Letter to Jim Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary Shelton

Letter

Dear Assistant Deputy Secretary Shelton:

Over the past few years there has been a consistent concern raised about the declining number of students who are interested in S.T.E.M. subjects in school, particularly while good-paying jobs are going unfilled due to a shortage of skilled workers in these subjects. In order to grow our economy and ensure the country's competitiveness in such industries as advanced manufacturing, creative initiatives must be launched to better prepare our students to meet the employment needs of our businesses.

I am writing to you to invite you to the Cradle of Aviation Museum to learn about one such creative program they have developed with two local school districts to generate interest in math and science and tie local businesses into the effort. This initiative, called the STEM Magnet Academy at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, incorporates an air and space museum and its exhibits and artifacts into the curriculum for a cohort of students who spend half of every school day taking classes in math and science.

The students are exposed on a daily basis to an industry that started over a hundred years ago in this region in an effort to help make S.T.E.M. subjects more relevant to real world use. In this program, students take classes in Physics, Math, Robotics and World History and then utilize the museum's collection to illustrate the theory they have learned. Periodically the students have an opportunity to interact with visiting pilots, engineers, astronauts and public officials as well as the business community through company tours, job shadowing and internships.

The program began with the Westbury School District four years ago, with an initial participation of 70 ninth and tenth graders. This past year the program added the Uniondale School District with an addition of 100 students, bringing the daily cohort to 170 students. The participating students all come from two of the most underserved districts on Long Island and are primarily from minority populations and have a consistent ratio of two to one girls to boys. The program's results have been outstanding with seventy percent of the students who are now seniors taking S.T.E.M. majors in college and with 100 percent of the students going to four year colleges.

We believe this model can be duplicated in other parts of the country to help address the skills gap challenges found throughout the nation, particularly among minority populations. It takes a great deal of hard work and willingness by the school and museum partners to think outside the box and deliver creative solutions to this complex problem, but the Cradle's initiative proves it can be done.

We would welcome the opportunity to have you experience a school day at the Cradle this fall. We can have you meet with students, teachers and a number of business leaders who are part of the affiliated S.T.E.M. Business Partnership.

The STEM Magnet Academy is unique in that it is not a one shot approach to the problem, but rather part of the museum and partnering school district's daily operations, with all involved parties having a dedicated focus on bridging the gap between education and business. We hope to continue to evolve and expand this much-needed program to a larger universe of students in the near future, an effort your involvement would be critical to.

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