Wednesday the Tennessee Department of Education announced over $800,000 in grant funding to 34 school districts throughout the state. These dollars will be used for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, middle school career and technical education (CTE), and high school school-based enterprise projects.
The department awarded Middle School STEM Start-Up & Expansion Grants to 52 schools and 29 are receiving Middle School CTE Start-Up and Expansion grants. Seven schools will receive High School School-Based Enterprise grant funding.
“Tennessee continues to provide more pathways to help students transition from middle to high school, and these grants help ensure students have increased access to high-quality work-based learning opportunities, STEM, and career technical education,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “We are thrilled that we can make these opportunities happen over the last two years and help students be successful during high school and into their postsecondary and workforce careers.”
Funding for these grants is provided through Governor Bill Lee’s Future Workforce Initiative, which boasts CTE, STEM and career readiness education. Since its announcement in 2019, the Future Workforce Initiative has been working to add 100 new middle school STEM programs by 2022.
Middle school STEM grants have directly supported this initiative by making STEM education more accessible across the state. Further, School-Based Enterprise grants have supported high school students with career readiness by ensuring students that aren’t able to participate in off-campus work-based learning programs, due to transportation or scheduling issues, are able to get the same quality career readiness education as their peers.
Districts were able to apply for three grants this year, pending their ability to show seamless transition from middle to high school in course alignment, academic and staff support, provide meaningful career guidance and expand upon employer partnerships to provide career pathways for students.
“STEM courses in our middle schools means that students have amazing stories to tell their parents when they get home from school,” said Shane Stilts, CTE Director of McNairy County Schools. “We want every student engaged in STEM activities as often as possible because it encourages thinking, curiosity, and a love for learning. It allows our schools the ability to impact students’ lives in a way they love to learn. In our county it moves towards our goal of giving more opportunities for our students to experience cutting edge technology and problem-based learning lessons.”
