Strengthening STEAM Education

Mills Hall, Mills College.

In late October of last year, I was in attendance at the Bay Area Regional STEM Education Summit, hosted by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, and held at Mills College campus in Oakland, CA.

Julia Morgan's
"El Campanil"

The purpose of this summit, as written by our most honorable host, was "to strategize policies, partnerships, and investments to strengthen STEM education throughout the Bay Area".

Here, I share some of the ideas that were addressed at the summit by the various panelists, and present some thoughts on strengthening STEAM education.

New to education in California this school year are the Local Control Funding Formula (LCAP), the Academic Plan Alignment, and the Student Accountability System.

Assm. Susan Bonilla hosted

Bay Area STEM Education Summit.

These are three areas to keep an eye on as educators, parents, and community leaders begin to see the impact of their implementation in schools and districts.

As for the future of education, will every student have a personal education device? and if so, can the schools and districts become prepared for the infrastructure required?

How will 20+ smartphones function efficiently in a classroom while sharing WiFi? or over 200 students in a school trying to connect to the same site at the same time?

Panelists at the

Bay Area STEM Education Summit.

Does your school site or district have the infrastructure necessary (in terms of hardware, bandwidth, and speed) to accommodate all students?  What is the next step in the integration of STEAM education, and how will we get there?

It was also mention that there is a need for fluency in science literacy, the continuation of the "Hour of Coding", and more access to proven programs, like MESA, that may be successful but, due to limited funding, can only accept a limited number of participants.

There is also a great need for professional development and leadership for educators on the integration of STEAM and the Common Core State Standards.

Additional clarification and understanding of what STEAM education is and how it looks like in schools and classrooms is also needed.

There have been many changes which have taken place in education recently.  Education has shifted away from test taking instruction to teacher oriented instruction.

Panelists at the
Bay Area STEM Education Summit

A generational shift has taken place in vocational education and schools must look to upgrade instruction and curriculum in this area.

The curiosity over the Common Core State Standards (which have been more than 15 years in the making) has also shifted from "What is it?" and "How do we use it?" to one of questioning the functionality of them ("do I believe in the Common Core?" "Do I support it?").

STEM Summit Exposition

As educators, it is our responsibility to continue to become educated on the changes that take place in education. These changes affect the way in which instruction is conducted and what will be required of the students of the 21st century.

If STEAM education is the grand vision we see in our classrooms, schools, and districts, then we must become active in the decision making process that will determine the design, construction and maintenance of the pathway students will take.


Written by: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Chief Educator & Founder, MRCR Education.

Copyright 2015.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment is a continuous process that can:

1) Facilitate learning through the integration of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
 

2) Communicates data through feed back loops which connect students, teachers, administrators, educators, etc.
 

3) Allows for the development of a multiple instruction pathway.
 

4) Makes thinking visible.

A key to the success of Formative Assessment is a gradual implementation of this process, through a multitude of points designed to allow for learning modifications to take place.

Formative Assessment can be applied in California schools through the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and educational programs such as English Language Development (ELD), STEAM, HAST, etc.

At the 2015 Formative Assessment in the Classroom, the Curriculum, and the Culture of Schools conference, sponsored by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), a panel of education professionals representing various leading institutions (CRESST, IFL, SCALE, SRI, UC Berkeley, And WestEd) shared their insight on, and support for, Formative Assessment.

School, district, and educational leaders interested in introducing Formative Assessment to their sites, are highly encouraged to search for further information from the many available resources.

Formative Assessment is not anything designed or implemented to create or cause a systematic change in educational systems, or establish a one-size-fits-all education model, but rather work together through collaboration and innovations in the approach to education.

Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator

Copyright 2015.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back

"Happy New Year! and welcome back to school."  2015 has arrived.  The new year was welcomed throughout the world.  Many cities celebrated as the clock struck midnight in their respective time zones.  Some lit up the sky with artful works of fire which exploded in a spectacle of color, light, and sound.

This was shared through different means of communication: Television, Social Media, friends and family who shared their plans of celebrating with joy and hope the arrival of the new year.  2015 began in those first seconds, which then gave way to the first day of the first month, of a new year.

But now it is time to go, and return back to school, and continue working were students and teachers left off.  The winter break is over, soon spring will come, and before summer, students should be prepared to become promoted to advance further in their education.  Students can achieve this with the help of those who support them: fellow students, parents, administrators, and their teachers. 

The responsibility, then, falls upon the shoulders of teachers, to get students prepared, to get students ready to finish what remains of the school year, and to inspire them to pursue further study through higher learning.  It is not the teacher, however, who must bare the whole weight of the full responsibility for learning and studying, for each one who is an educator bares some of that weight too, but with cooperation, collaboration, and a united effort, this can be achieved.

It is time to remind students that though it may be a new year, their education time frame is not new, but rather on a continuous point, which began back on the first day of school.


Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator

Copyright 2015.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

January 2015

Welcome 2015!!!

The new year has arrived.  It is 2015 and soon the winter break will be over.  Students, teachers, and parents get ready to head back to school once again.  There will be many stories to exchange over what took place during winter break, the people, the food, the places, the holidays, etc.

As we begin a new month, and the new year,  it is a good idea to spend some time to plan ahead and get organized for the return to the classrooms.  There are 6 months left until the end of the year, and there will be plenty of events and activities that will fill up the calendars.  What fieldtrips will the class be embarking upon?  When will students be tested on the standards?  Are there any students who may be at risk of failing if there is no support made available for them?  These, and many other questions, will be in the minds of educators everywhere.

MRCR Education focuses this month on the 5th Annual SF Bay Area STEAM Colloquium on Friday, January 30th, 2015.  This event (STEAM Colloquium), presented by the Contra Costa County Office of Education, is a great opportunity for educators from throughout the Bay Area to learn more about STEAM Education, Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and many other topics.  Be sure to look for the MRCR table at the Resource Fair.  Follow the #steamcolloq hashtag on twitter for more info.

Hope to see you there!


Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator

Copyright 2015.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.