Institute for School Partnership

Through its partnerships with local schools and its work to bridge research and practice, the Institute for School Partnership (ISP) at WashU is closing the education gap for tens of thousands of students in under-resourced schools. ISP has helped boost math and science learning, raise standardized test scores, increase teachers’ confidence in teaching STEM, and improve students’ self-confidence and development of career goals.

Advancing Secondary Science Education through Tetrahymena (ASSET) is an NIH SEPA funded science education outreach program at Washington University in St. Louis. ASSET has developed a variety of modular science education materials designed to stimulate hands-on, inquiry-based learning of fundamental biological concepts for all grade levels. Among the aims outlined in the grant for the program is reaching populations traditionally underrepresented in science in the St. Louis area.

Partnering with K-12 schools, WashU bridges research and practice to provide educators with the resources of the mySci curriculum. The mySci approach empowers schools to cultivate curiosity-driven education that is accessible to all students. Schools can volunteer to be a mySci partner as WashU provides the materials.

STEMpact District Immersion (DI) is an ambitious effort launched by the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis (ISP) to support school districts in creating systemic change in mathematics education.

STEM TQ through the Institute for School Partnership at WashU fosters a strong mindset for STEM integration. Teachers learn to STEMitize their curriculum; to see STEM is everywhere, and to see themselves as STEM-capable teachers and their students as STEM-capable learners. The program includes field trips to area employers where teachers experience STEM to career connections that they can pass on to students. Also included are field activities that allow teachers to experience first-hand how STEM can be threaded throughout all subjects and activities.

The Transformational Leadership Initiative from the Institute for School Partnership at WashU builds the capacity of educators to transform their organizations with new approaches to leadership and deeper learning experiences for all students and educators. Deeper learning challenges traditional classroom practices by involving students in highly engaging problems, projects, experiments, and writing tasks requiring them to work collaboratively and apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Its approach to school change recognizes that many top-down, prescriptive reform efforts to micromanage school operations and classroom activities have failed.

The mission of Math314 from the Institute for School Partnership is to improve mathematics teaching and learning in our region by designing programs that develop educators who foster equitable learning environments.