Project description

The challenge

California is home to global leaders in scientific research and development, biotechnology, engineering and technology such as Genentech, Amgen, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Fluor, Bechtel, Adobe, Apple, Google, Cisco, SUN Microsystems and a myriad of other innovative companies that fuel the world economy. Its economy and reputation for innovation is fueled largely by STEM disciplines. Its corporate leaders and their workers exemplify the kinds of inventive thinkers California needs to create ingenious new products, processes and even entire industries for the 21st century. While today's students have much to learn from such workers and leaders, existing efforts to tap into the intellectual resources and human capital possessed by the corporate sector have been insufficient. Similarly, although California is one of the most demographically, socially and economically diverse states in the nation, little has been done to truly harness the strengths associated with the state's diversity for the development of a globally competitive STEM workforce. These missed opportunities are occurring at a time when California's reputation as a world leader in science and technology is being threatened by five significant, long-term trends:

Rapid growth of jobs in STEM-related fields
An aging science and engineering workforce
Very low percentages of women, Hispanics, and African-Americans in the STEM workforce
An educational pipeline that cannot meet projected workforce demands
An educational system that has yet to fully embrace the development of 21st Century skills

A consensus has emerged: the status quo is not acceptable.

A new partnership

California is replete with innovative programs in STEM education. However, many are a) limited by traditional approaches to teaching/learning, b) innovative approaches that can not be scaled up to meet statewide needs, c) expensive on a per pupil or per teacher basis in comparison to available resources, and therefore are not able to be sustained over time, d) encumbered by geography, e) done in isolation by one segment (i.e. K12, CCC, CSU, UC, etc.) when the "need" or problem and its solution is/should be shared between two or more segments, or f) some combination of a-e. The CSINet leadership envisions a statewide collaborative network of interconnected P-20 stakeholders who will craft, sustain and continuously refine innovative approaches to teaching and learning that will lead to the transformation of STEM education.

In a strategic partnership, Cal Poly (representing the CSU) and CCST have undertaken a planning effort that will inform and drive:

The development of an initial STEM Education Reform and Advocacy Blueprint that will serve as a common reference point for the joint efforts of many organizations and individuals across the state willing to work together to transform California's current STEM education structure; and
The creation of a California STEM Innovation (CSI) Network that will connect STEM innovators to one another, provide the support needed in order for innovative work to go to scale and be sustained over time, and enable the creation and sharing of new knowledge about effective STEM policies and practices over time

As part of this work, the project partners intend to tap into the knowledge, insights and experience of the best minds in policy, industry and education.