Whole School vs Program

http://urbangospelentertainment.com/four-steps-making-godly-decisions/ 

Whole School vs Program

The School year is about to start. You have formed your teams and have a crucial decision to make. What is your STEM model? Will you do whole school or program? Well let’s discuss both models. Let’s first answer the question of which model can be certified: Both models are certifiable models.

What is the whole school model?

The whole school STEM model is a model that includes all instructional staff in the implementation of STEM. This means that every teacher will teach STEM in your building. All students will participate in the STEM experiences provided by your building. All Staff will need to receive all STEM training, participate in STEM planning and implementation, and demonstrate STEM practices in their instructional practices. Whole school requires an entire staff buy in. Certification for whole school is different from state to state, however national certification is provided by AdvancED. AdvancED Certification requires two full days of a STEM review. These two days include classroom visits to at least 20 classrooms for whole school certification for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Preparing your teachers for Certification can be a one-year process if you have buy in or a multiple year process if you must coach people through the implementation of the STEM practices in their classroom.

What is the program model?

The program model is a school with in a school model. Students in the STEM program are selected via preset requirements. Students may apply or be placed based on the criteria. This model works best for middle and high schools, because of the multiple offerings that are provided and the specialization of staff. The program model requires that the individuals that are involved the STEM program participate in STEM training, participate in STEM planning and implementation, and demonstrate STEM practices in their instructional practices. This model only requires that the buy in of STEM are amongst the individuals that are involved in the implementation. The remainder of the building can support these members, but they are not required to be implementors of STEM. Again, the certification process from state to state is different. AdvancED does provided a certification process for a program as well. The certification process is very similar to the whole school model, except the classroom observations are focused on the STEM program teachers. Again, the time frame of this process in incumbent upon the individuals involved in the process.

Which model is best for your building?

Your STEM team will need to think about the buy in process and the timeframe. These two factors will determine your decision. Both are viable and possible. It is the amount of time for training and implementation that will be the determining factor of the success.

Good Luck as you embark on this journey!