The Educator Corporate Collaboration on the Common Core (EC4)
The Educator Corporate Collaboration on the Common Core (EC4) was an innovative approach to teacher professional development that provided opportunities for educators to experience real-world mathematics and science practices in corporate, industrial, and laboratory contexts.
As a pilot program in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years, EC4 helped K-12 educators to understand the requirements of the modern workplace, and how to address these needs in their classrooms. Specifically, educators experienced how corporations reflect the mathematical and science practices in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for mathematics, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the English Language Arts (ELA) capacities in their everyday work.
Developed from the Southwest Pennsylvania 2011 STEM Summit, EC4 addressed a growing need for educator and corporate collaboration in Southwest Pennsylvania. The Stem Summit was convened by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, in partnership with the Math & Science Collaborative (MSC) of Southwest Pennsylvania,and supported by numerous industry partners in the area. During the event, educators from K-12 and higher education and industry partners discussed areas of concern and action for the region regarding the future of STEM education. One of the recommendations that emerged from these discussions was the need for greater collaboration between the education and corporate sectors to advance STEM learning in Southwestern Pennsylvania.Three partner corporations agreed to support the pilot year of the program and volunteered to host the program at each of their facilities.
Additionally, two school districts involved in the conceptualization of the EC4 program volunteered to participate and a third district was contacted for participation. Districts selected one administrator and six teachers, two from each level (elementary, middle, and high), to participate in the corporate visits. The MSC was charged with developing the program and orienting the corporate partners and participating school districts. The corporate partners devloped their own unique approach to the programto demonstrate the use of the CCSS and NGSS practices in the workplace.
Over the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 pilot years of the EC4 program, numerous educators and corporate partners conveyed their satisfaction with the experience as a professional development tool. Educators expressed their excitement with observing the CCSSM and NGSS practices in action, and their intent to transfer these experiences into their classroom practices to affect their students, as well. The addition of the professional development sessions proved to be beneficial for all participants in their efforts to digest the corporate visits and in their work toward creating action plans for STEM education programming.
Click here to access the Year 1 Report