AdvancED® STEM Certification

1.7 STEM Indicators Narrative

Banneker High School 3DE Magnet educators collaborate on a regular and frequent basis to
develop and/or revise STEM curriculum and student learning opportunities. Although STEM
concepts and processes were foundational to the curriculum design of the BHS 3DE program,
business and entrepreneurship classes and case challenges were major drivers of the initial
program. Building the STEM instructional capacity of the 3DE teachers through ongoing
professional learning has been the major focus of our PLC work over the course of the last year.
All 3DE teachers are STEM teachers and meet in a weekly PLCs to collaborate, plan, and share
ideas on best practices. Our 2018-2019 PLC focus is STEM transdisciplinary integration. In
addition to specialized STEM training on designated county professional learning days, each
weekly PLC has a dedicated STEM PD session. Collaborative work by grade level teams in
PLCs is also focused on transdisciplinary STEM PBL assignments. Grade level teams work
together to make strategic adaptations to existing curriculum, considering alignment to STEM
instructional methodologies and best practices aligned to relevant standards, the school’s
instructional focus and students’ interests, needs, and strengths.
The strengths of this indicator are evidenced by artifacts depicting the common planning time
for 3DE teachers on the master schedule (excluding math teachers), PLC meeting agendas and
minutes, professional day STEM training and minutes from STEM certification team. School-
wide there is a strong instructional push to improve the pedagogical skills of teachers in our
building. Each department is supported by an instructional coach that uses a tiered model to
support each teacher in the department. Through our SIG grant we were able to hire a full-time
STEM Coordinator who can dedicate her time facilitating training and securing STEM resources
for the 3DE magnet teachers. This has been a tremendous help in building the capacity of the
magnet teachers.
The most pressing area that needs improvement is the alignment of common planning time
for math teachers with the rest of the 3DE Magnet team. 3DE math teachers have previously
always had common planning with other 3DE team members. Even though 3DE math teachers
still meet as a team and meet with STEM Coordinator during their planning time, it does not give
them the ability to share best practices and collaborate fully in the development of STEM lesson
plans. Most of the collaboration takes place after school or on school professional learning days.
This scheduling concern has already been addressed as a top priority for next years’ scheduling
grid.