Students can learn a lot in the workforce

Every high school student should have an opportunity like the one Sarah Cameron is about to have.

Sarah thinks she might be interested in a career in actuarial science, but wants to find out before starting college. That's why the 16-year-old signed up for Waukee's new Center for Advanced Professional Studies (Waukee CAPS). The center will place at least 120 high school students in Des Moines-area businesses this coming school year to do real-world projects with professionals.

'I was kind of excited to know I could learn outside of a classroom,” said Cameron, about earning credit on-site at FBL Financial Group for 2.5 hours during the school day first semester. 'It allows us to do what they are actually doing in their company. It will be different from anything we've done in school.”

We need to improve STEM education inside and outside schools to better equip students for today's knowledge-based economy. That's why the Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Advisory Council is launching the Iowa Center for Advanced Professional Studies model, similar to Waukee CAPS. We'll seed this brand of school-business partnerships with $150,000, and will soon seek school district applications.

School-business partnerships are nothing new. What's unique about CAPS is that the curriculum is designed by business and industry, in close collaboration with educators, to meet academic standards. Highly engaged teachers and private partners facilitate learning about what it takes to succeed in a fast-changing, global workforce, whether students are headed for college or career training.

Iowa CAPS is one example of the STEM Council work underway, but much more is taking place thanks to a generous $5.2 million annual appropriation from the Iowa Legislature. Most of that investment goes straight to providing STEM learning opportunities for students. That includes high-quality STEM education programs - called Scale-Ups - that reached more than 100,000 Iowa children this past year.

An evaluation of the STEM Council's work in 2013-14 found that 88 percent of students were more interested in at least one STEM topic or in STEM careers after participating in the council's Scale-Up programs. More than 75 percent of the teachers who taught the programs had more confidence to teach STEM topics as a result.

Last school year, just 60.6 percent of the graduating Class of 2014 took four years of math and only 48 percent took four years of science, according to the Iowa Department of Education. Iowa's new state academic standards should result in more students taking higher level math and science courses, but students and their parents should also take the initiative.

Let's continue to work together to give students the STEM opportunities they deserve, with public and private support for STEM. It will pay off. As Sarah Cameron said about Waukee's new CAPS program, 'It will allow me to plan for my future more than I thought I could.”

l Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds is co-chair of the Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Advisory Council with Vermeer CEO Mary Andringa. Comments: (515) 281-5211