collective efficacy is important, and self-assessment and reflectivity exercises provide us with meaningful information on our school culture. Throughout the certification process, we have been consistently checking attitudes and perception on the STEM culture at WFES by administering a school evaluation each year in which teachers rate our progress and pace towards the identified STEM indicators. Another internal measurement we use to monitor our implementation efforts is by conducting regular, formal observations on our STEM coordinator and math coach. By evaluating their coaching cycles and work with teachers, we can get an inside-the-classroom look at the effectiveness of our “theory to practice” plans. We also record our professional development, across all STEM disciplines, to ensure that our teachers and administrators have adequate training to be effective facilitators of STEM learning. On the empirical side, tracking STEM progress is done mainly through our data analysis of math and science assessment results. We track student growth in these disciplines because we should see a direct correlation between our STEM practices and student outcomes. It is no surprise therefore, that over the past several years we have seen a steady increase in our math scores, especially in content standards (measurement, data analysis) that have readily apparent applications to the real-life scenarios and projects done by our students.
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