UC Partnership Awarded State Funding for STEM High School

A partnership including UC and Cincinnati Public Schools was awarded a $596,770 planning grant to create an innovative high school designed to promote excellence in the highly sought skill areas known as STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The Ohio Partnership for Continued Learning grant will fund development of the new high school through a collaboration coordinated by Strive and involving CPS, the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and business and other community partners.

The STEM high school builds upon a $500,000 state grant awarded in February to create a STEM elementary school in CPS, which will begin operating next school year at William H. Taft Elementary School. With the high school grant, the district will be able to create a preschool through 12th-grade STEM program. The state grants also complement a $20 million, five-year systemic grant from the GE Foundation to improve mathematics and science instruction throughout the district.

“We’re excited about this opportunity,” said Lawrence J. Johnson, dean of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) at the University of Cincinnati. “It will involve many colleges at UC, including Engineering, the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, and CECH, as we work together to develop cutting-edge opportunities for high school students as well as for our UC students studying to be teachers.”

After a planning year in 2008-09, the new high school is expected to be phased in at Hughes Center beginning in the 2009-10 academic year.

Features of the new STEM high school will include

• State-of-the-art curriculum and hands-on, inquiry-based instructional practices modeled after successful STEM schools.
• A professional practice and demonstration laboratory providing professional development opportunities for teachers and college students in teaching programs.
• Pathways to higher education and career opportunities including dual high school/college enrollment programs and business internships.
• Autonomy and shared governance in school decision-making.

“Strive’s role is to convene the partners necessary to create a STEM high school that will prepare local students with 21st century skills, as well as meet the workforce needs of this region’s current and future employers,” said Jeff Edmondson, executive director of Strive.

Under the umbrella of Strive, partners assisting in the development of the STEM high school include CPS, the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, GE Aviation, Procter & Gamble Co., Duke Energy, Toyota, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, the Cincinnati Museum Center, and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens.