The ambassadors program was design by DESE to support the development of high-quality math and science and science, technology, and engineering (STE) classroom tasks that are aligned with the Massachusetts math and STE standards. The state chose the WPI STEM Education Center to help with the recruitment, selection, and training of 35 education leaders who will serve as ambassadors.
Grant Title: “Massachusetts Mathematics and Science/Technology/Engineering (STE) Ambassadors”
Principal Investigator: Mia Dubosarsky, Director of Professional Development, STEM Education Center
Funding Amount: $327,482 Over 15 Months
Award Date: March 12, 2018
Sponsor: Mass Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)
The WPI STEM Education Center was selected for this project due to its expertise in developing and facilitating high-quality small and large STEM professional development workshops. The 35 chosen ambassadors in the program will attend six training sessions at WPI; put together a team of teachers from their districts; oversee the development of high-quality classroom tasks by their teams; pilot the tasks in classrooms; revise those tasks based on student data, and then present the developed tasks to fellow educators. As a result of the work, WPI and DESE will create a depository of high-quality classroom tasks for grades 4-8 (math) and for grades 6-12 (science, technology, and engineering), all of which will be shared with Massachusetts educators.