Visit to Texas shows New Tech schools, project-based learning do work

Northeast Indiana was granted a $20M dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment earlier this year to support the TOps 2015 talent initiative and pursue the enhancement of talent resources throughout the region. TOpS 2015 is focused on furthering our region's ability to support the defense and aerospace industries through science, technology, engineering and math education. The Northeast Indiana Foundation's Executive Director, Mark Becker, and the TOpS 2015 Director, Leonard Helfrich, recently traveled to Texas to learn more about STEM education. After returning, Helfrich supplied the following reflection. (The content below is abbreviated from the article that was published in October 23rd's edition of the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly.)

One of the elements we are hard at work advancing is the K-12 education piece, which includes the startup of at least six STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) New Tech high schools in our region. In support of northeast Indiana’s work, I recently joined Mark Becker, Kirk Kemmish and 12 education professionals on a trip to tour two New Tech high schools in Texas to learn best practices and investigate what characteristics make up a successful STEM New Tech school.

I am pleased to report that the New Tech programs we toured in Texas provided evidence and examples in support of a program and curriculum that is succeeding. The PBL model engages the students in a broad range of disciplines within each course, rather than the traditional “silo” learning approach. The projects, which teachers construct in collaboration with each other, are designed to require the students to have mastery of course work across a spectrum of the basic curriculum, apply that course work to problem-solving and reach conclusions, all while working in groups.

This develops teamwork skills that many will be required to utilize in work situations, especially those who go into STEM fields. These students also appeared inquisitive and alert in each of the classes we visited, and, more than I would have guessed, they took to working in groups well. A good number of the students were still engaged in extracurricular activities, albeit with a very responsible attitude about getting their course work done above all.

To produce articulate and confident students is an accomplishment in its own right, but in the end, what about the academic results? The testing from these two STEM New Tech high schools does show incremental improvement. For example, in one Dallas suburb high school we visited, the overall district result in reading/English language arts shows sophomores with a 93 percent pass rate, while the New Tech High in that district has results of 99 percent.

In other subject areas, the overall district pass rates versus those for the New Tech high school were: math 76 percent versus 86 percent; social studies 93 percent versus 97 percent; and science 73 percent versus 76 percent, respectively. Differentials were the same for the second school.

At the end of this trip I came away a believer. I am excited to be a part of exploring this new educational model on behalf of the northeast Indiana region and in support of the school districts that are planning and implementing their own project-based learning programs. With the completion of the TOpS 2015 program and many other regional efforts, northeast Indiana will have one of the largest concentrations of New Tech high schools in the country.

We are encouraged by the potential effect these programs will have on our future work force and the region’s ability to supply highly qualified workers to existing and new businesses. Stay tuned for more progress as we work to produce and build upon the information we found in Texas to create more success stories for our region’s students.