Studying Innovative K-12 STEM Magnet Programs in Broward County Public Schools

For the past several decades, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education has become an increasingly fundamental component of the country’s K-12 education systems. The demands of our global economy have led to increasing pressure on educational institutions to prepare young people with the skills needed to become future innovators and leaders.

Broward County Public Schools in Florida received the first of four consecutive grants from the federal Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) to develop innovative STEM and career-focused magnet programs across grades K-12. The district entered into a partnership with Metis to serve as the external evaluator for these four federal magnet grants.

Promoting Diversity through STEM Magnet Programs

Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) has a long history of providing innovative magnet programs as a means of providing unique opportunities and maintaining robust student enrollments. Most of the district’s more than 70 magnet programs were developed using funding from the federal magnet program. These programs are designed to increase student enrollment and improve student achievement.

STEM became a focus of magnet programming in the district in 2010 when BCPS applied for and received an MSAP grant, entitled Growing STEM and selected Metis to serve as the external grant evaluator.  Building on the successes of the Growing STEM middle school initiative, BCPS applied to the US Department of Education for a second magnet grant in 2016, again with Metis as its evaluation partner. Each of these multi-year grants supported the creation of six new whole-school magnet programs—Growing STEM created middle school magnets and Sprouting STEM elementary school magnets. These new magnet programs created K-8 STEM pathways in each region of the county to provide unique opportunities for students to engage in hands-on learning in science and math through the lens of engineering and technology.

Throughout these first two grants, Metis evaluators collected and reviewed data from document reviews, conducting stakeholder interviews, school visits, and surveys, and analyzing outcome data. Throughout the process, Metis worked closely with the district to offer real-time feedback so that the evaluation helped inform program design and implementation.

Based on recommendations from the evaluation, BCPS implemented a broad range of recruitment strategies both within and beyond the school communities. These strategies aimed to attract a diverse group of students in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, and academic background. This approach ultimately resulted in each of the schools being successful in promoting demand for the programs.

Expanding STEM into K-12 Career-Focused Magnet Pathways

After successfully building STEM pathways for the district elementary and middle school students, the district sought to continue with the successful model into high schools and focusing on career connections.  In 2018, with support from Metis, Broward received a five-year MSAP grant to develop a new magnet theme, Integrated Career Academic Networks (iCAN), to engage students in three middle and three high schools in 6-12 career academies related to STEM. Given the success of this initiative, even throughout the pandemic, the district sought another MSAP grant to replicate the iCAN model across a K-12 spectrum. In 2022, the district received its most recent magnet grant entitled Achieving Career Equity for Students (ACES), which is being used to create K-12 magnet pathways in two of the district’s zones. 

Metis evaluators have consistently worked with the district’s Department of Magnet and Innovative Programs to gather feedback from school leaders, staff, students, parents, and program partners to understand the effectiveness of the magnet programs in meeting grant goals, as well as measuring the impact of the investments on student enrollment, academic achievement, and teacher capacity. Metis’s reports and feedback have helped the district make critical decisions to help expand the reach and impact of these programs in preparing youth for college and careers after high school.  

Since 2013, Metis’s partnership with BCPS has yielded positive changes in STEM and magnet programming and has helped the district to:

• use data to promote enrollment in STEM and career pathway elective course enrollments
• develop a unique curriculum and programs to support a total of 24 elementary, middle, and high schools
• assess the impact of grant-funded professional development on increasing teacher knowledge and skills in innovative and evidence-based STEM instructional practices.

Broward County’s STEM magnet expansion is part of a broader body of work Metis has done with magnet schools nationwide. Learn more about our support for Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) grants, or explore our program evaluation services to see how we help districts measure what’s working.