GENERAL OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES: Texas A&M (the College of Education and the College of Engineering) and Dallas ISD partner in this NTSTEM proposal with the nationally ranked Texas A&M Center for Distance Learning Research (CDLR) and its eLearning community which is leading the way in partnership with Verizon to transform learning across the nation.  Design teams which will place the expertise of the Texas A&M College of Engineering front and center driving curriculum development on these school reform design teams will catalyze and facilitate deep and replicable transformation of math and science instruction across the North Texas geographical region. The Texas A&M Center for Distance Learning Research (CDLR) will be responsible for creation of the NTSTEM portal and development of electronic professional development modules based on digital taping of the design team interactions and professor/professional presentations. CDLR will post eNTSTEM tools, developed by the NTSTEM to the portal, and will manage virtual office and assist w/ interfacing w/ digital portfolio. Texas A&M University along with several key partners thus seeks to establish the North Texas STEM Center (NTSTEM Center) as an innovative, future-oriented, research-based, enterprise-focused, catalytic entity engaging the Texas A&M University College of Education’s of transforming lives and with a primary focus on the tenets of President Bush’s American Competitiveness Act.  

     That mission of these collaborative partners and DISD have the opportunity to indeed significantly impact student academic success, including the diverse students living in the metroplex area where 81% of those students live below the poverty line.  In the process, we know that not only will student lives be transformed, but our own as well as our mission will take on additional depth, breadth, and sustenance as we undertake this critical enterprise. We take it as a primary assumption that this project is an action-oriented, on the ground, research and development effort that is created to evolve and improve over time.

     It is one of the key goals of NTSTEM that by bringing together, in Design Teams, classroom teachers, campus administrators, secondary students, university engineering and business professors, business and workforce, and informal STEM entities, such as museums, we begin an action-oriented dialogue regarding how to initiate, prod, cajole and unsettle the status quo in order to convince our secondary schools that the world has become smaller, more technological, more math and science oriented, more competitive, more rigorous; thus, making our educational system more real-world relevant is imperative. NTSTEM establishes that the objectives for the center in supporting this goal include:  1) aligning high school, postsecondary education, and economic development; 2) leading the transformation of teaching methods, teacher preparation, and instruction in STEM; 3) demonstrating T-STEM teaching and increasing the number of diverse Texas high school students prepared to succeed in postsecondary STEM study and careers; 4) to train administrators, principals, and teachers in effective leadership strategies for supporting T-STEM instruction; 5) to disseminate promising practices/research-based strategies for integrated STEM teaching and learning; and 6) to prepare Texas students for rewarding STEM careers by improving achievement in math and science.

   VISION: Key to this proposal is our vision for professional development which will likely differ in three large, critical ways from those of the other proposals.  Instead of spending the first year discussing how to do professional development institutes, the approach of  this project will be an ACTION PLANNING-ORIENTED and RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED professional development process, like that of typical approaches within engineering corporations.  This project, starting at the very beginning of the funding cycle, will engage school leaders, science and math department chairs, and teachers from individual schools WITH university professors in engineering and education and WITH engineers and scientists working in business to do ACTION PLANNING-ORIENTED and RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED professional development on how to transform the teaching and learning of science and math in individual schools. 

   For example, by the end of the third month of funding, school leaders, department chairs, and teachers will be working concretely in their schools to develop substantial, specific changes in science and math teaching and learning.  Then, by the beginning of the second year, the schools working with this project will not just be starting to change; they will be beginning their second year of change.  This, in our view, is the way that successful, aggressive private enterprise entities become the leaders in their areas of work.  In other words, rather than spend a year in board room planning for action to occur in a second year, this project moves immediately to ACTION PLANNING in schools with school leaders and educators in INTENSE collaboration with College of Engineering professors, College of Education professors, and scientists and engineers in the work world.  As a result, deep school change will begin the first year. 

   The second way this project will likely differ is that ALL of the project and its processes are envisioned as professional development based on engineering design processes.  In other words, we see all of the work of this project as ongoing, real time, problem-oriented professional development of the project staff, school district educators, university professors, STEM professionals (engineers, mathematicians, and scientists in private enterprise), community leaders, corporate representatives, and students.

   The third way this project will likely differ is that the DESIGN TEAMS for each school will include secondary students as key participants in the design and implementation of the reform of math and science teaching.  A critical failure of math and science teaching for diverse students is the considerable lack of enthusiasm on the part of these students for science and math.  Just as in private enterprise, if you want to know how the customer thinks about your products, engage them in the design of the products.

   A fourth key difference will be that this project not only brings the best research-based knowledge and practices on STEM for secondary schools, but also brings the best research-based knowledge and practices on successful school and district transformation for academic success with diverse students.  The leadership of this proposal and other College of Education faculty who will be involved in this project, like Dr. Linda Skrla, are leading voices in national research on successful schools and districts for diverse students.

   A fifth way this project will likely differ is that one of the partners within Texas A&M University is the Center for Distance Learning Research (CDLR).  This is a nationally respected center working at the cutting edge of the application of elearning or distance learning.  They will work with the project to utilize these cutting edge applications to disseminate the multiple products of the project, to create a high quality portal for this dissemination, and to create a virtual (online) office for the NSTEM Center.

PROJECT ASSETS:  Texas A&M College Station and Dallas Independent School District and all of its partners in this NTSTEM (North Texas STEM) proposal come together to collaborate by bringing the very best of Texas A&M and the collaboration with Dallas ISD and all of its partners as assets to the project.                                                                                                                                           ACTION PLANNING-ORIENTED, Three Tiered, Design Teams: KEY to this project is the robust ACTION PLANNING-ORIENTED Three Tiered design team professional development model which will involve: Tier 1: The NTSTEM Regional Design Team will meet 6 times per year, and be run as a design team using the National Research Council engineering-like model(1996): 1) stating the problem, 2) designing a solution, 3) implementing a solution, 4) evaluating the solution, and 5) communicating the problem, process and solution.  The initial problem will be how to transform engagement w/ and support for transformation of STEM teaching/learning throughout North Texas.  They will work through the steps of the design process and draw in whatever expertise from the project & the ample STEM resources within this region. Tier 2: The NTSTEM Project Design Team will meet monthly, and also be run as a design team using the NRC model.  It will be composed of all of the partners, but the project will ceaselessly seek to add new regional partners, especially business partners.  The initial problem will be how do the project partners collaborate to constantly improve the processes of the project. Tier 3:  The school based design teams, the heart of this project, will be composed of five campus level design teams including the principal, the math department chair, the science department chair, an engineering professor, an education professor, a STEM professional (a practicing engineer, scientist, or mathematician) from the business world, two lead teachers, and two students.   These teams will participate in focused, intensive professional development that includes extensive “homework” with the entire staff of each campus during the school year. These design teams will work as if engineering design teams whose problem is to transform their schools, using their own collective experience/expertise & the project expertise as part of the professional development.

URBAN DISTRICT NEEDS AND RESOURCES:  Dallas ISD brings a number of initiatives, including a National Blue Ribbon magnet school for STEM, plans to open the new Emmett Conrad High School as a career path high school and several ongoing initiatives with the business and workforce community as well as dual credit arrangements with several neighboring community colleges.  This NTSTEM proposal builds on partnerships Dallas ISD already has with DFW Semiconductor, Texas Instruments and multiple other partnerships which allow for exponential growth of these initiatives because the foundation is in place and can be expanded upon.

WORLD CLASS ENGINEERING PARTNERSHIP:  Texas A&M partners in this NTSTEM proposal with the top ten nationally ranked Texas A&M College of Engineering.  Professors from the college, along with Associate Dean of Engineering, Cesar Malave, will participate at the Tier 3 design team level integrating engineering problem-solving design strategies with production of problem-based curriculum design in STEM. 

ENTERPRISE MODEL: NTSTEM plans, within what is legally allowed, aggressive marketing, dissemination and sale of curricular materials, professional development modules, etc. in both print /online formats as a means of sustainability although samples of materials will be available on the center portal for complimentary downloading.  Entities will also be able to contract with the center and its many partners for on-site delivery of professional development on several topics including integrating effecting positive school change in STEM.  The goal of becoming a 5013C non-profit will position the center to receive corporate contributions including sale of naming rights to the center. NTSTEM will collaborate with DFW Semiconductor as a partner for the project, including consulting expertise on effectively implementing the enterprise model to make the NTSTEM sustainable.  NTSTEM will work to engage partners in multiple, evolving ways, including partners supporting internships, creation of adjunct teacher workforce, & other STEM activities.

WORLD CLASS SCHOOL REFORM:  This NTSTEM proposal model is based on the school and district transformation research of Dr. Jim Scheurich,(see vita/appendix) Professor and Head of the Department of Educational Administration/Human Resource Development at Texas A&M.  Dr. Scheurich’s research and publications have focused on school reform, organizational change, policy production, knowledge production, and success for diverse students.  Professors who will assist him in implementation of the school reform change model in this NTSTEM proposal include the likes of Linda Skrla(see vita/appendix)  and Cathy Loving.

WORLD CLASS MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE:  Management team is composed of Dr. Scheurich as Project Director, Drs. Robert Capraro(see vita/appendix)  and Dr. Scott Slough(see vita/appendix)  as Co-Project Directors.  Dr. Scheurich has been a Director &/or Principal Investigator on multiple state and national grants, totaling in the millions of dollars; has trained about 15 university professors; is the Head of an academic department with a total annual budget around $4 million; is the editor of a major research journal; holds offices in national professional organizations; and is the author of approximately fifty publications.  Dr. Capraro brings expertise in the Middle School Math Project between Texas A&M and the University of Delaware, and Dr. Slough brings VAST expertise in STEM with multiple projects related to STEM, including author and co-PI of the HUNSTEM(Houston Urban Network STEM) project.  Dr. Slough is also involved in the Texas A&M Ocean Drilling program.  The proposed project coordinator is Dr. Gerri Maxwell, (see vita/appendix) w/ background/expertise in grant authorship, grant and public education administration/evaluation and twenty-six years in public education.

PROJECT- BASED TOOLS AND PUBLICATIONS EXPERTISE:  Project-based/problem-based curriculum development will be under the guidance and direction of Dr. Robert Capraro and Dr. Scott Slough.  Both professors have extensive backgrounds in writing, implementing, evaluating and publishing peer-reviewed articles and white papers related to STEM curriculum.

EVALUATION EXPERTISE in School Reform and STEM: Texas A&M professors Jim Scheurich and Linda Skrla are at the forefront of the school reform movement with much of their work in urban school districts which have been successful in working with underrepresented student populations.  This school reform expertise meshed with the math pedagogical expertise of Robert Capraro & the STEM expertise of Scott Slough in combination with the Texas A&M College of Engineering forms a team second to none in potential to produce best practices in implementing project-based STEM curriculum.  Their combined efforts build on their individual capacity and participation in successful curriculum projects in math and science that have impacted targeted student populations historically considered low achieving.  The NTSTEM center seeks evaluation of impact of the center’s initiatives with multiple targets and measures which will be provided by  Dr. Ann Gundy, (see vita/appendix) who has extensive experience in project-based curriculum.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION’S TEACHER EDUCATION: The Texas A&M College of Education is a major source of teachers statewide which trains teachers and future teacher leaders in science and math education and prepares annually sixty teachers.