08 Sep 2024 STEM-powered success

By Jessica Duff

The Pulaski County Special School District (PCSSD) boasts many dedicated educators and administrators from 25 schools across Central Arkansas. As the 2024-2025 school year begins, Dr. Justin Luttrell, Director of STEM and Blended Learning, is looking forward to another STEM-powered year of learning for every student.

STEM exposure starts with PCSSD’s youngest learners, and this year, educators will continue taking a creative approach in their elementary classrooms. “Outside of our core curriculum programs, the elementary schools will experience our fourth consecutive STEM is LIT! Initiative,” Luttrell said. This program combines a piece of children’s literature with a challenge in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. “This year, we will explore scientific processes and mathematical dialogue,” Luttrell said. 

As students progress to secondary schools, their STEM options grow with them. PCSSD middle school students have the opportunity to accelerate their learning and gain credits for Algebra I, Algebra II, and Physical Science before entering high school. In high school, students will have a chance for real-world application with the district’s Career and Technical Education and Academy programs. “Students can experience STEM through these industry-driven contexts,” Luttrell said. STEM pathways available to students include computer science programming, biomedical sciences and aerospace and civil architecture pre-engineering.

PCSSD will also continue to expand extracurricular opportunities like competitive robotics, EAST (Education Accelerated by Service and Technology) programs and STEM-focused events, like the April 2024 interdistrict Totality STEM event. This event brought students across the four districts serving Pulaski County together for a day dedicated to STEM. In another memorable moment, students from the Sylvan Hills feeder collaborated to achieve a STEM-related Guinness World Record by creating the Longest Human electric circuit.

The benefits of STEM go beyond science, technology, engineering, art and math. STEM programs also provide students with opportunities and experiences that increase innovation, encourage curiosity, inspire creativity, build confidence and perseverance, and foster community and collaboration. PCSSD is seeing success related to STEM with the implementation of these programs.

“The University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy just published a report indicating PCSSD outperformed other districts in the metro area in elementary, middle and high school,” said Luttrell. “Additionally, the same published report indicates that PCSSD outperformed the state average.”

Going forward, the district’s goal is simple. “We hope to continue our upward trajectory and mitigate areas of concerns as we strive to give our students the best educational experiences possible,” said Luttrell. “Our district and department focus for the ‘24-’25 school year will be instructional fundamentals throughout STEM.” PCSSD educators will focus on building a solid foundation for their students. “With the implementation of new state standards, state assessments, and school and district success criteria, we want to ensure we are focusing on foundational mathematics instruction that is best-practiced for all students,” said Luttrell.  

When asked what sets PCSSD’s approach to STEM apart, Luttrell continued to emphasize district educators’ dedication to individualized instruction. “At PCSSD, we strive to serve ALL of our students in order to meet the needs of EACH of our students. This is no small task, but our highly trained group of professionals are poised to offer your student an experience like no other. We want our parents and community to expect transparency, open communication, numerous opportunities to explore STEM fields, and a caring and professional staff of educators.”