In addition to following units of study provided by the school district and written by some of our very own STEM facilitators the teachers and instructional support staff at Washington High School play an integral part in giving input around course offerings (electives, advanced placement courses, enrichment courses, etc.). Teachers also meet in teams at the beginning of each school year to create curriculum maps. When creating these curriculum maps teachers are strategic to ensure they are anchored with the Common Core State Standards and the Framework for 21st Century Learning standards. They are also written to be in-depth and flexible in respects to its STEM approach. Statistically, African American students across the country have unequal access to advanced coursework, which means they often miss out on vital learning opportunities that can set them up for success in college and careers. We aim to dispel this notion.

 

A few shifts have occurred to support our STEM initiatives at the school. For example, we have restructured our science course progression to exposes students to more urban agriculture concepts by offering Environmental Science their freshman year instead of the standard Biology course. Next year we will pilot students not only having the Environmental science (or AP) course coupled with the Ag course. By modifying our course progressions, we allow both teachers and students to broaden their skill set in various contents but also allow students exposure to take rigorous courses to build their STEM skills in high school. We believe in building a well-rounded student. We try to achieve this by having equitable access to courses that explore students’ strengths. We want all students to have STEM exposure courses or advanced placement courses and not solely make these courses accessible to students marked as gifted or honors.

 

At the school we have a coordinator that oversees our advance placement courses as well as works with local colleges (Atlanta Metro Technical College, Atlanta Technical College, Georgia State University, and Clark Atlanta University) for students to access dual enrollment courses. Several of which over the years have been institutions where students have graduated simultaneously with both STEM associates degrees and high school diplomas.

 

Most recently Washington High school was noted as an AP Challenge School by the Georgia Department of Education. This designation is for schools with enrollments of 900 or fewer students but have students taking advanced placement courses in English, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

 

Opportunities for Growth

We are aiming to expand our STEM course offerings as well increase the variety of advanced placement course offerings. We are putting structures and supports in place to offer more assistance to not only new teachers but also to veteran staff that may need more support on how to implement STEM into their curriculum. We have set aside dedicated time as well as summer planning sessions to successfully plan PBL lessons and secure a variety of resources to support students.  We recognize that planning for interdisciplinary problem-based lessons and/or activities that are engaging and purposeful takes a significant amount of time.  We saw the need to revamp collaborative planning time to ensure teachers can work together across various disciplines, research, and prepare for these types of lessons and activities so it will not be as big of a challenge.