For the past 12 months, the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) has partnered with the Austin, MN, school district (APS) to prepare a new STEAM-focused school for all local fifth and sixth graders. CEHD has provided customized professional development — drawing from multiple departments and centers — to support teachers in developing an integrated, trans-disciplinary approach to instruction, with engineering being the thread that ties teaching and learning together.

“While more districts are moving to incorporate STEM-focused instruction [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math], few are integrating the arts in a meaningful way,” says Kara Coffino, coordinator of CEHD’s field-based professional development partnerships. “APS, along with the U of M as its university partner, are building this school from the ground up — literally — with the district supporting physical construction of the school building and the University of Minnesota supporting teacher development and curricular discernment.”
The goals of this innovative partnership include:

• Creating an integrated, trans-disciplinary curriculum.
• Supporting teacher development and preparation to teach in a specialized, high-tech environment by U of M staff and faculty.
• Engaging with community partners to support teaching and learning in and out of the classroom.

“It’s almost unheard of for a Research 1 institution to engage with partners in a truly collaborative manner like this, and it’s something we hope to do much more of in support of our land-grant mission and outreach across the state,” says Coffino.
The final “All Teacher Professional Development” meeting for the 2013-14 academic year, will take place on May 8 in Austin, where teachers who will teach at IJ Holton Intermediate School, school and district leadership, and U of M partners will roll up their sleeves, link theory to practice, and begin the work on aligning instruction across the disciplines to develop rigorous integrated thematic units that focus on a single engineering design problem.
This is phase two of the partnership. Last May, approximately 70 Austin teachers earned master’s degrees in education from the U, taking all classes on-site in Austin.
The Hormel Foundation is providing funding for this project and hopes to use it as an example for other foundations to improve education.
The school opens for classes Sept. 3, with a ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled for Sept. 28.
See recent coverage in the Austin Daily Herald.