The topic of education has sparked a contentious and polarizing debate within the United States and abroad. In particular, the United States is grappling with changes in education policy and regulation. These changes, as expected come with various issues and opinions from those within the industry. For example changes to a more hybrid education model where students are learning in both an in-person and online format has caused a fundamental change is how lessons are administered. Testing procedures that not longer rely simply on multiple choice questioning, but instead incorporate a much more comprehensive assessments of student learning, require a unique teaching skill set. Even strained government education budgets are forcing school districts to accomplish better education outcomes with less financial resources. All of these elements, and more coalesce to form a very exciting but also very antagonistic education environment. It is this juxtaposition between change within the industry and its overall resistance to it that requires an update to school curriculum. No longer can be schools use the same antiquated methodologies and hope to receive a better result. Instead changes will need to be made to curriculum to ensure students are competitive in the world place a can become productive members of society (Atkinson, 2012).

To begin, globalization has created an interesting dynamic as it relates to education. Many nations are catching up and even surpassing the United States as it relates to their ability to educate children. This is caused an arms race as it relates to talent around the world, which has grave implication for the competitive position of America going forward. Without question the future of society will be heavily dependent on science, technology and math. These areas will be critical inputs into industries such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, autonomous driving, and other innovations. To better position America to compete with its international counterparts investment in STEAM related curriculum is required. This document is thus a proposal to incorporate STEAM related classes in grades K through 8 as an elective for all elementary schools (Breiner, 2012).

STEAM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, are the core competencies the form the backbone of the coming technological revolution. Research has shown that the jobs of the future will be heavily related to these fields. In fact, the department of education anticipates that STEM occupations will grow roughly 9% by 2030 as compared to non-STEM related positions that are forecast to grow at just 5%. Likewise the median annual wage of these STEM related positions will be roughly $87,000 by the year 2030 as compared to just $40,000 for non-STEM related positions. It is therefore important to prepare and expose children to these subjects early as to not discourage them from participating in the material later on in life. Not only will this improve learning outcomes, but it will properly prepare students for future job prospects by exposing them to a unique learning framework.

Of the primary benefits of STEAM courses is that it focuses on providing an adaptable framework for education that highlights relationships between subject areas...…principles that have created the low education standards that permeate the country today. Likewise, students will be in a much better position to alter their learning habits through a much more comprehensive approach that allows them to learn from multiple interconnected disciplines. This curriculum change will also better prepare children for the jobs and skills that will be in demand for the future. Finally, this change will allow students to become much more inquisitive and think critical about problems and applicable solutions within a real-world setting. From the teachers perspective, their overall creativity can be unleashed in a much more robust manner. As STEAM allows for the combination of differing disciplines, teachers are better able to collaborate and innovate within the classroom setting. This ultimately will help improve overall student outcomes as students are much more engaged in the learning process. From the school districts perspective, schools that adopt this approach have a better opportunity of improving student outcomes and thus the performance of the overall district. Finally society benefits from a much more engaged, educated, and skillful work force. This can allow America to better compete with those from other international countries.

Calendar of Action

Time Frame

Action

3 months

Discussion regarding the curriculum change

1 month

Vote to adopt or reject the curriculum change. If rejected, make necessary changes to the proposal

6 months

If approved, executive of the curriculum change. Determine budget, hiring goals, assessment and evaluation metrics

3 months

Begin the application process for competent teachers and support personnel

1 month

Adopt program goals, standards, and outcomes

1 year

Begin allowing students to register for STEAM courses

2 months

Begin assessment of success and failures…