While many will be enjoying the sun and beaches this summer, Warsaw Community Schools staff will be transforming Washington Elementary School into a STEM academy to hit the ground running in the fall. Part of the Cambridge Study report funded by OrthoWorx in 2010-11 emphasized a need for a “science, technology, engineering and math” school to attract and keep families in Warsaw instead of moving to bigger cities like Fort Wayne, Washington Principal Tom Ray said in an interview Wednesday afternoon. Ben Barkey, who will serve as the STEM coach at Washington, said local employers have a hard time hiring and keeping employees in the area. A STEM academy for their children will help attract those employees here and keep them here. In a prepared statement, Ray said, “Whether we are waiting on companies to start hiring again or trying to prepare our children with an education that will provide them with plenty of opportunities, students will need to be prepared for their future. On the front page of the Times-Union on Sept. 4, it reads, ‘Future Hiring Will Mainly Benefit The Highly Skilled.’ While the intention of the article is to inform the public the need for a higher education after high school, the article also forecast the education of our children will need when they enter the workforce. “The teachers at Washington Elementary are continually seeking cutting-edge pedagogical techniques to teach skills and concepts to our students. We believe learning is a continual process. Washington Elementary is committed to helping students become life-long learners. With this commitment, Washington Elementary is looking for new, creative, researched-based ways to teach our children.” The statement concludes, “To help the U.S. keep its competitiveness, Washington Elementary is becoming a STEM school. We want to implement this innovative initiative to help improve the content knowledge skills of our children, especially those form underrepresented and disadvantaged groups. Our country’s foundation was built on American ingenuity of science and engineering. We want to help produce the next generation of brilliant innovators.” Another reason for the academy is to help students prepare for the Partnership Assessment for Readiness of College and Careers testing. It will replace ISTEP testing in two years for third through eighth grade. It’s not a multiple choice test, but students answer informative and argumentative in-depth questions. “We’re moving kids from retention to application,” said Chris Bonifield, WCS math coach. For the first year of the academy, the 2012-13 school year, the academy will only be open to present Washington students and those living within the school’s boundaries. However, Ray said, if private school students, those out of the Warsaw School District or new students moving into the area want to attend the academy, they can call central administration or Washington Elementary about the opportunity to attend the STEM academy. In the second year, 2013-14, the academy will be open to the whole school district, Ray said. Those students already at Washington will be grandfathered in. Ray said there could be 100 additional slots for students to apply to attend the academy. Bonifield said the application process for the 2013-14 school year has not been finalized yet. As for the curriculum of the academy, Bonifield said Washington will continue to meet the same Common Core and state standards as all the other schools in the district. But the academy also will have “added value instruction” with project-based instruction. Students will have hands-on projects with an emphasize on STEM education, without losing any reading, writing and arithmetic. “We’re going to get a lot of technology and that technology will accelerate and enhance learning,” Ray said. Some of that technology will include laptops, iPads, probes and sensors as well as items like aquariums, binoculars and pigeon skeletons. For the first year of the academy, Barkey said the focus will be on fresh water lakes and streams environments. The second year’s pillar is human biology, in part because of the strong orthopedic industry in the area. With the STEM academy, classrooms are not going to look the same as before, he said. Barkey’s goal and vision for Washington is to have a pond for students to do research without having to travel across town. “The pond is a representative of every class adopting a pond or stream and studying it,” said Ray. From kindergarten to sixth grade, students will study a body of water and get to know it. They will have a vested interest in it, Ray said. Barkey said the academy will be working with experts in their respective fields. Lakes and streams was chosen as the first-year focus because of the prevalence of bodies of water in the county. What students learn about bodies of water will be weaved into other subject areas like math or reading. “What we want is to develop the next generation of scientists,” Barkey said. Students will be collecting real-life data, Barkey said. They will apply and interpret what they learn, Ray said. The curriculum at this point is still a work in progress. “We’ve talked about things we want to do,” said Barkey. Each grade level builds upon the one before it, Ray said, and subjects scaffold into each other. What students learn about water insects in one class can be weaved into art class, Barkey said. It’ll all be geared toward learning. Teachers will collaborate together to make the academy work. Washington has great teachers, Barkey said. When they work and talk together about it, the academy will just grow. “June and July will be really important to us to hit the ground running in August,” said Barkey. In a press release released in February, the Indiana Department of Education announced Warsaw Community Schools was awarded $439,534 to help create a STEM academy at Washington Elementary School and was one of 10 educational entities in Indiana to receive an Innovation Fund Grant. Bonifield said part of that grant was geared toward professional development for the academy. The first part of June, Ray said, the Project Based Learning Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning will come to Warsaw to work with teachers and staff on how to make the academy work. Once the academy begins, Barkey said his role as STEM coach will be as “servant.” He will be there to help anyone and everyone who needs it. “One of the reasons I applied for the job is STEM education is my passion,” Barkey said. “It’s the next step in my career.” Warsaw’s math, literacy, technology and science coaches are spread among all Warsaw schools. Barkey will “live” at Washington as the STEM coach. “Studies show that project-based STEM education helps to enhance learning,” Barkey said. “We feel pretty good of the outcome. The staff here is outstanding.” As part of Barkey’s job as STEM coach, he also will seek ways to sustain the academy after the IDOE grant money is gone. “My main aspect is working with the teachers and curriculum, but also grant writing and public relations,” Barkey said. Bonifield said they will apply for an IDOE grant for the second year of the academy.
