A Guide for the Implement of Integrated STEM.

This guide builds on my prior analysis and is intended as an overall process for
implementing the changes needed. This process is iterative and spirals between phases of
implementation, capacity building and evaluation in order to reach the performance
objectives.

Figure 1. The spiral human performance improvement (HPI) framework (Marker et al., 2014).

Timeframe
Figure 2 indicates the overall timeframe for this two-year implementation plan.
The phases are described in more detail in the following sections.
Year 1: Building Institutional Capacity.

Year 2: Initial Implementation.

August

Phase 1. Build an Integrated STEM

committee

August

Phase 1. Development

November

Phase 2. Build resources

November

Phase 2. Implementation

February

Phase 3. Communicate objectives and

implementation plan
Phase 4. Teacher preparation

April

Phase 3. Refinement

April

Figure 1. The two-year implementation timeframe.

Year 1: Building Institutional Capacity.

The first year will be divided into four phases that will aim to build the schools
understanding of the vision and performance objectives, and to develop the means to
achieve the objectives. During this year, it is not expected that the objectives will be met.
Instead, various support systems and resources will be put in place to ensure that the
objectives will be met in subsequent years and to ensure that the objectives continue to be
met in subsequent years.
Phase 1. Build an Integrated STEM committee (August October)
There will be 3 meetings during this phase:
1. Inaugural meeting (early August before the school year starts). This
meeting will be led by the District STEM Coordinator and will include a
presentation and discussion of the performance gaps, the root cause
analysis and the performance objectives (as described earlier in this
document). Invited to the meeting will be the District Superintendent, the
School Principal, the School Assistant Principals, the STEM Academy
Co-Directors and Math, Science and Technology Department Chairs.
2. In early September the same group will be presented with the
implementation plan (as detailed here) and asked for input and
suggestions. By the end of the meeting they will draft a list of resources
they will commit to this implementation that will include the financial
resources, the physical resources/space, and the human resources. The
question of creating a STEM Coach position will be discussed.
3. In early October the available resources will be confirmed and the roles
for members of an Integrated STEM committee drafted. This committee

will be composed of many of the people attending these Phase 1 meetings

but will include additional members such as experienced teachers,
external community partners, or parents. The Integrated STEM
committee will be finalized by the end of October.
Phase 2. Build resources (November January)
The Integrated STEM committee will meet in early November to review the
performance objectives and the implementation plan. The members of this committee
will work in small groups on the following tasks that intended to build the resources and
knowledge needed to implement the plan successfully. These include:
1. Create a one-day professional development activity for the STEM
Academy teachers that focuses on scalability and involves identifying
which of their current integrated STEM projects are scalable and which
could be scalable if changed.
2. Visit MakerSpaces in nearby school districts and draft a plan for such a
space at this school that will be passed to the school facilities team.
3. Develop a rubric for evaluating the quality of Integrated STEM projects.
A draft example can be seen in Appendix A.
4. Collect and draft high quality drafts of STEM projects.
5. Visit the District middle schools to observe the integrated STEM classes
and discuss ideas for developing integrated STEM at the high school
level.
6. Create a central repository STEM Hub website for all the current and
future collected resources. This will include the performance objectives in
full text, classroom project ideas, committee members, and visual fliers to
communicate the objectives of the committee to the entire school
community. A draft example can be seen in Appendix B.

Phase 3. Communicate objectives and implementation plan (Feb March).

This phase will begin at the first full faculty meeting of the second semester (early
February). During the meeting there will be a presentation by the school Principal that
will describe the needs, the objectives and the plan for meeting the objectives. Schoolwide changes such as the MakerSpace and the existence of the Integrated STEM
committee will be described but discussion and input will be planned for the department
meetings.
A STEM Departments meeting will be held in late February. This meeting will
consist of faculty in STEM departments only. At this meeting the needs, the objectives
and the plan for meeting the objectives will be reiterated but input and discussion will be
asked for. In addition, the school Principal will explain:
1.
2.
3.
4.

The expectations of teachers and the timeframe for these expectations.

