Communication

                                      Standard 5                                      

Leaders ensure that all stakeholders have ongoing opportunities to access information and learn about STEM implementation.

                                     

 

Stone Mountain Middle School has used several mediums to expose others to what we do in the STEM Program.  Our STEM culture is shared on social media platforms – Twitter and Instagram, and as we grow, we periodically engage with the DeKalb County school district as part of offering the theory of STEM to other schools and how the concepts can work inside STEM classes through district sponsored events.  Events such as the Title I Family Empowerment Conference, or STEM/STEAM Takeover offer opportunities to engage with our school and community through a variety of avenues.  We share our STEM culture through our SMMS Website, where our Media Specialist includes highlights from SMMS STEM.  Parental involvement is constantly revolving as many parents tend to graduate with their children and move on.  Parental involvement is always a revolving door.  The upside to this is there are always a fresh set of ideas brought to the table.  The downside is many times, we lose some great parents.  These parents have consistently, provided opportunities to share ideas, successes, and growth opportunities with the STEM team.  It is necessary to include stakeholders in the SMMS STEM process.  Doing so builds a foundation for us to work together and continue to grow for the benefit of our students here at SMMS. 

 

Stone Mountain Middle School utilizes a variety of strategies and platforms to share and communicate STEM vision, mission, goals, outcomes, responsibilities, roles, events, and activities to internal and external stakeholders.  We currently use our Instagram and are in the development stages for Twitter.  More bodies of evidence are forthcoming in this area.  Some defined goals are listed below:

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• By introducing students to STEM emphasizing science, technology, engineering, and math, we hope to raise their achievement levels 

• We want ongoing and continuous engagement, students that are motivated, and students that are inspired to pursue careers in fields they may not have been interested in until they were exposed to those fields.  

• We want to close achievement gaps in fields of technology and engineering for our underrepresented students:  females, economically disadvantaged, ESOL, ELLs, Gifted, and students of color

• We want to continually implement ways to expand the program increasing the number of students pursuing STEM fields as careers

• Improve upon and inspire a love for learning that is different from the traditional way to learn, and will also benefit the common good.

• We want our students to improve upon their STEM skills

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