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16 2014 Central Mass By The Numbers • Worcester Business Journal www.wbjournal.com EDUCATION L ast summer, a group of middle school students in Auburn prepared to climb Mount Everest. They designed and built a small device for rappelling down an icy cliff and tested materials to find the best way to make a coat for subzero temperatures. Karin Loach, an 8th-grade science teacher at Auburn Middle School, said the school is building a new approach to STEM education, starting with simulations like the Everest trek. It was part of a curriculum from the Museum of Science in Boston that the school uses for an annual summer camp. The school, which receives support for STEM education from the state's Innovation Schools program, uses a similar approach in teaching science and technology classes and in an after-school "young engineers' club." Loach says it's working for stu- dents. "They're beginning to understand the curriculum much more deeply than they have in the past," she said. STEM — science, technology, engineering and math- ematics — has been a buzzword in education for a while. The opportunities for educated professionals in fields such as computer programming are obvious, and technology is making its way into every aspect of life, making basic technology literacy crucial even for kids who may never work in a STEM job. In recent years, schools in Central Massachusetts have made real strides toward teaching these subjects in ways that spark stu- dents' interest. "I think the interest has been there for a while, but we're starting to see people move toward making a change," said Martha Cyr, executive director of the STEM Education Center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which helps Central Massachusetts schools develop more effective ways of teaching STEM subjects. One of the key changes schools can make, Cyr said, is to adopt a project-based model, in which students use their knowledge and ideas to create something or solve a real-world problem. Ideally, she said, teachers across all content areas, from English to science, coordinate their lessons around a big project, bringing in skills from every discipline. "That is the best way because then students see the relevance in each one of these subjects," she said. But that's not an easy model to pull off. Cyr said it takes support from school administrators and a signifi- cant block of time for teachers to work together to develop their lessons. One program at the STEM Education Center actually brings together leaders, cur- riculum coordinators and teachers from an entire dis- trict or large school and helps them evaluate and rede- velop their systems to support this kind of vision. Even people outside the school systems are getting involved in making STEM education better. Karin Spahl Lebeau, interim director of the Regional Science Resource Center at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, said the center works with middle schools around the city to bring STEM professionals into seventh-grade classrooms in honor of Innovation Month each March. The volunteers talk about their paths to their careers and do hands-on activities with the kids. Volunteers from the medical school, for exam- ple, help students extract DNA from an onion or straw- berry, while Intel workers challenge them to design and build a tower to hold a tennis ball. "I think hands-on activity really shows how exciting it can be," Lebeau said. The Resource Center is part of an umbrella group of businesses and educators known as the Central Massachusetts STEM Pipeline Network, which holds Women in Science and Men in STEM conferences each year, as well as a STEM Expo. The proliferation of events and programs around the subject is impressive, and Lebeau said it's well-justified by interest, both from pro- fessionals and the general public. "You hear all about STEM and there's definitely an increased interest," she said. "It's been such a keyword that everyone's hearing on the news: STEM jobs, that's what the jobs are going to be." n By Livia Gershon Special to the Worcester Business Journal Community colleges building a future-ready workforce Worcester Suffolk Plymouth Norfolk Middlesex Hampshire Hampden Franklin Essex Bristol Berkshire Barnstable Less than high school diploma High school graduate (Includes equivalency) Some college, no degree Associate's degree Bachelor's degree Graduate or professional degree 5% 27% 21% 10% 31% 19% 17% 31% 18% 9% 26% 17% 26% 18% 16% 32% 18% 5% 27% 17% 8% 21% 13% 6% 22% 14% 7% 30% 19% 15% 24% 14% 10% 30% 18% 10% 21% 16% 8% 17% 16% 9% 15% 9% 9% 23% 15% 10% 18% 19% 10% 15% 10% 9% 21% 22% 6% 27% 26% 7% 27% 24% 10% 23% 12% 5% 23% 19% 9% 21% 14% 9% education attainment in Massachusetts by county, 2013 Source: U.S. Census Bureau - 2013 American Community Survey NOTE: Some counties' total percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Sources: Mass. Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Census Bureau QUICK HITS Number of schools in Central Massachusetts in which all of last year's 10th-graders scored "proficient" or better in English. 3 Number of public school districts or charter schools out of the 71 in Central Massachusetts that exceeded the state average (79) in percentage of 10th-graders who scored "proficient" or better in math. 47 Percentage of Worcester County residents age 25 and above who had college degrees as of 2013. 42.9% Average annual teacher salary in 2012-2013 in the Hudson Public Schools, the closest in the region to the state average of $71,620. $71,306 Annual per-pupil expenditure during 2012-2013 for the public schools in Shrewsbury (state average: $14,021), which this year approved an override of Proposition 2½, largely to give the schools more money. $11,612 (State average: 90 percent of 10th-graders)