ISP Associate Director Rachel Ruggirello receives national recognition for significant contributions to STEM education in the St. Louis region

Rachel Ruggirello, associate director of the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis, is the 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Administrative Support Award by the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA). The award is given annually to honor one educator who is working outside the classroom at school, district and city/county levels […]

Partnership lays foundation for continuous improvement in SLPS STEM

Last summer, four organizations came together to launch a new program in 17 St. Louis Public elementary schools. The Institute for School Partnership (ISP), The Little Bit Foundation (TLBF), and St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS), with funding from the Bayer Fund, developed a pilot program to increase capacity for STEM teaching and learning in SLPS. […]

Institute for School Partnership finds new ways to be ‘in St. Louis, for St. Louis’

The Institute for School Partnership (ISP) at Washington University in St. Louis is developing a new strategic plan to support the university’s mission to be “In St. Louis, for St. Louis.”   To that end, the institute has hired Nikki Doughty, head of school at City Academy and a regional leader in urban education, to serve as […]

STEMpact highlighted in Connected Science Learning journal

By 2022, employment in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) in the St. Louis region is projected to grow by 12.4%, according to the most recent State of St. Louis Workforce report focused on STEM. But St. Louis employers are struggling to fill these positions. In 2018, 41% of St. Louis companies cited a […]

WashU Expert: how to pick a science fair project

To the 80,000 parents — um, make that students — who will compete in the upcoming St. Louis Science Fair, Washington University in St. Louis senior Sam Martorana offers this advice: Follow your passion, not the rubric.“Science fair projects can be stressful for the entire family,” said Martorana, who has led multiple workshops for parents […]

ISP's 2019 Otter of Code Challenge

If you visit any rivers or streams in Missouri, you may run across the energetic and playful North American river otter.  Otters live in riparian zones. These are areas where water, like lakes and rivers, meet up with land. Otters are picky about the environment in which they live.  They like unpolluted streams and waters […]

ISP announces fall STEM discussion series

Fall 2019 STEM Discussion Series Join us on the second Wednesday of each month for our Blue Skies & Beyond: Hot Topics in STEM Discussion Series, led by faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. Discussion series is free and open to the public. Unless otherwise noted, all presentations will begin at 4:30pm at the mySci […]

ISP hosts summer institutes to grow mySci educator leader opportunities

As the Institute for School Partnership’s innovative mySci curriculum program nears the 15 year mark, the ISP has started developing and supporting distinct leadership pathways for its mySci educators. Currently, districts and schools who partner with mySci are offered an ample array of professional learning opportunities. They vary from foundational learning opportunities to deeper learning […]

Through STEMpact program, City of St. Charles School District develops successful STEM Academy

Teachers in the City of St. Charles School District have built a blueprint for successful STEM learning that could soon be replicated in districts across the St. Louis region. The winning formula is a three-year, multi-level STEM Leadership Academy developed as part of the STEMpact Integration Quality program or STEM IQ. The matching grant program […]

mySci program spotlighted on educational podcast

Rachel Ruggirello, associate director of the Institute for School Partnership and Jeanne Norris, K-8 curriculum coordinator for the ISP, recently joined The Rotten Apples Podcast and talked to host Amy Peach about the innovative mySci program that provides K-8 teachers across the St. Louis region a comprehensive science curriculum and the materials to conduct hands-on experiments. […]