The accountability measure that will relate to this work.
The findings and work of the Integrated STEM committee.
The supports that will be available to teachers to help them develop their
own projects including the quality rubric.

Individual department meetings will be held to in March that discuss the

implementation plan and the expectations further. These will be smaller meetings that
will be attended by some members of the Integrated STEM committee to help answer
questions.
During this Phase, the Integrated STEM committee will continue to meet and
monthly to discuss the progress of the implementation plan and to address questions as
they arise. At each meeting the committee will reflect on whether the direction that the
implementation plan school is taking continues to align with the objectives and make

changes if necessary. The committee will also follow through with remaining work from
Phase 2 such as overseeing the MakerSpace.
Phase 4. Teacher preparation (April June, and Summer)
The two main tasks teachers will be asked to do to prepare for the following year
are:
1. Modify the current course pacing-guides to include the Integrated STEM
projects. This will involve a course level discussion about what parts of
the current content is the lowest priority and can be dropped or condensed,
what parts can be replaced or augmented by a project, and what time
during the semester the project should be added. This work should be
completed by May.
2. Develop a draft Integrated STEM project and share with other teachers for
feedback. The final version is not expected until the start of the next
school year.
In addition to the resources that will be available to teachers via the STEM Hub
website and the committee members, two day long sessions will be provided to teachers
during which they can work on and get help developing their projects. It is anticipated
that these session will be held in the new MakerSpace and give teachers an opportunity to
use the resources available.

Year 2: Initial Implementation.

The implementation will follow iterative cycles each lasting 1 year. These cycles
will allow for development, implementation and refinement to occur. Throughout the year
the Integrated STEM committee will meet monthly to plan and review progress toward

the objectives. An end of year report will be written by the committee that will use the
data collected from the measures of effectiveness (MOEs) to evaluate whether the
performance objectives were met. This report will be provided to the District
Superintendent and will form the basis of the plan for the following iterative cycle.
The members of the committee may change at the beginning of each cycle. For
example, new teachers, parents or community members should be encouraged to join to
add experience and diversity to the committee. The school Principal should remain on the
committee as should key STEM leaders such as a STEM coach or a teacher with STEM
coaching responsibilities.
The beginning of Year 2 will begin with new office allocations for science, math
and technology teachers based on grade level rather than subject. This physical
integration of teacher workspaces will help address the isolated nature of the
departments. Departmental meeting times will not be abolished. Throughout the year, the
STEM Academy will showcase its projects and make its STEM career events open to all
high school students.
Phase 1. Development (August October)
By the end of September, all teachers will finalize an Integrated STEM project for
each of their current courses. These projects can be collaborative and several teachers
may use the same project. By the end of October, the members of the Integrated STEM
committee will be responsible for evaluating each project against the quality rubric and
providing feedback. When a project doesnt meet the quality requirements, further
assistance will be provided to address the deficiencies. PD time will be allocated for the
development of these projects.

Phase 2. Implementation (November March)

By March a project should be used by each teacher in each STEM related course.
The project should have been completed, graded and the performance submitted to the
committee for evaluation.
Phase 3. Refinement (April June)
By the end of the school year teachers will have reflected and drafted changes to
their projects for the following year. It is anticipated that new project ideas could also be
developed during this time based on new teacher-teacher relationships, knowledge and
experience.
By the end of the school year the Integrated STEM committee will have
analyzed the performance of the school and the teachers against the school and teacher
level performance objectives. This will be included in the annual report along with other
reflections about the year and accounts and other pertinent accounts and experiences
including but not limited to the reactions of students, the reflection of teachers. This will
help inform future implantation.

Appendix A
This is a draft rubric for evaluating the quality of Integrated STEM projects.
WORK ON THIS STILL

Appendix B
Screenshots of the draft version of the STEM Hub website can be found below.
The website can be visited at: http://intstemhub.weebly.com/
WORK ON THIS

References
Marker, A., Villachica, S. W., Stepich, D., Allen, D., & Stanton, L. (2014). An updated
framework for human performance improvement in the workplace: The Spiral
HPI framework. Performance Improvement, 53(1), 10-23