EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The Socorro Independent School District (SISD) has earned the National Certificate for STEM Excellence from the National Institute for STEM Education (NISE).
It is only one of just three school school districts across the country to receive the certification and the first in West Texas, according to district officials.
“We are extremely honored to earn the national STEM certification, which validates the hard work and dedication among our faculty, staff and administrators to ensure that our students are receiving meaningful instruction and hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering and math,” Socorro ISD Interim Superintendent James Vasquez said in a news release. “Our highly qualified teachers, campus and district leaders are achieving outstanding results integrating STEM instruction across all areas of student learning.”
The NISE certifies teachers, campuses, and districts in STEM education. The certification process entails the use of a competency-based, academic coach-led online learning platform, where educators produce a portfolio of work that demonstrates proficiency across 15 STEM teacher actions, according to their website.
SISD officials said the certification process took nearly three years and involved rigorous efforts from district staff and teachers, to improve district-wide systems and structures to support STEM education.
“Some of our teachers described it as almost earning an additional master’s degree. But it’s been an amazing experience seeing them go through the whole process, the education part, the peer observations of one another and identifying areas that we wanted to go ahead and focus on as a campus. Now those efforts have been transferred into our students so that they’re getting exposure to this SEM education,” said David Herrera, the principal for Montwood High School.
SISD has certified 97 teachers and administrators in STEM teaching. Escontrias and Sierra Vista STEAM academies and Montwood High School also earned the certification in that process.
“So all of that work just means that our teachers are very well prepared for STEM education. We teach scientific and engineering processes and practices so students are innovative. They go through trial-and-error processes, to solve problems and to devise things to help make the world a better place,” said Jina Eksaengsri, SISD’s school improvement officer.
Eksaengsri said the district will continue to strive to keep SISD at the forefront of STEM instruction.
She said they’re developing a new STEM curriculum, continuing to train more teachers for certification, and are working to develop a STEM store where students can check out the materials needed for their hands-on STEM training.
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