The League for Innovation in the Community College and the College and Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI) recently awarded the contract for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum project, announced in August, to the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD). Funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education under cooperative agreement with the League, the new initiative is titled “STEM Transitions: Enhancing Mathematics and Science Rigor Through Evidence-Based Curriculum Projects.” The effort will build on OVAE’s investment in CCTI by providing context-based instructional materials that demonstrate the convergence of technical and academic concepts within the STEM-related clusters.

CORD will develop 62 integrated curriculum projects for use in math, science, and technical courses in the six STEM-related clusters: health science; information technology; manufacturing; transportation; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; and agriculture. The integrated projects are intended to aid in student mastery of essential mathematics and science concepts, while motivating students to pursue STEM-related careers. Each project will include guidelines and essential background material necessary for the project to be taught within a cluster course as well as the related academic area. The projects will include assessment strategies and rubrics, authentic tasks that encourage career exploration, and evidence-based teaching strategies. They will revolve around industry scenarios, will require students to work in teams, and will build critical thinking skills.

Academic and technical faculty members from community colleges across the country will be selected as conferees to provide extensive input on project deliverables. Stipends will be awarded to individual faculty members chosen to serve in these important roles. CORD is being assisted by the CCTI project staff as well as the States’ Career Cluster Initiative in the identification of math, science, and cluster standards to be addressed by the projects, the selection of topics for development, the review of project drafts, and the dissemination of completed teaching resources.

For details about becoming a faculty conferee and for project updates, please visit www.stemtransitions.org.