October Board of Ed: STEM week

 and Uxbridge High is talking about their innovation program
high school is grades 8-12
and it's nice!

natural fit due to Project Lead the Way work
think of things beyond "mere content"
manufacturing hub
students leaving with post-secondary credit
a lot of different equipment through grants and local support
how to program an actual benchmill through coding
some of it is moving into middle school
virtual labs "more important now than when we started this"
send or have trainers come to our schools
students graduating with 6 to 12 college credits through Quinsigamond Community College
70 kids in a college class isn't removing high school staff, repurposing staff
cross-disciplinary meetings on Wednesdays to talk about skill development
data back from Project Lead the Way on skill clusters
normed against college level course work
looking at under represented groups: targets for innovation pathways
"believe in themselves enough to know 'I can do this'"
students with disabilities not only getting a ton of exposure but learning a lot of material
"even if it's" what they don't want to do

only over the past three to five years
when you create pockets of innovation, hope to spread either vertically or horizontally
culture of having staff be able to build
have flexibility, ability to pivot
when started, three schools were like three islands
culture of professional development, pre-K to 22
staff at high school working with staff in lower grades not only in technology, but 3D printers and such passed down
have in-house capacity of staff to share that
Blackstone Valley Ed hub benefiting students in other districts
Sutton, Hopedale
shared need; Blackstone Valley used to be where people would compete against each other for students
now talk about being the best we can, and benefiting other students
other schools on national groups that are selective schools

social studies project merging with innovation programs
"getting to know how systems work"

and now analogy: educators are all a bunch of 60's sports cars: "they are sleek, they are fast...but it's not necessarily efficient"...there is a concern over how one can "try and sustain this"
"teachers are killing it"
"students have been very respectful of anything we've asked them to do"
"what do we want our students to be able to take away, what do we want them to do on their own"
manufacturing field shields, printed pieces to keep masks off ears and off face
"drop those off by the bagful"