(DES MOINES) - Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today announced that more than 800 schools and community organizations will be participating in scale-up programs for the Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Advisory Council.
"The focus of the council's first year was figuring out how to begin delivering first-rate STEM education programs to students all over the state," said Reynolds, co-chair of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council. "We have had some outstanding STEM programs in Iowa, but whether students had access depended on where they lived. These scale-up programs have changed that."
Over the spring and summer, six regional STEM hubs were created with the appointment of regional hub managers and regional advisory councils. The regional managers were responsible for seeking applicants for the scale-up programs and have been busy notifying scale-up applicants as to whether or not they were selected.
"Applicants were selected based on need and capacity," said Jeff Weld, Executive Director of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council. "We will be closely watching factors such as: test scores of our participants, attitudes and intentions of kids who participate in these programs, and readiness for post-secondary STEM study and careers to tell us the impact of our mission."
The deadline for applications was Sept. 14, 2012, and the Governor's STEM Advisory Council received over 900 applicants wanting to bring STEM programs to their communities.
"We were so impressed by the number of educators who applied for STEM programs for their kids. They understand the importance of the assuring more children have outstanding opportunities to learn about STEM," said Reynolds. "This initiative is about increasing innovation, productivity and opportunity in Iowa, and expanding STEM education programs across Iowa moves us in that direction."
Ben Allen, co-chair of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council and University of Northern Iowa President, added, "The robust response to the Scale Up programming just goes to show the strong interest Iowa's kids have for STEM learning. We'd like to thank the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in making the availability of this programming a reality."
The Governor's STEM Advisory Council is a public-private partnership whose overarching goal is creating greater student achievement in STEM subjects and a stronger STEM workforce.
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