Duval County Public Schools will use a $1.2 million federal Student Improvement Grant to put new science labs in 11 underperforming elementary schools next school year.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says the labs will focus on hands-on STEM education, meaning science, technology, engineering and math.
“One challenge is to continue to build on the natural curiosity that children bring to them when they come to elementary school, and what we have to do as a school system is capture and leverage and continue to expand that natural curiosity through the sciences,” Vitti says. “In addition it allows us the offer new and unique programming in schools that have seen a reduction in enrollment.”
At the schools administration building Monday, tech items just like ones Duval students will see in labs were out on display. The curriculum includes robotics, ocean life, air power, magnetism, space exploration and animal survival.
The 11 elementary schools targeted for the grant are Garden City, George Washington Carver, Long Branch, Love Grove, North Shore, Oceanway, Rufus Payne, San Jose, S. P. Livingston, Stonewall Jackson and West Riverside. Third-, fourth- and fifth-graders will rotate turns in the labs.
Gary Chartrand is board chair of STEM2 Hub. He’s working with the district and business leaders to bring STEM opportunities to students.
“In 2018 we will have 1 million computer science jobs open in the United States, unfilled by American workers,” Chartrand says. “The other important fact is that STEM degrees, the jobs are not only more prevalent, but they actually pay more.”
According to Wallethub, Jacksonville ranks 74th in the top 100 areas for STEM professionals.
And School Board Chair Ashley Smith Juarez says the district hopes to address a lack of girls' and minorities' taking STEM jobs.
“They don’t necessarily see themselves and reflect themselves as being great candidates for those fields, so it is programs like this that expose them early,” she says.
Last year, Duval received a Student Improvement Grant totaling $1.4 million to put STEM labs in nine middle schools.
Nationwide, the grant program has faced criticism after many schools receiving grants did not improve, as reported by Politico. A successful Miami-Dade school in the article jumped from an "F" to a "B." At the time, Vitti was in charge of its implementation in Miami.
Recently, the grants have been smaller and tougher to win, and schools have more say in how they’re used. Vitti says this grant was written to specifically target STEM education.
