Updated: October 22, 2018

- Check out a webinar about this team's work.
- Download the write-up of this team's final project, which includes a literature review identifying research gaps about rural STEM education (particularly as it relates to PLCs), and a survey for STEM teachers to better understand successes and gaps in rural STEM. You can participate in their survey here.

As NGSS is adopted, teachers are asked to modify both their curriculum and instructional practices, often requiring support from pedagogical content experts and university scientists. For teachers teaching in rural settings, these experts are often not local. 

This Project Team worked to identify current expertise and needs of stakeholders to define qualities and mechanisms that facilitate sustainable rural STEM partnerships working to enhance teacher practice and retention across K-12. They explored using the PLC model for connecting teachers in rural settings with the experts they need to align their curriculum and instructional practices with NGSS, and other inquiry-based instructional standards. Team members included the University of Illinois, Penn State Center for Science, and National Math and Science Initiative.