Project Lead The Way (PLTW) presented Joseph H. Oakey Excellence in Education Award at National Conference
The Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Career Technology and Adult Learning recently received the Joseph H. Oakey Excellence in Education Award at Project Lead The Way’s (PLTW) first annual national conference in New York celebrating its 10th anniversary. The award recognizes visionary and innovative educational leadership on behalf of students, teachers and citizens.
“We are delighted to be among the first states in the nation to receive this prestigious award from Project Lead The Way,” said Katharine Oliver, Assistant State Superintendent for the Division of Career Technology and Adult Learning. “We consider the pre-engineering program to be a prime example of the ‘new’ career and technology education with its focus on problem-solving and critical thinking rather than procedural knowledge.”
Project Lead The Way is a national pre-engineering program where high schools partner with institutions of higher education and businesses to increase the quantity and quality of engineers graduating from two- and four-year colleges. Maryland has 43 high schools in sixteen school systems participating in the pre-engineering program. Students enroll in challenging courses in Principles of Engineering, Digital Electronics, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Civil Engineering and Architecture, Aerospace Engineering, and Engineering Design and Development. Eleven middle schools in Maryland offer PLTW’s Gateway To Technology Program which provides instruction in Design and Modeling, The Magic of Electrons, The Science of Technology, and Automation and Robotics.
“This award demonstrates the on-going commitment the Department has to ensuring there are pre-engineering programs for Maryland students,” said Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools. “I am impressed by the opportunities Maryland schools are providing to produce stellar pre-engineering students through programs like Project Lead The Way.”
Maryland – along with six other states – is partnering with Project Lead The Way in the development of a new Biomedical Sciences program that will be piloted in seven schools this fall. Two colleges provide professional development to teachers through the PLTW Affiliate University Program – the University Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) for pre-engineering and Villa Julie College for Biomedical Sciences. Both the pre-engineering and biomedical sciences programs support Maryland’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) initiative. PLTW administrators plan to spend the next decade forging the future of STEM education.