Steady STEM
Iowa STEM Council progress grows, but budget flat
PERRY BEEMAN Feb 12, 2016 | 12:00 pm
5 min read time
1,274 wordsBusiness Record Insider, Innovation and EntrepreneurshipLt. Gov. Kim Reynolds expects efforts to boost education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to continue to grow this year, even though her own administration declined to increase spending for state efforts in what is seen as a critical field for the future of Iowa.
Gov. Terry Branstad again budgeted $5.2 million for STEM, which is all the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council requested, even with Reynolds co-chairing the panel with Kemin Industries Inc. President and CEO Chris Nelson. Branstad has been preparing Reynolds to run for governor when he steps aside, and the STEM council has been one of her more visible activities.
Teachers in STEM-related fields shouldn’t necessarily feel picked upon, though. Branstad didn’t budget any cash for a bullying prevention center he created.
On the other hand, he proposed a 70 percent increase for some water quality projects — exactly what Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey requested.
In an interview, Reynolds said the flat budget isn’t a sign the state doesn’t want STEM education to grow. Rather, it’s a sign of another tough budget year. Revenue estimates have dropped by $149 million. And the state faces a possible return of avian flu, fights over the renewable fuel standard and pressure to spend more on education, she said.
“We asked for a status quo budget” for STEM, Reynolds said, in part because private companies are stepping up to help.
For example, Rockwell Collins Inc. chief Kelly Ortberg, a STEM council executive committee member, said in an interview that his Cedar Rapids-based aerospace and defense communications and electronics company — which has 10,000 employees in Iowa and another 10,000 elsewhere — spends $7 million a year on STEM-related educational assistance.
Part of the reason: To ensure that the supply of STEM employees, such as the 4,000 engineers and scientists working for Rockwell Collins in Iowa, keeps coming.
“I am not going to call it serious,” Ortberg said of the technical worker shortage that colors many discussions of business in Iowa. “We are making great progress. Our engineering schools are at record enrollment. But you look at that demographic of our state, and we have to continue to work very hard.”
“I don’t think the state can do this itself,” he said. “We need more public-private partnerships.”
The state typically can help about a dozen schools, after-school programs, after-school child care centers or private schools with STEM education proposals each year. Public schools have dominated the requests.
The count varies depending on how large the requests are from year to year. In a growing number of cases, schools are teaming up to make proposals, even on a regional basis, Reynolds said.
In all cases, the goal is to provide high-quality STEM education, which the state calls “scale-up” programs.
“(Lack of) STEM workforce is one of the biggest barriers to our economic opportunities,” Reynolds said. “I could not be prouder or happier with just the awareness and the momentum and insight and engagement that we’ve seen taking place with STEM across the state.“
Branstad formed the STEM council in July 2011 by executive order. A top goal was to increase student involvement and achievement, Reynolds said. And some early results suggest the program is helping:
— More than 100,000 students were involved in new STEM programs in 2014-15.
— Three-fourths of all educators who have participated in a scale-up effort have found ways to keep the special programming going at their schools, even after the state seed money was gone. Often, teachers have taught teachers as the techniques spread through a school. “One nice thing about engineers and scientists is they are great teachers and they love to get involved and mentor students and even teachers,” Ortberg said.
— In 2014-15, 2,135 educators started a program at their school.
— The number of Iowa teachers with at least one teaching endorsement in science or math rose by 11 percent between 2012 and 2015.
— In 2014-15, students involved in expanded STEM programs at all grade levels on average scored 6 percentage points higher in national percentile ranks on the Iowa Assessments in both math and science compared with students statewide.
“We are moving in the right direction,” Reynolds said.
“When I talk to teachers, they tell me they love it because the kids are so engaged,” Reynolds said. “They are applying what they are learning. And we are providing some professional development to the teachers so they are more comfortable teaching the STEM disciplines.”
That particularly helps elementary school teachers, who don’t have as much background in those areas, Reynolds added.
Ortberg agreed: “There is no question in my mind that this focus is paying off. The kids who are entering into engineering colleges today have all been touched by these programs.”
The STEM council accepted 10 proposals the first year, 14 this year and 11 for the 2016-17 school year. Applications for the next round opened Jan. 15.
Reynolds said $3.4 million out of the $5.2 million overall budget goes to programming, and selections are made by region to make sure the whole state is covered. Often, the school is also starting a Hyperstream program (tech clubs) through the Technology Association of Iowa, or something like Project Lead the Way or Pint Size Science. All are geared to give more intense lessons in the STEM fields, with lots of hands-on activities for students, and sometimes training for teachers.
The Rock Valley school district took the hands-on thing to an extreme. The students formed Rocket Manufacturing Co. They have been making fence gates, some from donated steel.
”There is a lot of manufacturing in that area, and they have having a hard time finding the skilled workforce,” Reynolds said. “They started their own business. They are doing marketing. They are making gates. They are taking orders. They are doing business plans. They are welding.
“They are using what they are learning. They are problem solving. They are doing that while they are having fun. That increases our chance of keeping them engaged and involved in STEM careers.”
The students can thank those teachers later. “Those areas are growing three times faster than non-STEM jobs,” Reynolds said. “They pay more than non-STEM jobs.”
Working with the state Board of Education, the STEM council installed a system of STEM endorsements for teachers. Reynolds has been all over the state checking on progress.
“We did the town halls and we were speaking to some second-graders, and then they demonstrated some of the scale-ups they were working on,” she said. “We asked if they had any questions, and a little girl right in the front row raised her hand and she looked right at the governor, and she said, ‘So, governor, I want to know how you see this STEM thing playing out because I want to be an engineer when I grow up.’ And then a little girl right down the row said, ‘Well, I want to be an entrepreneur, and I want to start my own business.’ ”
Reynolds expects the momentum to continue, in part because of what she sees as she travels the state.
“The confidence that I see being built up early on helps, especially for young girls,” she said. “I see girls doing engineering who would have never thought that that was anything they would have been interested in.
“What I like about the program is some kids just don’t have someone else telling them they can be whatever they want to be. They see that they like it and they are good at it. We help them find a passion for something they never thought they would enjoy.”