At Washington State LASER:
We support development of culturally proficient STEM education leaders.
Culturally proficient leaders recognize cultural, contextual, and historical diversity as a set of assets that enrich the learning environment (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018), and work to dismantle barriers and create opportunities for students furthest from educational justice in STEM.
We support K-12 STEM strategic planning and implementation.
Schools and districts are inundated with mandates, resources, and choices that impact the well-being of young people and their opportunities. Developing STEM literacy is a critical piece of opening up multiple pathways for young people, and STEM education is greatly impacted by decisions at the school and district level. We support school and district leaders to identify and act upon systems levers to improve STEM education, using the LASER framework as an anchor.
We foster coherence across leaders, regions, and programs in STEM education.
Washington state is rich with STEM initiatives and support at the local and state levels, yet these efforts are not often aligned. We believe that creating coherent systems will result in more equitable learning experiences for students.