Building STEM Partnership Teams in Suburban Districts

Abstract: This paper was authored by Christopher Reis, teacher at the School District of Kettle Moraine (WI).

Recently, partnerships designed to increase student achievement and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have become common. Partnerships have been developed between university departments, regional industry, youth organizations, and K-12 schools. Despite this, little guidance exists concerning how to create a team of industry partners to support K-12 STEM initiatives in suburban districts. The School District of Kettle Moraine has, during the last two years, established a partnership team including school personnel and local industry representatives. Techniques in recruiting potential partners, strategies for setting up meetings, and examples of partnership activities that have occurred in the district are discussed.

This paper is part of the conference proceedings for the Education Division's 2012 Advancing the STEM Agenda Conference, co-sponsored with the UW-Stout.

Keywords: STEM - Conference Proceedings - K-12 Outreach - Partnering